11.12.2018: SALSA Speaker Prof. Janina Kneipp receives the Caroline von Humboldt Professorship Award 2019!
We are proud to report that SALSA Speaker Prof. Janina Kneipp is the 2019 awardee of the Caroline von Humboldt-Professorship!
Prof. Janina Kneipp, SALSA Speaker, photo: Martin Ibold, HU
Prof. Kneipp teaches at the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences in the Department of Chemistry at the Humboldt Universität zu Berlin (HU) and became a BAM Wilhelm-Ostwald-Fellow in 2012 for her intensive, cross-institutional collaboration with the Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing (BAM).
She has now been honoured with the Caroline von Humboldt-Professorship by HU for her innovative fundamental research and application-related results in spectroscopy at the interface of chemistry, physics and biology. Along with her outstanding international scientific reputation, she is highly committed to university self-administration and the promotion of junior researchers. According to the selection committee, she is an excellent scientist with great personal impact in all fields.
Read also the extensive interview with Prof. Kneipp.
Congrats, Janina!
13.11.2018: New results on liposome structure and interaction in J Phys Chem Lett by SALSA Fellow Vesna Zivanovic et al
Many of our SALSA Fellows are currently publishing their first, second or third papers. While we like to acknowledge as many successes as we can, we cannot manage to list everyone's accomplishments, so we like to give the spotlight to as many different people of our huge group as possible.
Today, we can proudly report that SALSA Fellow Vesna Zivanovic just published her paper “SERS and Cryo-EM Directly Reveal Different Liposome Structures during Interaction with Gold Nanoparticles”.
The paper was co-authored by Zdravko Kochovski (HZB), Christoph Arenz (HU Department of Chemistry and SALSA-PI), Yan Lu (HZB and UP) and SALSA Speaker Janina Kneipp.
Congrats, Vesna!
09.-12.10.2018: SALSA Summer University "Make and Measure in Analytical Sciences 2018"
In this year's SALSA Summer University, we want to continue our debate about Make & Measure. Make and Measure is a major guiding theme in the area of Analytical Sciences and in SALSA.
SALSA Fellows during presentations, SALSA Summer University 2017, photo: HU, Daniel Pasche
The theme is a prerequisite for understanding the function and dynamics of complex systems in chemistry, biology and materials sciences on the atomic and molecular scale. A synergistic and interdisciplinary integration of making new selective and sensitive chemical structures and designing new instruments and principles to measure will advance our comprehension of chemical systems, and their changes. In their work, analytical scientists have been working on making measurable what has not been before e.g., by designing new sensing structures and probes. Being able to combine different synthesis and detection approaches and to comprehend the underlying physico-chemical principles will help to solve future problems in many areas, such as biodiagnostics, proteomics, and chemical imaging.
All lectures during the SALSA Summer University are open to the public and take place on Campus Adlershof at Erwin-Schrödinger-Zentrum (HU Berlin).
21.09.2018: Former SALSA Julia Lermontova Fellow, Dr. Jenna Koenen, Tenure Track Assistant Professor at Technical University Munich
We are proud to announce that our former Julia Lermontova Fellow and Postdoc, Dr. Jenna Koenen, has received a Tenure Track Assistant Professorship in Chemistry Education at Technical University Munich.
Dr. Koenen joined SALSA in 2015 and during her two years of postdoctoral research at Humboldt-Universität, spearheaded and coordinated a full evaluation of our SALSA curriculum, while also supporting our doctoral researchers in Chemistry Education.
Find more information on Dr. Koenen and her work here and here.
Congratulations!
20.09.2018: New paper by SALSA Julia Lermontova Fellow Dr. Zsuzsanna Heiner in OSA Publishing - Optics Express
We are proud to report that Dr. Zsuzsanna Heiner’s research in the SALSA Photonics Lab has led to a paper in OSA Publishing – Optics Express titled
The abstract of the paper reads as follows:
“We demonstrate a dual-beam infrared optical parametric source featuring a noncollinear KTA booster amplifier and straightforward angular dispersion compensation of the idler beam. Through careful beam and pulse characterization, and high-harmonic generation in a crystalline solid, we show that the corrected idler beam is diffraction-limited, astigmatism-free, and compressible to its transform-limited, 5-cycle pulse duration. Pumped by only 40-µJ pulses at 1.03 µm, the parametric source delivers 7.8-µJ, 38-fs, 1.53-µm and 2.3-µJ, 53-fs, CEP-stable, 3.1-µm pulses at a repetition rate of 100 kHz. The scheme provides a promising route to scale the pulse energy and average power beyond PPLN- or KTA-based collinear OPA architectures.”
The paper was co-authored by Valentin Petrov, Günther Steinmeyer, Marc J.J. Vrakking and Mark Mero (all MBI).
25.-26.05.2018: I, Scientist - a conference on gender, career paths and networking for women (and men!) in science
After the huge success of 'I, Scientist' last year, SALSA is collaborating again with this year's conference on gender, career paths and networking. We are especially proud that some of our SALSA alumnae are involved in organising this year's event!
Talks include a keynote by Dr. Katharina Landfester, Director of the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research and a panel with Nobel Laureate in Chemistry, Prof. Dr. Ada Yonath. There willl be again various specialist talks and panels with female experts from all fields of science. Our SALSA speaker Prof. Dr. Ulrich Panne, president of the Federal Institute of Materials Research and Testing (BAM) will be part of a panel on “Equal Rites” – Why do we still talk about gender (in)equality in 2018?" and our PI Dr. Franziska Emmerling, Head of the division Structure Analysis at BAM, will be among the hosts of a plenary talk.
You can find the conference program here.
While parts of the program are exclusively for female scientists, we highly recommend the section on why men should attend the program.
The event takes place in Berlin-Adlershof (details on venues here).
23.04.2018: CGCA Young Researcher Award 2018 for Zhiyang Zhang!
Zhiyang presented his research topic "In-situ Characterization of Nanoparticle-catalyzed Reactions Using Surface-enhanced Raman Scattering" at the conference.
Three winners (including one first class and two second classes) are awarded each year.
Zhiyang Zhang joined SALSA in late 2014 and is being supervised by Prof. Janina Kneipp (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin) and Prof. Ulrich Panne (Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing, BAM).
Photo: Private, used with permission of the photographer (Shuhao Zhang, University of Potsdam) and those pictured. Pictured are, among others, the three awardees including Zhiyang Zhang (fourth from right), as well as Prof. Weihai Fang and Prof. Joachim Sauer, who presented the awards (third from right and fourth from left).
12.04.2018: Bunsen-Kirchhoff-Award 2018 for Dr. Zsuzsanna Heiner!
Video: Dr. Zsuzsanna Heiner talks about her research at SALSA Photonics Lab; video by HU Berlin
SALSA is proud to announce that today, Dr. Zsuzsanna Heiner, Head of our Photonics Lab and SALSA Julia-Lermontova-Fellow since 2015, has been awarded the Bunsen-Kirchhoff Award for Analytical Spectroscopy 2018 by GDCh at Analytica Munich!
She received the prestigious award in recognition of her outstanding developments in the field of vibrational sum frequency generation and its application to spectroscopic investigation of organic molecules.
Dr. Heiner is an amazing role model for our young female researchers - while working towards her PhD in physics in Hungary before 2013, she also became a teacher, discovered 13 asteroids and had two kids. Since 2015, she has been working tirelessly in building our SALSA Photonics Lab, supervising SALSA doctoral fellow Freeda Yesudas, teaching lab courses to our fellows and offering career talks to young female researchers in the Natural Sciences.
Learn more about Dr. Heiner and her research in the video portrait above or on her SALSA website. More information in German about her research may also be found here.
22.03.2018: Two best poster awards for SALSA 7th cohort Fellow Tom Lindtner!
Our 7th cohort Fellow Tom Lindtner was awarded at two conferences: He received best poster awards at both the HUJI Nano conference 2018 (Dead Sea, Israel) and at the 4th Bio-inspired Materials 2018 (Potsdam, Germany).
In his research, Tom Lindtner investigates the "incorporation of plant fibers into smart composite materials for 3D printing and casting pre-programmed robots".
Tom joined SALSA in late 2016 and is being supervised by Prof. Janina Kneipp (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin) and Prof. Rivka Elbaum (Hebrew University).
Photographs of the poster award certificates and the poster award winner Tom Lindtner (photo: Daniel Pasche, HU)
15.03.2018: Lab Tour and Career Talk with SALSA Julia Lermontova Fellow Dr. Zsuzsanna Heiner
In cooperation with the Women in Natural Sciences (WINS) program Adlershof, our Julia Lermontova Fellow and Head of our Photonics Lab, Dr. Zsuzsanna Heiner, will offer a lab tour and career talk on March 15th.
Dr. Zsuzanna Heiner and SALSA doctoral students during a lab course, photo: HU, Daniel Pasche
During this tour, Dr. Heiner will give a presentation on her current research at the SALSA Photonics Lab. She will also offer insights on her laboratory routine and her career path until today and, of course, on the School of Analytical Sciences Adlershof. The tour is aimed at doctoral students, postdocs and masters students.
14.03.2018: New paper by Freeda Yesudas, Dr. Zsuzsanna Heiner is editor's pick in AIP - The Journal of Chemical Physics
Dr. Zsuzsanna Heiner heads our SALSA Photonics Lab and in this framework has been working on a new setup for a while. With our Speaker, Prof. Janina Kneipp, Dr. Heiner also supervises our seventh cohort fellow Freeda Yesudas. We are proud to report that their research in the SALSA Photonics Lab has led to a paper in AIP - The Journal of Chemical Physics, with Freeda Yesudas as first author - and the paper has been made editor's pick as well!
Titled "Vibrational sum-frequency generation spectroscopy of lipid bilayers at repetition rates up to 100 kHz", the abstract of the paper reads as follows:
"Broadband vibrational sum-frequency generation (BB-VSFG) spectroscopy has become a well-established surface analytical tool capable of identifying the orientation and structure of molecular layers. A straightforward way to boost the sensitivity of the technique could be to increase the laser repetition rate beyond that of standard BB-VSFG spectrometers, which rely on Ti:sapphire lasers operating at repetition rates of 1-5 kHz. Nevertheless, possible thermally induced artifacts in the vibrational spectra due to higher laser average powers are unexplored. Here, we discuss laser power induced temperature accumulation effects that distort the BB-VSFG spectra of 1,2-diacyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine at an interface between two transparent phases at repetition rates of 5, 10, 50, and 100 kHz at constant pulse energy. No heat-induced distortions were found in the spectra, suggesting that the increase in the laser repetition rate provides a feasible route to an improved signal-to-noise ratio or shorter data acquisition times in BB-VSFG spectroscopy for thin films on transparent substrates. The results have implications for future BB-VSFG spectrometers pushing the detection limit for molecular layers with low surface coverage."
The paper was also co-authored by Prof. Janina Kneipp and Dr. Mark Mero (MBI) and can be found here.
05.03.-09.03.2018: Workshop "The biology and chemistry of biological silica" organized by SALSA Faculty Member Prof. Rivka Elbaum
A Workshop “The biology and chemistry of biological silica” is being organized by SALSA Faculty Member Prof. Rivka Elbaum at the Hebrew University Jerusalem (HUJ) in Rehovot, Israel. The workshop is part of a series of Joint Research Workshops that take place in 2018, financed by a new program to support joint research collaboration between HUJ and HU. During these workshops, faculty members from SALSA, together with other senior and junior researchers from HU and HUJ discuss new collaborative projects that are in the scope of the Make & Measure Initiative and work on new proposals for funding.
Prof. Rivka Elbaum (center right) with colleagues and doctoral students during a SALSA Summer University, photo: HU, Matthias Heyde
Silicon dioxide is a major component in soils, and thus ubiquitous in the environment. Deposition of silica in plants is an important starting point when discussing the interaction of organic molecules with inorganic nanoscaled structures. Learning from plants about silicification and other biomineralization processes can help to design new kinds of functional materials. In this project, new contacts are made between soil and plant scientists from HUJ and chemists from HU and HUJ, in order to elucidate the interaction of silicic acid and silica with plant and technical materials on the molecular and nano scale. The program includes seminars, discussions, as well as hands-on lab time and field trips.
The next Joint Research Workshop on The biology and chemistry of biological silica will take place in Adlershof in October 2018.
Find a feature on research done at HUJ, including parts of the ongoing collaboration between HUJ and HU within the framework of SALSA, here (in German).
15.02.2018: Our Alumna Dr. Dimitra Gkogkou was nominated for and represented SALSA at the Dissertation Prize Adlershof
Yesterday, our Alumna Dr. Dimitra Gkogkou represented SALSA at the Dissertation Prize Adlershof which was awarded for one of three outstanding dissertations in the year 2017. Dimitra presented her dissertation topic "Plasmonic nanostructures 'shining' new light on biosensing". She has done her doctoral research at the ISAS Berlin and at the Department of Chemistry at Technical University Berlin, defending and graduating in physics last summer. Her SALSA supervisors were Prof. Norbert Esser and Prof. Peter Hildebrandt.
While Dr. Raul Garcia Diez (PTB/TU) ultimately won the Adlershof Dissertation Prize, Dimitra's nomination included a 500 Euro award and constitutes an honor in itself. We are very proud of Dimitra having been nominated as one of only three young scientists on all of Campus Adlershof - congrats!
Dimitra Gkogkou, photo: HU, Matthias Heyde
More information on the event including abstracts of the talks can be found -> here.
06.02.2018, 11 am: Lecture by Prof. Dr. Martin Elsner
As part of the lecture series "Adlershofer Kolloquium Analytik", BAM and SALSA are pleased to present a lecture by Prof. Dr. Martin Elsner (Technische Universität München, Institute for Hydrochemistry; Chair of Analytical Chemistry and Water Chemistry & Helmholtz Zentrum München – Research Center for Environmental Health) on February 6th, 11 am.
Prof. Elsner will speak on the topic "Advancements in Compound-specific Isotope Analysis (CSIA): Perspectives for Studying Reaction Mechanisms in Complex Systems". The lecture is chaired by SALSA speaker Prof. Dr. Janina Kneipp (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin) and SALSA-PI Dr. Rudolf Schneider (Federal Institut for Materials Research and Testing, BAM).
The lecture takes place at BAM:
Federal Institut for Materials Research and Testing (BAM),
Branch Adlershof, Building 8.05, Lecture Hall
Richard-Willstätter-Straße 11
12489 Berlin
You can find more information and an abstract here.
04.01.2018: Research projects by SALSA Fellows Freeda Yesudas and Victor Rodriguez Zancajo are featured on the Berlin University Alliance web page
Berlin universities have been cooperating closely for decades and have been very successful in the Excellence Initiative since 2005. Within the framework of the current Excellence Strategy by the German Research Foundation and the German government, a Berlin University Alliance will apply for funding and further collaborative projects. In order to present some of their most sucessful projects so far, the Berlin Universities have established a new web page to highlight initiatives, people and projects in Berlin science.
We are very proud that two of our 7th cohort Fellows, Freeda Yesudas and Victor Manuel Rodriguez Zancajo, are featured with their projects to represent SALSA.
Read up on their research here (in German) and here (in English).
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Freeda Yesudas, photo: HU, Daniel Pasche |
Victor Manuel Rodriguez Zancajo, photo: HU, Daniel Pasche |
18.12.2017: SALSA poster session with awards for SALSA 7th cohort Fellows Nur Selin Kaya and Öznur Aglar
Following our yearly tradition for the holiday season, SALSA held a poster session at the HU Departments of Chemistry and Physics' seminar building on December 18th. Our jury consisted of both our speakers, Prof. Dr. Janina Kneipp and Prof. Dr. Ulrich Panne, as well as SALSA professor for Micro- and Nanoanalytics, Prof. Dr. Kannan Balasubramanian, and our Head of the SALSA Photonics Lab, Dr. Zsuzsanna Heiner.
Our 7th cohort Fellows Nur Selin Kaya and Öznur Aglar won this year's poster awards:
Nur Selin could convince our jury with her presentation and was awarded for best poster presentation, while Öznur Aglar showed the scientifically most interesting and original content and was thus awarded for best poster. Congrats, Nur Selin and Öznur!
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Nur Selin Kaya,
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Öznur Aglar, |
11.12.2017: Our Faculty Member Prof. Ilko Bald receives an ERC Grant for his project on "smart DNA" - Origami nanostructures to track individual molecules
One of chemistry’s greatest challenges is investigating reaction mechanisms at the level of single molecules. This can be performed using Raman spectroscopy – provided that molecules and metallic nanoparticles can be arranged with great precision. Based on a joint appointment by the Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -prüfung (BAM) and the University of Potsdam, Prof. Ilko Bald and his team are researching the arrangement of nanoparticles and molecules using DNA origami nanostructures. Prof. Bald received a prestigious ERC Consolidator Grant from the European Research Council (ERC) for this research. The award is endowed with around 2 million euros for setting up his own research group. A total of 2,538 applications have been submitted – of which only 329 are being supported as ERC Grant for pioneering research and scientific excellence.
“SMART DNA: Single-Molecule Analytical Raman Tools based on DNA nanostructures" is the project that will run for five years and be carried out at the University of Potsdam. The research group also includes four Ph.D. students from the Graduate School SALSA – School of Analytical Sciences Adlershof (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin), where Prof. Bald has been on the faculty since 2013.
In essence, it is about developing new tools that can be used to perform highly sensitive measurements on relatively complex molecules such as proteins to ultimately understand their reactions. "Above all, we are interested in reactions in which electrons are transferred from a nanoparticle to a molecule," explains Prof. Bald. "These reactions may, for example, play a role in cancer treatment with tumour radiotherapy." For this purpose, artificial DNA nanostructures are manufactured using the origami technique and functionalised by metallic nanoparticles. This enables studying chemical reaction mechanisms in great detail. This can help to develop new forms of treatment.
"We are very glad that Prof. Bald has joined ranks of the exclusive club of ERC grant recipients. As a research university we are very pleased about this special award and say congratulations to Mr. Bald on his great success," says the President of the University of Potsdam, Prof. Oliver Günther, Ph.D.
The techniques developed in the project can enable novel investigations on biomolecules that are relevant to a variety of research areas. “The ERC award emphasises the outstanding performance of the team headed by Prof. Bald," says BAM President and SALSA Speaker Prof. Ulrich Panne. "Within this joint project, the University of Potsdam and BAM are combining scientific know-how from analytical chemistry and nanotechnology to investigate specific questions from practice."
12.12.2017, 4:30 pm: Lecture by Prof. Maria Montes-Bayón
As part of our lecture series this winter semester, we are pleased to host a lecture by our SALSA Faculty Member Prof. Maria Montes-Bayón (Department of Physical and Analytical Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry, Universidad de Oviedo) on December 12th, 4:30 pm.
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Prof. Maria Montes-Bayón during the SALSA-KOSMOS Summer University 2014, photo: HU, Matthias Heyde |
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Prof. Montes-Bayón will speak on the topic "Combined Analytical and Bioanalytical Strategies to Address the Cellular Uptake and Management of Pt Drugs: A Focus on Cell Resistance". Her abstract reads as follows:
"Among antitumor drugs, cisplatin (cis-diamminedichloroplatinum (II)) is one of the most extensively used in cancer treatment, either alone or in combination with other drugs. However, intrinsic and/or acquired cellular resistance is one important drawback preventing its wider therapeutic use. The chemotherapeutic action of cisplatin is based on its capacity to damage DNA by covalently binding to N7-guanine residues, generating different types of adducts, such as those originated by inter and intrastrand crosslinks. Tumors can become resistant to cisplatin by a variety of processes, such as decreased uptake/influx or increased efflux of the drug; low apoptosis capacity due to hypermethylation of gene promoters; increased DNA repair activity and/or increased DNA adduct bypass activity. Since most of these processes are ultimately associated with the prevention of cisplatin–DNA adduct formation, or with their fast removal from the exposed DNA, the accurate detection and quantitation of Pt cellular uptake and formation of DNA adducts may be a valuable tool in the early prediction of resistance.
In this work we will revise the different strategies developed along the years in our research group that combine analytical methods with biological response parameters to address Pt response in cell models (sensitive and resistant to the drug respectively). In this regard, the evaluation of Pt uptake from different Pt-containing drug will be conducted using bulk cell analysis and recently developed single cell experiments.1 In both cases, inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) will be applied as the most sensitive Pt specific detector. In addition, the monitoring of Pt-DNA adducts in combination with multiple biological cell parameters such as apoptosis, cell cycle arrest, viability and DNA instability will be evaluated in order to obtain the best biomarker of resistance.2
1 M. Espina, M. Corte-Rodríguez, L. Aguado, M. Montes-Bayón, M. I. Sierra, P. Martínez-Camblor, E. Blanco-González and L. M. Sierra. Metallomics, 2017, 9, 564--574
2 M. Corte Rodríguez, R. Álvarez-Fernández García, E. Blanco, J. Bettmer, M. Montes-Bayón. Anal. Chem. 2017, 89, 11491−11497."
The lecture takes place at Erwin Schrödinger-Zentrum, room 0'119, and starts at 4:30 pm. Guests are welcome to attend the lecture.
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Zhijang Zhang, photo: private, Janina Kneipp |
Our 4th cohort Fellow Zhiyang Zhang won the best poster award at the International Conference on Surface Enhanced Raman Scattering held form December 5-9, 2017 in Xiamen, China. Zhiyang Zhang joined SALSA in late 2014 and is being supervised by Prof. Janina Kneipp (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin) and Prof. Ulrich Panne (Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing, BAM).
Congrats, Yang!
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07.12.2017: Science meets Business: Analytics on the Nanoscale
The Integrative Research Institute for the Sciences Adlershof (IRIS Adlershof) and Humboldt-Innovation hosted the 5th "Science meets Business" meeting on December 7th with the topic area - Analytics on the Nanoscale. SALSA speaker Prof. Janina Kneipp and SALSA-PI Prof. Kannan Balasubramanian were involved in the planning. Prof. Balasubramanian as well as SALSA Julia Lermontova-Fellow Dr. Zsuzsanna Heiner gave invited talks about their research.
05.12.2017, 4:30 pm: Lecture by Dr. Susanne Schröder
As part of our lecture series this winter semester, we are pleased to host a lecture by Dr. Susanne Schröder (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft-und Raumfahrt DLR) on December 5th, 4:30 pm.
Dr. Schröder will speak on the topic "Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) for Geochemical Analysis of Mars". Her abstract reads as follows:
"The first extraterrestrially employed LIBS instrument is ChemCam on NASA's Marsrover Curiosity, which has been successfully analyzing materials on the martian surface since the rover's landing in August 2012. Since then, the rover drove more than 17 km. ChemCam is composed of two instruments: a LIBS instrument for assessing the chemistry of targets in distances of up to 7 m and a Remote Micro- Imager (RMI) that provides high resolution context images. The LIBS measurements require relatively little time and energy, enabling that ChemCam data is taken almost on a daily basis on Mars. So far, over 500,000 ChemCam LIBS spectra of soils and rocks were recorded in Gale craters, analyzing more than 15,000 different spots and taking more than 7400 RMI images."
The lecture takes place at Erwin Schrödinger-Zentrum, room 0'119, and starts at 4:30 pm. Guests are welcome to attend the lecture.
28.11.2017, 4:30 pm: Lecture by Prof. Dr. Roderich D. Süssmuth
As part of our lecture series this winter semester, we are pleased to host a lecture by Prof. Dr. Roderich D. Süssmuth (Technical University Berlin, Biological Chemistry) on November 28th, 4:30 pm.
Prof. Süssmuth will speak on the topic "Snake Venomics: Fascination and Fear".
The lecture takes place at Erwin Schrödinger-Zentrum, room 0'119, and starts at 4:30 pm.
Guests are welcome to attend the lecture.
Two poster prizes at SciX 2017 and Research Forum Adlershof for SALSA Fellow Carlos Abad Andrade
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Carlos Abad Andrade, photo: HU, Daniel Pasche |
Our 7th cohort Fellow Carlos Abad Andrade won the poster prize award at the SciX 2017 conference, organised by FACSS in Reno, USA. This is the main poster prize of the 44th Annual North American Meeting of the Federation of Analytical Chemistry and Spectroscopy Socities. He also won the poster prize of the Research Forum Adlershof, an event organised jointly by Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, IGAFA and WISTA Management within the framework of the Berlin Science Week, only a couple of weeks later. Carlos joined SALSA in October 2016 and is working on a project on "Development of new analytical methods for fluroine determination using High Resolution Continuum Source Molecular Absorption Spectrometry (HC-CS-MAS)". Congrats, Carlos! |
27.10.2017, 3 pm: Lecture by Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Yukihiro Ozaki
SALSA has the honor of hosting Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Yukihiro Ozaki, Kwansei Gakuin University, Japan, for a lecture.
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Photo: HU, Daniel Pasche |
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Prof. Ozaki will speak on the topic "The mechanism of surface enhanced Raman scattering and its application".
The lecture takes place at Erwin Schrödinger-Zentrum, room 0'119, and starts at 3 pm.
Guests are welcome to attend the lecture and a small reception at ESZ afterwards.
SALSA speakers announce "Make & Measure" initiative
In time for the fifth anniversary of GSC 1013 School of Analytical Sciences Adlershof (SALSA), the speakers of the project announce the Make & Measure initiative, a joint effort by SALSA PI and other researchers from the Berlin and Potsdam region in order to secure funding for future research dedicated to Analytical Sciences.
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SALSA speakers Prof. Janina Kneipp and Prof. Ulrich Panne. Photo: HU, Matthias Heyde |
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The initiative is being launched in spite of the latest decision of DFG to not support further the pre-proposal for a cluster of excellence “Make & Measure - Driving Analytical Sciences”, a project that would have been an ideal environment for such research throughout the period of 2019-2025.
“Also without collaborating with such a successful cluster right away, SALSA will remain what it has become over the last years, a place where graduate students, postdoctoral and advanced researchers from chemistry, physics, biology and other fields interact, discuss, learn, and teach Analytical Sciences” says Janina Kneipp.
In order to acquire funding for research projects, the initiators, together with numerous researchers in Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Freie Universität Berlin, Technische Universität Berlin, Universität Potsdam, and international partners are planning to engage in a variety of efforts dedicated to multidisciplinary collaboration and graduate education in the framework of SALSA. Ulrich Panne emphasizes “Non-university partners on campus and in Berlin in general are important partners of HU. Analytical Sciences are an integral part of Adlershof, of its history and its bright future as Analytic City.”
How can we make identification of diseases via blood sample testing more precise? SALSA Fellow Christian Heck is working towards a possible solution. On October 10th, he won the regional contest Falling Walls Lab Adlershof on October 10th with his 3-minute pitch „Breaking the Wall of Biomarker Sensing“.
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Further information: |
Christian works on a collaborative project of Humboldt-Universität, the Federal Institute of Materials Research and Testing (BAM) and the University of Potsdam. He uses a refined SERS and DNA Origami combination technique to identify single protein molecules in test measurements. This method, further developed, may allow for an identification of small quantities of certain molecules in human blood and thus support diagnostics in the future.
As the winner of the regional contest, Christian will represent Berlin-Adlershof in the international Falling Walls Lab Finals on November 8th. He is one of only 100 young researchers, entrepreneurs and change agents who get the chance to pitch their ideas to an international jury. The three winners of the finals will each receive a money prize and present their projects in the framework of the main Falling Walls Berlin 2017 conference. |
Christian Heck. Photo: HU, Ralph Bergel
19.09.-21.09.2017: SALSA Summer University "Make and Measure in Analytical Sciences 2017"
In this year's SALSA Summer University, we want to continue our debate about Make & Measure. Make and Measure is a major guiding theme in the area of Analytical Sciences and in SALSA.
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photo: HU, Matthias Heyde |
The theme is a prerequisite for understanding the function and dynamics of complex systems in chemistry, biology and materials sciences on the atomic and molecular scale. A synergistic and interdisciplinary integration of making new selective and sensitive chemical structures and designing new instruments and principles to measure will advance our comprehension of chemical systems, and their changes. In their work, analytical scientists have been working on making measurable what has not been before e.g., by designing new sensing structures and probes. Being able to combine different synthesis and detection approaches and to comprehend the underlying physico-chemical principles will help to solve future problems in many areas, such as biodiagnostics, proteomics, and chemical imaging. |
All afternoon lectures during the SALSA Summer University are open to the public and take place on Campus Adlershof at Erwin-Schrödinger-Zentrum (HU Berlin). Find more details on the lectures here.
Two more publications for SALSA Fellow Seyed Mohsen Jebreiil Khadem
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Seyed Mohsen Jebreiil Khadem, photo: HU, Markus Braumann |
Seyed Mohsen Jebreiil Khadem published two more papers as first author in PHYSICAL REVIEW (E 95 (5), 052139 (2017)) and in Nature Scientific Reports 7,: 5614 (2017). The first paper deals with "Nonscaling displacement distributions as may be seen in fluorescence correlation spectroscopy", whereas the second is on "Spot variation fluorescence correlation spectroscopy by data post-processing". Seyed Mohsen is a member of the 5th cohort and is doing his research in the groups of Prof. Igor Sokolov at the Department of Physics, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and of Prof. Hans-Gerd Löhmannsröben at the Department of Chemistry at the University of Potsdam. |
Save the date, 29.06.2017: IRIS Symposium 2017 coming up
The Integrative Research Institute for the Sciences IRIS Adlershof invites to the one-day symposium IRIS 2017:
Date: Thursday, June 29, 2017
Location: Erwin Schrödinger-Zentrum, Raum 0'119
Rudower Chaussee 26, 12489 Berlin
The focus is on ideas for the further development of IRIS on the topics of Charge Density Control, Analytical Sciences, Matters of Computation and Matters of Activity.
The symposium will end with a BBQ at Gerdan's Café. All SALSA Fellows are invited to attend! Our speaker Prof. Janina Kneipp will host a panel on Analytical Sciences, during which Prof. Kannan Balasubramanian (Micro- and Nanoanalytics, SALSA/Department of Chemistry) will present as well.
Check out the schedule.
07.06.2017: SALSA Julia Lermontova-Fellow in Optical Microspectroscopy and Head of the SALSA Photonics Lab, Dr. Zsuszanna Heiner, publishes in APL Photonics
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Dr. Zsuzsanna Heiner, |
Dr. Zsuzsanna Heiner heads our SALSA Photonics Lab and in this framework has been working on a new setup. We are proud to report that her work within the SALSA Photonics Lab has led to a paper in APL Photonics, Volume 2, Issue 6, titled "Compact, high-repetition-rate source for broadband sum-frequency generation spectroscopy". Dr. Heiner's paper presents a high-efficiency optical parametric source for broadband vibrational sum-frequency generation (BB-VSFG) for the chemically important mid-infrared spectral range at 2800–3600 cm−1 to study hydrogen bonding interactions affecting the structural organization of biomolecules at water interfaces. The source consists of a supercontinuum-seeded, dual-beam optical parametric amplifier with two broadband infrared output beams and a chirped sum-frequency mixing stage providing narrowband visible pulses with adjustable bandwidth. Utilizing a pulse energy of only 60 μJ from a turn-key, 1.03-μm pump laser operating at a repetition rate of 100 kHz, the source delivers 6-cycle infrared pulses at 1.5 and 3.2 μm with pulse energies of 4.6 and 1.8 μJ, respectively, and narrowband pulses at 0.515 μm with a pulse energy of 5.0 μJ. The 3.2-μm pulses are passively carrier envelope phase stabilized with fluctuations at the 180-mrad level over a 10-s time period. The 1.5-μm beamline can be exploited to deliver pump pulses for time-resolved studies after suitable frequency up-conversion. The high efficiency, stability, and two orders of magnitude higher repetition rate of the source compared to typically employed systems offer great potential for providing a boost in sensitivity in BB-VSFG experiments at a reduced cost. The paper can be found here. |
Visit of the Vice President for Finance, Human Resources and Operations at Campus Adlershof on May 16th, two fellows representing SALSA!
For the upcoming visit of Vice President for Finance, Human Resources and Operations, Dr. Ludwig Kronthaler, at Campus Adlershof next week two of our doctoral students were selected to present their research during a Science Slam Gong Show! Dimitra Gkogkou from the second cohort will be talking about "Advancing analytical sciences and biosensing" and Shirin Usmani from the sixth cohort will give a talk about "Wood protection with nanoparticles".
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Dimitra Gkogkou, photo: HU, Matthias Heyde
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Shirin Usmani, photo: HU, Alexander Rentsch |
Thanks for representing SALSA, Dimitra and Shirin!
12.-14.05.2017: I, Scientist - a conference on gender, career paths and networking for women (and men!) in science
SALSA is collaborating with the upcoming 'I, Scientist' event, a conference on gender, career paths and networking. Talks include a keynote by Prof. Dr. Emmanuelle Charpentier, Director at the Max Planck Institute of Infection Biology, Berlin,an open talk by Anke Domscheit-Berg, entrepreneur, activist and publicist, and various specialist talks and panels with female experts from all fields of science. Our SALSA speaker Prof. Dr. Janina Kneipp will also host an expert table during the networking dinner.
You can find the conference program here.
While parts of the program are exclusively for female scientists, we highly recoomend the section on why men should attend the open program.
The event takes place in Berlin-Dahlem (details on venues here).
25.04.2017: Upcoming event: Lecture with Dr. Mark Lohmann, Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) on April 25th
On April 25th, SALSA presents a Lecture on the topic „Risk Perception and Risk Assessment - an important bundle for scientific policy advice” with Dr. Mark Lohmann, Unit Risk Research, Perception, Early Detection and Impact Assessment at the Department Risk Communication, Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR).
The lecture will start at 3 pm.
Location: Lecture Hall 0'101 at Erwin Schrödinger Zentrum, Rudower Chaussee 26, 12489 Berlin.
Details on the event including an abstract can be found here.
20.04.2017: SALSA Fellow Christian Heck publishes in ACS Photonics
Many of our SALSA Fellows are currently publishing their first (or subsequent) papers. We like to acknowledge as many as we can, and today, we can proudly report that SALSA Fellow Christian Heck just published his first paper on "Gold Nanolenses Self-Assembled by DNA Origami" in ACS Photonics.
Christian's research is a collaborative project between University of Potsdam, Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -prüfung (BAM) and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin; his PIs at SALSA are Prof. Ilko Bald (University of Potsdam, BAM) and Prof. Janina Kneipp (Department of Chemistry at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin). The paper can be found here.
Congrats, Christian!
photo: HU, Matthias Heyde
29.03.2017: Best Poster Award for our SALSA Fellow Youngeun Choi
Youngeun's research is a collaborative project between University of Potsdam und Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus-Senftenberg.
Her PIs at SALSA are Prof. Ilko Bald from University of Potsdam and Dr. Ute Resch-Genger from Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -prüfung (BAM).
Congrats, Youngeun!
photo: HU, Markus Braumann
28.03.2017: Writing Clinic with Prof. Renato Zenobi, ETH Zurich
On March 28th, our PI Prof. Renato Zenobi will visit SALSA to give a lecture for SALSA Fellows on how to effectively write a paper. Prof. Zenobi has been associated editor of the ACS Journal Analytical Chemistry since 2010 and will offer advice on the eternal questions we face when writing papers: How do you effectively write a good paper? What should you be careful with? What is the editor perspective of the publishing mechanism?
The lecture will take place in room 219/220, Albert-Einstein-Str. 5-9, 12489 Berlin-Adlershof, at 4:30 pm.
15.02.2017: First Lecture by Prof. Kannan Balasubramanian, new SALSA W3-professor in Micro- and Nanoanalytics
On February 8, 2017, SALSA-associated professor in Micro- and Nanoanalytics, Prof. Kannan Balasubramanian, held his first lecture at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. Prof. Balasubramanian gave a talk on "Label-free electronic (bio)sensing using carbon nanotubes and graphene", introducing one research focus of his group at the Department of Chemistry and SALSA, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. Kannan has already moved into our lab building with members of his group, Dr. Laura Zuccaro and doctoral fellows Anur Yadav and Nur Selin Kaya. We are thrilled to have Kannan working with us permanently and are looking forward to welcoming more members of his group in the coming months and years.
For more information on the research interests of Kannan Balasubramanian's group please visit the group webpage of Micro- and Nanoanalytics.
15.02.2017: Best Poster Award for our SALSA Fellow Gisa Meißner
Her research topic and the distinguished poster discuss the C−F bond cleavage that can be regarded as a challenging reaction step which opens up new reaction pathways for the synthesis of chemical building blocks. New catalytic processes for the C-F bond functionalization of otherwise hardly accessible substrates are presented using nanoscopic aluminium chloro fluorides (ACF, AlClxF3-x x = 0.05 – 0.3). Interaction of HSiEt3 with the Lewis-acidic surface presumatly generates a silylium-like species, which activates the C-F bond to induce Friedel-Crafts type reactions. In contrast, when HGeEt3 is used as hydrogen source a dehydrofluorination occurs by C=C bond generation. A first insight on the modified ACF surfaces was obtained by MAS NMR spectroscopy and Pulse thermal analysis.
Gisa is doing her research at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin at the group of Prof. Erhard Kemnitz and the group of Prof. Thomas Braun.
14.02.2017: Lecture by Dr. Freek Ariese on "Depth analysis of non-transparent samples using time-resolved Raman spectroscopy"
Dr. Freek Ariese from LaserLab, VU University Amsterdam, the Netherlands will present a lecture about "Depth analysis of non-transparent samples using time-resolved Raman spectrocopy".
Please also check our invitation to this lecture.
All guest are warmly invited to attend!
08.02.2017 Upcoming event: Colloquium with Prof. Kannan Balasubramanian on "Label-free electronic (bio)sensing using carbon nanotubes and graphene"
Prof. Kannan Balasubraminian will present a colloquium on the topic of "Label-free electronic (bio)sensing using carbon nanotubes and graphene" within the lecture series of the HU Department of Chemistry. This event will be his first public lecture at HU ("Antrittsvorlesung"). Prof. Balasubramanian holds a professorship in "Micro and Nanoanalytical Sciences" which has been recently established at the HU Department of Chemistry in cooperation with SALSA.
The colloquium will take place on Wednesday, February 8th, 3 pm.
Location: Lecture hall 0'07 in Walter-Nernst-Haus (Lehrraumgebäude, Newtonstr. 14, 12489 Berlin)
For further details on the colloqium, please check our announcement.
Best Poster Award for SALSA Fellow Carlos Zapata
Another award for another one of our SALSA Fellows! This one goes to Carlos Zapata: He received the Best Poster Award at the 4th International Conference on Molecular Simulation (ICM 2016) in Shanghai, China.
His results demonstrate counterion effects on the synthesis of molecularly imprinted polymers for fluorescent sensory microparticles.
Carlos is doing his research at the Zuse Institut Berlin in cooperation with the Federal Institute of Materials Research and Testing (BAM).
A successful season for SALSA Fellows
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Many of our Fellows attended their first big conference or published their first paper last summer. Just two of many highlights: Oleksandra Kuzmich got to present her research at the 21st International Mass Spectrometry Conference (IMSC 2016) in Toronto, Canada. She gave a talk on metal labelling as a detection functionality for tri-functional capture compounds to detect protein targets of small molecules. Oleksandra is doing her research in the group of Prof. Michael Linscheid at the Department of Chemistry, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, in cooperation with caprotec bioanalytics.
photo: HU, Matthias Heyde
Seyed Mohsen Jebreiil Khadem published his first paper as first author in PHYSICAL REVIEW (E 94, 022407 (2016)). His paper asks: What information is contained in the fluorescence correlation spectroscopy curves, and where? Seyed Mohsen is doing his research in the groups of Prof. Igor Sokolov at the Department of Physics, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and of Prof. Hans-Gerd Löhmannsröben at the Department of Chemistry at the University of Potsdam.
photo: HU, Markus Braumann |
21.07.2016 Upcoming event: SALSA- Lecture with Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Manfred Grasserbauer: Analytical Sciences and the “Grand Challenges”: a Stakeholder Perspective
On Thursday, 21st July Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Manfred Grasserbauer (Vienna University of Technology) will present on the topic: Analytical Sciences and the “Grand Challenges”: a Stakeholder Perspective.
The lecture will start at 3:00 p.m.
Location: Conference Room 0’119 in the Erwin-Schrödinger-Zentrum, Rudower Chaussee 26, 12489 Berlin-Adlershof
Details can be found here.
19.05.2016 - 20.05.2016 Congratulations to Yanlong Xing for winning Best Poster Award at RamanFest 2016
Our Fellow Yanlong Xing won a Best Poster Award during RamanFest 2016. Congratulations!
01.03.2016 SALSA lecture with Prof. Lia Addadi on February, 26th
photo: HU, Katharina Schultens
On February, 26th, we had a very interesting lecture with Prof. Dr. Lia Addadi (Weizmann Institute) entitled, 'On Biomineralization: structure-function relations and mechanisms of formation of some incredibly sophisticated biogenic materials'.
12.02.2016: New equipment has arrived in the SALSA Application Lab
An environmental scanning electron microscope (ESEM) JEOL JCM-6000 NeoScope (Nikon Metrology) equipped with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS, EDX) was installed in the SALSA Application Lab this week. Dr. Thomas Schmid is the contact person for any company enquiries. The SALSA Photonics Application Lab is supported by the Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und –prüfung (BAM).
photos: private, Thomas Schmid
21.12.2015 A belated congratulations to the winners of the SALSA November 2015 Poster Session!
On the 24th November, SALSA Fellows took part in a poster session. Lydia Olejko won the prize for best Poster Content, and Barbara Gonzalez won the prize for best Poster Design. Congratulations!
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Lydia Olejko: Best Poster Content Award photo: HU, Matthias Heyde |
Barbara Gonzalez: Best Poster Design Award photo: HU, Matthias Heyde |
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photos: HU, Katharina Schultens |
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05.10.2015 Congratulations to SALSA Fellow Nahla Abdel-Shafi on winning the Roland-Frei Poster Award!
photo: HU, Matthias Heyde
05.10.2015 SALSA PI Prof. Petra Dittrich is awarded the Heinrich Emanuel Merck Award for Analytical Science
Prof. Petra Dittrich (ETH Zürich) was awarded the prize for her work on immunological assays combined with microfluidic platforms for single-cell analysis. Prof. Dittrich was presented the award on September 10th, at the Euroanalysis 2015 Conference in Bordeaux. More information can be found here.
17.09.2015 SALSA PI Prof. Renato Zenobi wins the Fresenius Prize for outstanding achievement in nanoscale analytical methods
The prize is awarded for the development and enhancement of microscopic and spectroscopic methods along with their integration into mass spectrometry. Prof. Renato Zenobi received the prize at the Wissenschaftsforum Chemie of the Gesellschaft Deutscher Chemiker (GDCh) in Dresden on September 1. More information can be found here.
14.09. - 18.09.2015: SALSA Summer University
The SALSA Summer University 2015 on "Sensitivity & Selectivity in Analytical Sciences" hosted by School of Analytical Sciences Adlershof will take place on the Campus Adlershof from September 14-18, 2015. This summer university will focus on an integrative approach combining the key expertise from outstanding scientists.
In a creative and interactive learning environment young researchers from different backgrounds will work on different topics and discuss defined problems and solutions.
01.07.2015: SALSA Summer Get-Together
On July 1st, from 06:00 p.m. on, our Summer Get-Together will take place.
Location: Studentencafé MOPS (Motorenprüfstand), in front of the Chemistry Department in Adlershof
01.07.2015: Upcoming Colloquium with Dr. Harald John - "Detection and identification of protein-adducts with chemical warfare agents: relevance of mass spectrometry-based methods for verification and molecular toxicology"
On July 1st, Dr. Harald John (Bundeswehr Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Munich) will talk about "Detection and identification of protein-adducts with chemical warfare agents: relevance of mass spectrometry-based methods for verification and molecular toxicology" as part of the colloquium of the Department of Chemistry. Directly after the lecture, the SALSA Summer Get-Together will take place.
The lecture will start at 4:30 p.m.
Location: Walter-Nernst-Haus, Newtonstr. 14, 12489 Berlin, Marie-Curie-room 0'06
29.06.-03.07.2015: 6th SALSA Graduates Workshop
From June 29th to July 3rd, 19 international young researchers will take part in the 6th SALSA Workshop.
26.06.2015: SALSA Fellow Felix Rösicke published new paper in the journal Electrochemistry Communications
Felix Rösicke published a new paper entitled "Quantifying the electrochemical maleimidation of large area graphene" in the 57th volume of Electrochemistry Communications. Congratulations!
Click here for more information.
The topic was also mentioned in the official site of Adlershof (www.adlershof.de)
To read the full article (in German only) click here.
05.05.2015: Valeria Samsoninkova and Dimitra Gkogkou won the poster awards at the first SALSA Poster Session 2015
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Valeria Samsoninkova was awarded "Best Design" for her poster "Stiff and tough hybrid materials through bioinspired interfaces" at the first SALSA Poster Session 2015. Congratulations!
photo: HU, Matthias Heyde |
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Dimitra Gkogkou was awarded "Best Content" for her poster "Anisotropic plasmonic nanoparticle arrays for surface enhanced biosensors" at the first SALSA Poster Session 2015. Congratulations!
photo: HU, Matthias Heyde |
12.05.2015: Upcoming lecture with Prof. Peter Fratzl - “Multi-mode imaging of bone issues"
On May 12th, Prof. Peter Fratzl (MPI Golm) will talk about “Multi-mode imaging of bone issues”.
The lecture will start at 03:00 p.m.
Location: IRIS Building Adlershof, Zum Großen Windkanal 6, 12489 Berlin, room 0'07