Group Leader
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Dr. Sander J. Wezenberg |
| Sander studied Chemistry at the University of Nijmegen where he carried out his Master's research in the group of Prof. Roeland Nolte. He pursued his PhD studies in the field of supramolecular chemistry and catalysis with Prof. Arjan Kleij at the Institute of Chemical Research of Catalonia. During this period, he spent time as a visiting researcher in the group of Prof. Joseph Hupp at Northwestern University. After receiving his PhD degree in 2011, he joined the group of Prof. François Diederich at ETH Zurich as a postdoctoral fellow. Two years later, he moved to the University of Groningen to work with Prof. Ben Feringa, where he was appointed Assistant Professor in 2017. He established his independent research group at Leiden University in 2019, and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2022. His main research interests are in the areas of molecular switches, ion recognition and transport, and dynamic supramolecular systems. Sander is recipient of several prestigious grants, including a Starting Grant (2018) from the European Research Council (ERC), and young investigator grants (Veni-2014, Vidi-2018) from the Dutch Research Council (NWO). In 2020, he was elected as member of the Young Academy of Europe. |
Postdocs
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Dr. Julia Villalva |
| Julia obtained her BSc in Chemistry in 2015 at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid and her MSc in Organic Chemistry at the same university in 2016. She carried out her bachelor’s and master’s research in Juan Carlos Carretero's group under the supervision of Nuria Rodríguez Garrido and Ramón Gómez Arrayás focusing on the study of metal-catalyzed C-H functionalization reactions. She started her PhD studies in September 2016 in Emilio M. Pérez’s group (IMDEA Nanociencia), focusing mainly on the development of novel methods for the chemical modification of carbon nanotubes and 2D materials. In 2020 she was awarded her PhD in organic chemistry (summa cum laude) and started working as a scientific consultant. In 2022, Julia joined the Wezenberg group as a postdoctoral researcher to work on photoresponsive anion channels. |
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Dr. David Lozano |
| David received his training in synthetic organic chemistry at the Universitat de Barcelona (Emeritus Prof. Pelayo Camps). After completion of his PhD, he shifted focus to apply his synthetic experience to the construction of supramolecular architectures. In 2017, he joined the group of Dr. Agustí Lledó at iQCC - Universitat de Girona as a postdoctoral research associate to explore the host-guest properties of expanded self-folding cavitands for enzyme mimicry. In 2018, he moved to the group of Prof. Steve Goldup at the University of Southampton where he has developed novel synthetic methodologies for the synthesis of mechanically chiral interlocked molecules. As the next step in his career, David joined the Wezenberg group to further develop his scientific profile towards the application of supramolecular stimuli-responsive systems in transmembrane-associated biological processes. |
PhD Students
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David Villarón |
| David was born in Zurich in 1994. He obtained his BSc degree in Chemistry at the University of Salamanca in 2017 where he worked on the synthesis of enantioselective molecular receptors for amino acids. He completed his Master's degree at the Institute of Chemical Research of Catalonia in 2018, where he worked in the group of Prof. Pablo Ballester on the synthesis of calix[4]pyrrole scaffolds and the study of their binding properties towards anions and neutral molecules. Thereafter, he joined the Wezenberg group for his PhD research focusing on the development of photoresponsive anion receptors and transporters. |
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Jorn de Jong |
| Jorn de Jong was born in Assen. He obtained his BSc degrees in Chemistry and Chemical Engineering at the University of Groningen in 2017. During his BSc research project he worked on molecular motor-based receptors in the group of Prof. Ben Feringa. Afterwards, he stayed in the same group for an extracurricular research period in the field of asymmetric catalysis and for his Master's research project on stilbene-based switchable anion receptors. Jorn joined the group in November 2019 to work on mechanically interlocked switchable receptors. |
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Jasper Bos |
| Jasper was born in Groningen in 1995. In 2013 he started studying Chemistry at the University of Groningen where he obtained his BSc degree in 2017, working on the creation of a dissipative RNA system in the group of Prof. Sijbren Otto. For his MSc research he returned to the Otto group to work on the development of peptide-based self replicators, and to study their catalytic activity. Between May and July 2019 he was a visiting MSc student in the Wezenberg group, which he later in December 2019 rejoined as a PhD student to work on responsive anion channels. |
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Indigo Bekaert |
| Indigo grew up in Amsterdam and obtained her BSc degree in Chemistry at the University of Amsterdam in 2017 after a research project in the group of Prof. Joost Reek on tandem catalytic reactions in metallacages. She continued her studies with the joint degree programme of the University of Amsterdam and VU University Amsterdam. During this period, she carried out a research project in the group of Prof. Jan van Maarseveen on the synthesis of ring-functionalized [2]rotaxanes. For her Master's research project, she returned to the group of Prof. Joost Reek to work on the post-functionalization of covalent imine-based cages for catalytic in vivo applications. After obtaining her MSc degree, she joined the group in March 2020 to work on signal transduction in synthetic molecular systems. |
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Nol Duindam |
| Nol was born in the Netherlands in 1997 and obtained his bachelor's (2018) and master's degrees (2021) in Chemistry at the University of Groningen. During his BSc research, he worked on the synthesis of photoresponsive bis(biurea) ligands and their application in anion-templated self-assembly under the supervision of Dr. Sander Wezenberg. For his MSc research, he joined the group of Prof. Adri Minnaard to work on the total synthesis of isotope labelled archaeal lipids. He performed a research internship with Prof. Chris Hunter at the University of Cambridge, where he studied novel signal transduction systems in synthetic vesicles. In March 2021 he joined the Wezenberg group as a PhD student to develop stimuli-responsive phospholipids for the control of liposomal membrane permeability. |
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Sabine Langens |
| Sabine was born in Oss in 1996 and obtained her BSc degree in Molecular Life Sciences at the Radboud University in 2019 after a research project on the synthesis of a functionalized PEG-b-PDLLA polymer library in the group of Prof. Daniela Wilson. Afterwards, she continued her Master education in Chemistry at the Radboud University where she graduated in 2021. During this period, she returned to the group of Prof. Daniela Wilson to develop a supramolecular catalytic system based on polymersome. In August 2021 she joined the Wezenberg group as a PhD student to work on remotely controlled catalysis towards communicating systems. |
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Sofiia Emashova |
| Sofiia was born in Russia in 1998 and obtained her Specialist Degree in Fundamental and Applied Chemistry at Lomonosov Moscow State University in 2022. During her specialist research, she worked in Prof. Elena S. Shubina's group at the Nesmeyanov Institute of Organoelement Compounds of the Russian Academy of Sciences under the supervision of Dr. Alexey Titiov studying light-emissive macrocyclic pyrazolate complexes of coinage metals. In September 2022, Sofiia joined the Wezenberg group to work on light-switchable ion-pair hosts for cesium extraction. |
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Lin Xu |
| Lin grew up in Jinan (China) and obtained her BSc degree in Pharmaceutical Engineering at Qufu Normal University in 2019. Afterwards, she completed her MSc degree in Physical Chemistry at Shandong University in 2022, where she studied the self-assembly behavior of bolaamphiphles and their applications in flexible electronics in the group of Prof. Yaqing Liu. In November 2022 she joined the Wezenberg group as a PhD student to study phototunable conductivity in polymer hydrogels. |
MSc Students
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Robin van Damme |
| Robin was born and grew up in Groede (Netherlands) and obtained his BSc degree in Chemistry at the Avans University of Applied Sciences in 2021. During his final research project, he worked on homogeneous catalysts capable of producing aziridines out of alkenes in the group of Prof. Lies Bouwman at Leiden University. Following this, he started his Master’s degree at the same university where he followed a course given by Dr. Sander Wezenberg on Molecular Nanotechnology. This course inspired and motivated him to join the Wezenberg group for a research project, and he is now developing photoswitchable bimetallic catalysts. |
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Thierry van der Wielen |
| Thierry grew up in Nuenen and obtained his BSc degree in Molecular Science and Technology at both Leiden University and TU Delft in 2020. During his BSc project he worked on a photo-cleavable linker for expansion microscopy in the group of Prof. Alexander Kros. After a sabbatical year he started his Master's degree in Chemistry at Leiden University. The Supramolecular Chemistry lectures stimulated him to further study this subject. Especially photoresponsive systems caught his attention. He therefore joined the Wezenberg group to carry out his Master's research project on photoresponsive cages. |
Former Postdocs (and destination)
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Dr. Stefan Mommer January 2021 - June 2022 Ambizione Fellow, ETH Zurich |
Dr. Suchismita Saha September 2020 - February 2022 Postdoc with Prof. Max von Delius, University of Ulm |
Internship Students and Visitors
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Jorge Lopez June - September 2022 Visiting PhD Student, University of Murcia |
Marouscha Puister April - July 2021 BSc Student Internship, Leiden University |
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Leonardo Andreoni April - July 2022 Visiting PhD Student, University of Bologna |
Esteban Matador March - May 2020 Visiting PhD Student, University of Seville |
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Michelle van Dongen January - February 2022 HRSMC Short Rotation, University of Amsterdam |
Fabien Kohl September - November 2019 Visiting MSc Student, LMU Munich |
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Guido Brugman September 2020 - July 2021 MSc Student Internship, Leiden University |
Jasper Bos May - July 2019 Visiting MSc Student, University of Groningen |