Eye-openers
Tassos Perrakis – Proteins for the people
Tassos Perrakis studies the structure of proteins to understand how they interact and how that impacts cancer.
Alina Chanaewa – Sensing carbon fibre composite cracks
Eddytec has developed an efficient method to quickly assess carbon fibre composites.
Suzan Stelloo – Exploring early human embryogenesis using stem cells
Suzan Stelloo studies proteins to reveal what causes birth defects.
Harith Gurunarayanan – Unlocking the enigma of chemical reactions
Harith Gurunarayanan is developing a tiny sensor that can monitor and analyse in real time the molecules produced during high-temperature reactions.
Fabian Eisenreich – Sunlight-driven plastic recycling
Fabian Eisenreich is investigating how we can use light to break down plastic to reduce the amount of plastic waste that pollutes our environment.
Roy van der Meel – Making your own tailor-made drugs
Roy van der Meel is investigating whether he can use natural building blocks such as fats to transport mRNA codes around the body.
Arnon Lesage – Convert sunlight for optimal plant growth
Arnon Lesage is developing a flexible film that can convert sunlight according to the specific needs of each plant.
Thomas Hansen – Tools for a molecular cabinet
Thomas Hansen uses computer simulations to design new tools for assembling molecules in advance.
Nienke van Dongen – Uroscopy on a microfluidic chip
The earlier cancer is detected, the better the patient’s chances of survival. Nienke van Dongen uses microfluidic chips to detect cancer DNA in urine.
Arnaud Thevenon – Towards zero-waste plastic
Arnaud Thevenon creates plastics with a closed life cycle to ensure a sustainable future with plastics.
Wessel van der Woude – Recycling 2.0 with plastic analysis
Veridis is developing a technique to determine which types of plastic are in our waste.
David Rieder – The great catalyst bake off
Catalysts are the secret ingredients that speed up reactions, but it takes chemists tens of thousands of tries to find a good catalyst recipe. David Rieder uses a computer to become a better cook.
Olivier Segers – Blackteria paint it black
Olivier Segers works with genetically modified bacteria that can produce melanin like tiny factories
Sven Askes – Steering reactions with nanoparticles and light
A lot of catalytic reactions happen by means of nanoparticles. Sven Askes uses light and nanoparticles to steer reactions in the right direction.
Barbara Malheiros – Velcro made from DNA
Barbara Malheiros uses DNA to create exotic materials such as smarter biosensors and diagnostic tools.
Johan Visser – Pasting plants with bioplastic
Johan Visser is working on an adhesive bioplastic that could increase the capacity of greenhouses.
Tizian Ramspoth – Improving coating technique sustainability with catalysts
Making solid cross-linked coatings requires high temperatures. Tizian Ramspoth is on a quest to find out how we can coat plastic or wood.
Stephanie Rensink – Protecting wood with fungi
Wood needs a protective coating to be preversed and remain beautiful. How can we do this in an eco-friendly way? Stephanie Rensink investigates a special fungal coating that protects wood from the sun.
Bas Tuenter – From disposables to Sustainables
Sustainables has an easy way to clean Eppendorf tubes, test tubes and pipette tips so that you can reuse them.
Regra – Reducing emissions with organic fertilizers
Thomas Vos and Robin Coes know what plants need, collect this from various sources and process these sources into a high-quality fertilizer pellet.
Photo Chemistry
Picture perfect tubes
Maciej Majdecki won first prize in the ChemistryViews Photo Competition 2023 with this collection of beautifully coloured NMR tubes.
Molecular jellyfish
Serendipity is a thread running through many extraordinary discoveries in the history of chemistry. These ‘molecular jellyfish’ are no exception.
Iron embroidery
Nature offers the most beautiful crystal structures. But beauty is certainly not absent from the lab, as shown by these iron(II) photosensitisers.
Threads of beauty
Analytical polymer chemistry can be quite colourful, as shown in this X-ray diffraction pattern of a nylon fibre.
About the birds and the genes
Chinese researchers show which gene in monkeyflowers has been altered so that the flowers no longer produce yellow pigment.
Synthetic painting
Organic chemistry is not always exciting when it comes to using colour: white powders, colourless liquids. But it can also produce beautiful pictures.
What does a brain ‘sound’ like?
We know ultrasounds as grainy grey pictures, but with the latest imaging techniques, they can look like this.
Traitor macrophages light up
Floris van Dalen, PhD student at RadboudUMC, took this image of mouse macrophages acting as a model for TAMs.
Enlightening nerves
Most biological cells are not very special to see unless you pass some fluorescent compounds through them. These brain cells also have an unusual shape.
Soap bubble solar cell
You can see solar panels appearing on more and more rooftops. But Saudi scientists printed a solar cell on a bubble.
Chem brûlée
Most mixtures that chemists create in the lab may not always look special or appetising. But every once in a while, you would be tempted to take a bite of your product.
Light at the end of the tunnel
Everyone’s bowels are different. One person’s gut reacts violently to certain foods or medications, while another’s doesn’t suffer at all.
‘Highest resolution ever’
With AFM, researchers at UCL get close to the reality of the surface of a bacterium.
