News

  • Nobelprijs Chemie 2025
    International

    MOFs get long-awaited Nobel status

    2025-10-08T14:26:00Z

    ‘Well deserved’ and ‘Bound to happen’ summarize the feeling among the MOF community to the news that the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2025 is awarded to Susumu Kitagawa, Richard Robson and Omar Yaghi for their pioneering work on metal-organic frameworks.

  • shutterstock_2475105737
    International

    From sports soles to sponges: the recycling of polyurethane foam is becoming a reality

    2025-10-07T09:42:00Z

    Polyurethane foam is found in mattresses, furniture and many other products, and it produces a waste stream that is difficult to recycle. However, a team from the University of Twente has now presented a sustainable method in Green Chemistry for converting this widely used material into reusable building blocks.

  • ISCC-labs_Beta_Harold van de Kamp_Marit Bijkerk_2023-32
    International

    Shining light on post-polymerisation functionalisation

    2025-10-03T07:27:00Z

    A team from Utrecht University functionalises the C-H-bonds in polyolefins using just UV light without the need for solvents or catalysts, they report in JACS.

  • Kat duwt reactie in goede richting
    International

    Cat pushes carbon rings in the right direction

    2025-10-01T12:48:00Z

    These essential building blocks are found in medicines and commonly used insecticides, but they are also difficult to synthesise: alkylidenecyclopropanes. In Nature, an international team presents a new method that makes producing these ring-shaped carbon structures much more efficient.

  • Graphical abstract
    International

    Programmable precision for peptide positions

    2025-09-24T08:09:00Z

    Using triazine-thiol exchange, a group from Nijmegen was able to program cysteine modifications in peptides by varying the pH, they report in ChemistryEurope.

  • RL SF_photonics3
    International

    3D bioprinter is ‘smart baby’

    2025-09-22T12:14:00Z

    The 3D bioprinting of functional tissues is a complex, step-by-step process that depends on the designer. Now, however, biomedical engineers at Utrecht University have developed new technology published in Nature that integrates advanced imaging and artificial intelligence, enabling the 3D bioprinter to observe and analyse.

  • Elektrochemische reactie
    International

    Green synthesis of aromatic nitriles

    2025-09-17T12:17:00Z

    Leuven researchers have found a way to transform toluene into nitriles using electrochemistry, ammonia and… water! They report on this simple and potentially environmentally friendly procedure in ChemElectroChem.

  • Robotlab
    International

    Big Money for Big Chemistry

    2025-09-10T07:59:00Z

    The National Growth Fund project, ‘Big Chemistry’, has provided eight consortia with €2.8 million. The projects focus on accelerating the search for chemicals with the desired properties.

  • rood-blauw shutterstock_2435527373
    International

    Near-infrared light drives molecular motors

    2025-09-09T11:20:00Z

    In JACS, a team from Groningen and Amsterdam report that they were able to drive molecular motors with near-infrared light using upconverting nanoparticles for the first time.

  • housebuilding-1005491_1920
    International

    ERC Starting Grants awarded

    2025-09-08T12:37:00Z

    With a success rate of 12.2%, obtaining an ERC Starting Grant was no easy feat. Two KNCV- and two NVBMB-members managed to pass the selection and secure a grant.  

  • AMOLF_portret op locatie_LD_hr_20231122-9019
    International

    KNCV Gold Medal 2025 awarded to Bruno Ehrler

    2025-09-03T09:43:00Z

    Bruno Ehrler, head of the Hybrid Solar Cells group at research institute AMOLF in Amsterdam and professor at the University of Groningen is the recipient of the KNCV Gold Medal 2025.

  • shutterstock_2621352647
    International

    Polycyclic amino acids produce a fluorescent hydrogel

    2025-08-27T13:09:00Z

    In the European Journal of Organic Chemistry, researchers from the VUB and the University of the Free State (South Africa) present a new fluorescent peptide hydrogel with easily adaptable sequences. This offers possibilities for targeted, modifiable drug delivery systems.

  • ENW-M grants
    International

    NWO Open Competition ENW-M grants

    2025-08-18T12:05:00Z

    The Open Competition ENW-M grants – intended for “creative, risky ideas and scientific innovations” – were awarded at the end of July, and several members of the KNCV and NVBMB were among the recipients.

  • Stitched 10x HuCD_AMCA Calb_AF594 nNOS_AF647 d
    International

    The true gut feeling: the intestinal nervous system recognises nutrients.

    2025-08-18T11:41:00Z

    According to biomedical scientists at KU Leuven, the function of the digestive system appears to be much more sophisticated than simply pumping food around. In an article published in Nature, they demonstrate how the nervous system in mouse intestines distinguishes between different nutrients.

  • shutterstock_2274449481 (1)
    International

    Nanoplastics fill the North Atlantic Ocean

    2025-08-18T11:24:00Z

    In a study published in Nature, Dutch researchers estimated that there are 27 million tonnes of nanoplastics in the ocean’s upper layer. This figure equals or exceeds the estimated amount of macro- and microplastics in the world’s oceans.

  • Veni
    International

    NWO Veni grants awarded for 2024

    2025-07-17T10:27:00Z

    Two hundred early-career scientists have received up to €320,000 in the form of a Veni grant from the NWO Talent Programme.

  • ERC Proof of Concept
    International

    ERC Proof of Concept grants 2025 awarded

    2025-07-16T11:34:00Z

    It’s always nice to receive a gift before the holidays. Eighteen Belgian and Dutch scientists were delighted to hear that their Proof of Concept Grant proposals had been successful.

  • blood cells
    International

    Activating ‘reserve genes’ for gene therapy

    2025-07-07T13:50:00Z

    Reactivated genes can compensate for other defective genes in hereditary blood disorders, Dutch researchers show in the journal Blood.

  • Graphical abstract catalyst in the spotlight
    International

    Catalyst-substrate couple in the spotlight

    2025-07-07T07:56:00Z

    With the high-tech laser facility of HFML-FELIX, researchers succeeded in capturing a catalyst ‘in the act’ of catalysing a Michael addition, as they show in The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters.

  • Money abstract
    International

    Open Competition ENW-M grants awarded

    2025-07-02T09:18:00Z

    The ‘creative’ ENW-M grants have been awarded once again, this time to 21 researchers looking to develop scientific innovations and ‘risky’ ideas. Among the recipients are members of the KNCV and NVBMB, who are highlighted here.