Seminars

The Adolphe Merkle Institute organizes regular seminars during the autumn and spring semesters of the academic year. Top specialists from around the world are invited to present their research to AMI staff and other interested parties from the University of Fribourg community. These seminars are now usually held on Thursday mornings at 11:00 in the institute auditorium.

Contact for seminars

Prof. Jessica Clough, Mechanoresponsive Materials - more info and contact details  here.

Seminar archive

• 2023-2024

  Date	Speaker	Institution	Title	Place	Time
  July 4, 2024	Dr. Nicole Kleger	Sallea	Where Medtech and Food Science Meet - A Startup Journey	AMI	15:00
  June 27, 2024	Dr. Aurora Rizzo	CNR-Nanotec, Italy	Properties and reactivity of precursor inks: a reading key for understanding hybrid halide perovskite formation	AMI	13:30
  June 13, 2024	Dr. Sakshi Schmid	EPFL	Symmetry breaking drives protein assembly into a forbidden liquid-crystal phase	AMI	16:00
  June 6, 2024	Dr. Francesco Di Stasio	Italian Institute of Technology, Italy	Colloidal quantum dots for near-infrared optoelectronics	AMI	13:30
  May 29, 2024	Prof. Hatice Altug	EPFL	Integrated nanophotonics for life science and biomedical applications	AMI	15:00
  May 23, 2024	Prof. Tiffany Abitbol	EPFL	Nature-inspired hybrid biocomposites	AMI	16:00
  May 3, 2024	Prof. Anja Palmans	Eindhoven University of Technology, Netherlands	Folding single polymer chains into functional single chain polymeric nanoparticles	AMI	11:00
  April 18, 2024	Dr. Chloé Grazon	University of Bordeaux, France	From quantum dots to fluorescent organic nanoparticles: bright nanotools for biosensing	AMI	16:00
  April 11, 2024	Prof. Bilal Kaafarani	American University of Beirut	Ex-ducere transformative education: creating unique life-changing opportunities for the young minds and empowering tomorrow’s leaders	AMI	15:00
  March 21, 2024	Prof. Erika Eiser	Norwegian University of Science and Technology	Pathogen detection using selective clustering of DNA-coated colloids	AMI	16:00
  March 14, 2024	Prof. Luisa de Cola	Università degli Studi di Milano Statale, Italy	Hybrid and supramolecular (nano)materials for biomedical applications	AMI	16:00
  March 7, 2024	Dr. Franziska Lissel	Hamburg University of Technology, Germany	N-Heterocyclic Carbenes (NHCs): Conductive and Stable Anchors for Au-based Hybrid Materials and Devices	AMI	15:00
  February 28, 2024	Prof. David Leigh	University of Manchester, UK	Giving Chemistry Direction	AMI	14:00
  February 23, 2024	Dr. Jinghui Luo	Paul Scherrer Institute	Investigating and manipulating neurodegeneration-related protein oligomers using nanopore and x-ray techniques	AMI	16:00
  February 22, 2024	Dr. Fun Man Fung	National University of Singapore	Building bridges, not beaker walls: digital learning communities for inclusive chemistry education	AMI	13:30
  February 20, 2024	Prof. Frauke Graeter	Heidelberg Institute for Theoretical Studies, Germany	Mechano-sensing biomolecular systems	AMI	15:00
  February 15, 2024	Dr. Bruno Silva	Empa	From DNA-polymer-lipid nanoparticle assembly to liquid crystal dissolution in microfluidics: unravelling complex systems with fluorescence cross-correlation spectroscopy (FCCS) and small-angle x-ray scattering (SAXS)	AMI	16:00
  February 8, 2024	Prof. Takuji Adachi	University of Geneva	In situ optical spectroscopy to capture the birth of morphology	AMI	16:00
  January 25, 2024	Prof. Dusan Licina	EPFL	Particles around us: sources, exposures and control	AMI	16:00
  January 18, 2024	Prof. Katherine Elvira	University of Victoria, Canada	Building bespoke artificial cells and tissues on a chip for drug discovery	AMI	15:00
  January 11, 2024	Prof. Ana Akrap	University of Fribourg	Scientist demystified: Let's unfold the stereotypes together	AMI	16:00
  December 14, 2023	Prof. Francesca Cavalieri	University of Rome “Tor Vergata”, Italy	An engineered nanosugar enables rapid and sustained glucose-responsive insulin delivery in diabetic mice	AMI	16:00
  December 7, 2023	Dr. Lorant Csige	Institute for Nuclear Research, Hungary	Radioluminescence of 0-dimensional perovskite-analogues: fundamentals and some applications	AMI	16:00
  November 30, 2023	Prof. Pete Vukusic	University of Exeter, UK	Biological photonics: a holistic perspective	AMI	16:00
  November 16, 2023	Prof. Raffaele Mezzenga	ETHZ	LLCPS* vs LLPS: Analogies and differences (*LLCPS = Liquid-Liquid Crystalline Phase Separation)	AMI	16:00
  November 10, 2023	Dr. Helga Rietz	ETHZ	From Lab to Headlines: The Challenges of Science Communication	AMI	13:30
  November 2, 2023	Alessia Portieri and Laura Samperisi	ELDICO Scientific, Villigen	Electron Diffraction – An Innovative and Advantageous Tool for Structure Determination of Nanocrystalline Materials	AMI	16:00
  October 26, 2023	Ilaria Onori	Adolphe Merkle Institute	Healable supramolecular double polymer networks	AMI	16:00
  October 26, 2023	Martino Airoldi	Adolphe Merkle Institute	The role of interfaces in solid polymer electrolytes	AMI	16:00
  October 19., 2023	Prof. Tobias König	Leibniz Institute of Polymer Research, Germany	Functional metasurfaces by template-assisted self-assembly	AMI	16:00
  October 12, 2023	Weifan Luo	Adolphe Merkle Institute	Functional layered hybrid materials for photovoltaics	AMI	16:00
  October 12, 2023	Yuanjie Li	Adolphe Merkle Institute	Exploring reversible covalent bonds for improving single protein characterization in nanopores	AMI	16:00
  October 5, 2023	Dr. Ora Hazak	University of Fribourg	Dynamic signaling mechanisms in plant root development	AMI	16:00
  September 28, 2023	Edona Karakaci	Adolphe Merkle Institute	Plasmonic optical trapping for single-molecule conformational dynamics interrogation	AMI	16:00
  September 28, 2023	Alessandro Parisotto	Adolphe Merkle Institute	Bugs to beverages: using structural colours in food colouring	AMI	16:00
  September 20, 2023	Prof. William Shih	Harvard University, USA	Multi-micron crisscross structures grown from DNA-origami slats	UniFR Physics	17:00

• 2022-2023

  Date	Speaker	Institution	Title	Place	Time
  July 11, 2023	Dr. Stephan Dubas	Chulalongkorn University, Thailand	Multi-scale Self-assembly of Polyelectrolytes into functional composite coatings and membranes	AMI	15:00
  July 10, 2023	Prof. Hathaikarn Manuspiya	Chulalongkorn University, Thailand	Bacterial Cellulose: Light the way with sustainable materials	AMI	16:00
  June 22, 2023	Prof. Mahesh Kumar	Indian Institute of Technology	Growth and gas sensing properties of CVD-grown 2D Materials	AMI	14:00
  June 22, 2023	Dr. Adil Mughal	Aberystwyth University, UK	Packing problems, phyllotaxis and Fibonacci numbers	AMI	10:00
  June 15, 2023	Dr. Romolo Savo	Centro Studi e Ricerche Enrico Fermi, Italy	Linear and nonlinear disordered photonics with nanoparticles assemblies	AMI	16:00
  June 12, 2023	Dr. Giulio Ragazzon	Institut de Science et d’Ingénierie Supramoléculaires, Strasbourg, France	What are molecular ratchets and how might we use them?	AMI	16:00
  June 1, 2023	Prof .David Gonzalez Rodriguez	University "Autonoma" Madrid, Spain	Noncovalent synthesis: From chemically programmed "simple" molecules to complex, self-organized matter	AMI	16:00
  May 25, 2023	Wachara Chanakul	Adolphe Merkle Institute	Biological nanopore for protein sensing	AMI	16:00
  May 25, 2023	Anna Wald	Adolphe Merkle Institute	Trapping proteins in nanopores with salt gradient, introduction to modelling with COMSOL	AMI	16:00
  May 11, 2023	Dr. Miguel García Iglesias	University of Cantabria, Spain	Multifunctional supramolecular polymers: from nanostructured ferroelectric materials to self-assembled photosensitizers for photodynamic therapy	AMI	16:00
  May 3, 2023	Prof. Filip Du Prez	Ghent University, Belgium	Circular thermoset materials: merging academic and industrial principles	AMI	11:00
  April 24, 2023	Prof. Bengt Fadeel	Karolinska Institute, Sweden	Exploring the immunological effects of graphene and post graphene materials	AMI	16:00
  April 20, 2023	Dr. Bart Van Damme	Empa, Dübendorf	Assessing the dynamics of quasiperiodic beams and plates using scanning laser vibrometry	AMI	15:00
  April 6, 2023	Jessica Caldwell	Adolphe Merkle Institute	Analytical pathways for micro- and nano-plastic detection in environmental and biological systems	AMI	14:30
  April 6, 2023	Aura Moreno Echeverri	Adolphe Merkle Institute	An understanding of the accumulation of silica nanoparticles in the lysosomal compartments of macrophages upon	AMI	14:00
  March 30, 2023	Cristina Prado	Adolphe Merkle Institute	Improving copolymer-based electrolytes for Li batteries	AMI	16:00
  March 30, 2023	Christina Glaubitz	Adolphe Merkle Institute	From Powder to Cellular Response: Life Cycle of Nanoparticle Analysis	AMI	16:00
  March 23, 2023	Dr. Johannes C. Brendel	Friedrich Schiller University, Germany	Form follows function: Purposeful design of polymer nanostructures	UniFR Chemistry	16:00
  March 20, 2023	Dr. Sigita Trabesinger	Paul Scherrer Institute, Villigen	Analytical Approaches for Rechargeable Batteries	AMI	11:00
  March 17, 2023	Dr. Rosa Poetes	McKinsey, Switzerland	Why consulting? – A perspective	AMI	15:00
  March 16, 2023	Prof. Adria Leboeuf	University of Fribourg	Lessons from ants on collectively developing systems	AMI	16:00
  March 16, 2023	Dr. Jeanne Crassous	Université de Rennes, France	Helicenes: chiral platforms with fascinating properties	AMI	15:00
  March 9, 2023	Prof. Andrew Weems	University of Ohio, United States	3D/4D polymeric biomaterials for implantable tissue scaffolds	AMI	16:00
  March 2, 2023	Prof. Catarina Esteves	TU Eindhoven, the Netherlands	Functional polymer coatings with designed interactions with water	AMI	15:30
  February 24, 2023	Prof. Michele Laus	University of Eastern Piemonte, Italy	Shadows and fog in grafting to from melt	AMI	11:00
  February 16, 2023	Prof. Eric Dufresne	ETH Zürich	Living Droplets Get to Work	AMI	16:00
  February 9, 2023	Kenza Djeghdi	Adolphe Merkle Institute	Elucidation of self-assembled diamond-like 3D structures	AMI	16:00
  February 9, 2023	Marian Reincke	Adolphe Merkle Institute	Trapping of single proteins in nanopores with salt gradients	AMI	16:00
  February 2, 2023	Prof. Damiano Genovese	University of Bologna, Italy	Luminescent (nano)probes for quantitative imaging	AMI	16:00
  January 19, 2023	Prof. Davide Comoretto	University of Genoa, Italy	Polymer and hybrid nanostructures for sustainable photonics	AMI	16:00
  December 15, 2022	Phattadon Yajan	Adolphe Merkle Institute	From 3D light to 3D electron microscopy: a closer look at responsive cell material interfaces	AMI	16:00
  December 15, 2022	Minh Tri Nguyen	Adolphe Merkle Institute	Improving electrode materials performance in li-ion batteries: additives and nanostructure	AMI	16:00
  November 24, 2022	Dr. Reiko Oda	Institut Européen de Chimie et Biologie, France	Chiral molecules to chiral functional nanoobjects	AMI	16:00
  November 17, 2022	Prof. Angelo Monguzzi	University of Milano Bicocca, Italy	Sensitized triplet-triplet annihilation-based photon upconversion: principles, evolution, and perspectives	AMI	16:00
  November 3, 2022	Dr. Emad Oveisi	EPFL	Transmission electron microscopy in materials science	AMI	16:00
  October 27, 2022	Prof. Joris Sprakel	Wageningen University, Netherlands	Tiny Green Ninjas: How plant killers exploit soft matter mechanics to infect their hosts	AMI	16:00
  October 20, 2022	Chris Rader	Adolphe Merkle Institute	Cellulose nanocrystals and their roles in nanocomposites	AMI	16:00
  October 20, 2022	Andrea Palumbo	Adolphe Merkle Institute	Synthesis and characterization of mesostructured electrodes for li-ion batteries	AMI	16:00
  October 13, 2022	Prof. Denise Mitrano	ETHZ	Smaller plastics, bigger problems? Impacts of nano and microplastics on environmental systems	AMI	16:00
  October 6, 2022	Franziska Marx	Adolphe Merkle Institute	Healable metallosupramolecular polymers	AMI	16:00
  October 6, 2022	Andriy Lubskyy	Adolphe Merkle Institute	Engineering myoglobin for new-to-nature radical reactions	AMI	16:00
  September 22, 2022	Prof. Dominik J. Kubicki	University of Warwick, UK	New approaches to determining the atomic-level structure of advanced materials	AMI	16:00
  September 21, 2022	Prof. Jeffrey Pyun	University of Arizona, USA	Controlling Light with Polymers: Next Generation Plastics Optics for Infrared Imaging and Photonics	AMI	16:00
  September 20, 2022	Prof. Nasim Annabi	UCLA, USA	Microengineered bioadhesive hydrogels for drug delivery and tissue engineering	AMI	16:00

• 2021-2022

  Date	Speaker	Institution	Title	Place	Time
  August 25, 2022	Prof. Brendon Baker	University of Michigan, USA	Biomaterial strategies for studying and controlling cell-cell communication via cellular traction forces during vasculogenic assembly	AMI	16:00
  July 13, 2022	Prof. Antonio Guerrero	Universitat Jaume I, Spain	From photovoltaics to memory applications in the case of hybrid perovskites	AMI	14:00
  June 30, 2022	Prof. Josué Sznitman	Technion – Israel Institute of Technology	Advancing in vitro pulmonary platforms for ventilation and inhalation assays	AMI	16:00
  June 23, 2022	Prof. Antonia Neels	Empa Dübendorf	Tailoring (nano)materials by X-ray analytics for targeted biomedical applications	AMI	16:00
  June 20, 2022	Prof. Kathryn Daltorio	Case Western Reserve University, USA	Robotics in Invertebrate Environmental Niches, Lessons from worms and crabs to traverse challenging terrain	AMI	16:00
  June 3, 2022	Prof. Yoan Simon	University of Southern Mississippi, USA	Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue	AMI	15:30
  June 3, 2022	Prof. Ognjen Miljanic	University of Houston, USA	Greenhouse Gas Capture in Porous Molecular Crystals	AMI	14:00
  June 2, 2022	Mauro Sousa De Almeida	Adolphe Merkle Institute	Exploiting nanoparticle endocytosis to improve therapeutic strategies	AMI	16:00
  June 2, 2022	Eva Susnik	Adolphe Merkle Institute	Modulating nanoparticle delivery by cell stimulation with bio-inspired molecules	AMI	16:00
  May 19, 2022	Prof. Kerstin Koch	Rhein-Waal University, Germany	Plant surface structures and wettability under static and dynamic impact of oil and water droplets	Online	16:00
  May 12, 2022	Prof. Mathias Kolle	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	Manipulating light and color with soft and structured matter	Online	16:00
  May 5, 2022	Dr. Robert Göstl	DWI – Leibniz-Institut für Interaktive Materialien, Germany	From mechanofluorescence to sonopharmacology: using polymer mechanochemistry to activate latent function	AMI	15:00
  April 28, 2022	Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Tress	ZHAW School of Engineering	Ion migration in hybrid perovskite materials and devices	AMI	15:00
  April 21, 2022	Prof. Wilhelm Huck	Radboud University, Nijmegen, Netherlands	Towards Big Chemistry	AMI	16:00
  April 14, 2022	Dr. Matthew Baker	University of Maastricht, Netherlands	Macromolecular design for biofabrication	AMI	16:00
  April 7, 2022	Derek Kiebala	Adolphe Merkle Institute	Deformation signaling in polymeric materials via non-sacrificial interactions	AMI	16:00
  April 7, 2022	Aaron Lee	Adolphe Merkle Institute	NanoRoomba: a "bottom-up" approach to particle-cell interactions	AMI	16:00
  March 10, 2022	Prof. Remco Tuinier	TU Eindhoven, Netherlands	Colloids and the Depletion Interaction: Basics and Relevance in Life Science	AMI	16:00
  March 3, 2022	Prof. Dr. Ileana-Cristina Benea-Chelmus	EPFL	Hybrid metasurfaces enable free-space active photonics	AMI	16:00
  February 24, 2022	Parnian Ferdowsi	Adolphe Merkle Institute	Wide Band-gap Perovskite Solar Cells	AMI	16:00
  February 24, 2022	Doha Abdelrahman	Adolphe Merkle Institute	Directed Self-assembly of Triblock Terpolymers by Chemical Guiding Patterns	AMI	16:00
  February 10, 2022	Prof. Kira Astakhova	Technical University of Denmark	Early-stage detection of genomic instability and targeted delivery of gene therapeutics by means of oligonucleotide conjugates	Online	16:00
  December 13, 2021	Rafic Hanbali	Kromatix	Technology and sustainability - the architecture of tomorrow	AMI	16:00
  December 2, 2021	Dr. Gioele Balestra	School of Engineering and Architecture of Fribourg	Challenges and opportunities of the inkjet technology and its application to bioprinting	AMI	16:00
  December 2, 2021	Raphaël Wenger	Droptimize	Challenges and opportunities of the inkjet technology and its application to bioprinting	AMI	16:00
  November 11, 2021	Prof. Rachel Grange	ETH Zurich	Nonlinear and electro-optic metal-oxides for photonic devices	AMI	16:00
  October 28, 2021	Stéphane Hess	Adolphe Merkle Institute	Recognition of proteins by Random Forest based on nanopore sensing data	AMI	16:00
  October 14, 2021	Shuran Xu	Adolphe Merkle Institute	Fast simulation of protein sensing in a nanopore using arbitrary shaped bead clusters	AMI	16:00

• 2020-2021

  Date	Speaker	Institution	Title	Place	Time
  September 9, 2021	Hanna Traeger	Adolphe Merkle Institute	Non-covalent loop mechanophores for strain sensing	Online	16:00
  September 9, 2021	Giovanni Spiaggia	Adolphe Merkle Institute	A near-infrared mechanically switchable elastomeric film as a dynamic cell culture substrate	Online	16:00
  June 24, 2021	Dr Sang Soon Oh	Cardiff University, UK	Light-matter interaction in photonic topological insulators	Online	16:00
  June 17, 2021	Dr. Fabienne Schwab	Adolphe Merkle Institute	Developing a safe-by-design nanoagrochemical	Online	16:00
  June 10, 2021	Dr. Guillaume De Bo	University of Manchester, UK	Controlling reactivity under tension	Online	16:00
  May 6, 2021	Prof. Scott McNeil	University of Basel, Switzerland	Nanomedicines: now with map and compass	Online	16:00
  April 22, 2021	Prof. Bettina V. Lotsch	Max-Planck-Institut für Festkörperforschung, Stuttgart & Department of Chemistry, University of Munich, Germany	Bridging energy conversion and storage in two-dimensional molecular frameworks	Online	16:00
  April 8, 2021	Dr. Walter Federle	University of Cambridge, UK	Biomechanics of Insect Adhesion	Online	16:00
  April 1, 2021	Prof. Yana Vaynzof	Technical University Dresden, Germany	Reproducibility in Perovskite Solar Cells	Online	15:30
  March 4, 2021	Dr. Luca Porcarelli	Deakin University, Melbourne, Australia	Single–Ion Conducting Polymer Nanoparticles as Functional Fillers for Solid Electrolytes in Lithium Metal Batteries	Online	09:00
  February 11, 2021	Prof. Maria H Godinho	University NOVA of Lisbon, Caparica, Portugal	Hierarchical cellulose-based chiral structures	Online	16:00
  January 28, 2021	Prof. Albert Schenning	Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, The Netherlands	Bio-inspired polymer sensors and actuators	Online	16:00
  December 17, 2020	Antonio Günzler	Adolphe Merkle Institute	Shaping perovskites: In-situ crystallisation mechanism of rapid-thermally annealed, pre-patterned perovskite films	Online	16:00
  December 17, 2020	Trevor Kalkus	Adolphe Merkle Institute	The Green Lean Amine Machine: Generating Electrical Power Using Ion Gradients Established by Capturing CO2 in Breath	Online	16:00
  December 10, 2020	Dr. Dafni Moatsou	Karlsruhe Institute of Technology	Functional and degradable copolymers by harnessing the kinetics of metathesis reactions	Online	16:00
  December 3, 2020	Prof. Thomas Epps	University of Delaware, United States	From Biomass Waste to Performance-Advantaged Polymers: Efficient Routes to Lignin Valorization	Online	16:00
  November 26, 2020	Prof. em. Derek Gray	McGill University, Canada	Preparation and Properties of Cellulose Nanocrystals	Online	16:00
  November 20, 2020	Dr. Peter Wick	EMPA, St Gallen, Switzerland - SwissNational COVID-19 Science Task Force	COVID-19 & face masks: What we know, how they contribute and which are the remaining challenges	Online	14:00
  November 19, 2020	Irini Dijkhoff	Adolphe Merkle Institute	Simulating the impact of diesel exhaust particles in a human in vitro epidermal model	AMI/online	16:00
  November 19, 2020	Manuela Estermann	Adolphe Merkle Institute	Design of a human omentum model to study ovarian cancer cell spreading	AMI/online	16:00
  November 5, 2020	Alexandre Redondo	Adolphe Merkle Institute	Cellulose nanocrystal / polyurethane nanocomposites	AMI/online	16:00
  November 5, 2020	Baptiste Monney	Adolphe Merkle Institute	Photopatternable, mechanically adaptive polymers for intracortical electrodes	AMI/online	16:00
  October 29, 2020	Prof. Wanda Kukulski	University of Bern, Switzerland	The molecular landscape of growing human axons	Online	16:00
  October 1, 2020	Prof. Michael P. Shaver	University of Manchester, UK	Sustainable and Functional Polymers from Monomers to Systems	Online	16:00
  September 17, 2020	Dr. Géraldine Guex	AO Research Institute, Davos, Switzerland	Functional materials to address scar formation and bacterial infection of skin wounds	Online	16:00

• 2019-2020

  Date	Speaker	Institution	Title	Place	Time
  September 4, 2019	Prof. Carlos Silva	Georgia Institute of Technology, USA	The complex dynamic energy landscape hosting excitons in 2D perovskites	AMI	16:00
  September 23, 2019	Prof. Sébastien Balme	Institut Européen des Membranes, Université de Montpellier, France	Biomimetic nanopores for biomacromolecules and protein aggregates sensing	AMI	16:00
  October 8, 2019	Dr. Jovana Milic	EPFL	Supramolecular engineering for hybrid perovskite photovoltaics	AMI	16:00
  October 24, 2019	Dr. Dimitri Vanhecke	Adolphe Merkle Institute	The focused ion beam at the Adolphe Merkle Institute	AMI	16:00
  November 7, 2019	Dr. Pierangelo Gröning	EMPA, Dübendorf, Switzerland	Nanostructured materials: function follows structure	AMI	16:00
  November 14,2019	Gogol Guha	BioPhysics, Adolphe Merkle Institute	Temperature-Controlled Single-Liposome Proton Permeability Assay of Extremophile-Inspired Lipid Membranes	AMI	16:00
  November 14, 2019	Lukas Steinmetz	BioNanomaterials, Adolphe Merkle Institute	Lock-in thermography for the detection and characterisation of nanomaterials	AMI	16:00
  November 14, 2019	Narjes Abdollahi	Soft Matter Physics, Adolphe Merkle Institute	Silver gyroid metamaterial: synthesis and chemical stability	AMI	16:00
  December 12, 2019	Prof. Vinod Saranathan	Yale NUS College, Singapore	Evolutionary photonics: quasi order and order in biophotonic nanostructures	AMI	16:00
  December 18, 2019	Aris Kamtsikakis	Polymer Chemistry & Materials, Adolphe Merkle Institute	Cuticle-inspired membranes displaying asymmetric permeation properties	AMI	16:00
  December 18, 2019	Johannes Bergmann	Soft Matter Physics, Adolphe Merkle Institute	Wrinkling as a means to control insect adhesion	AMI	16:00
  January 9, 2020	Prof. Jeremy J. Baumberg	University of Cambridge, UK	Plasmonic Forces at the nano- and pico-scale for NanoMachines	AMI	16:00
  January 16, 2020	Dr. Axel Hochstetter	Saarland University, Germany	Artificial blood brain barriers and the biophysics of life	AMI	16:00
  January 29, 2020	Dr. Aziz Fennouri	Adolphe Merkle Institute	Design of peptide pores with tunable diameters	AMI	16:00
  January 30, 2020	Prof. Bart Jan Ravoo	University of Münster, Germany	Photoresponsive soft materials made by molecular self-assembly	AMI	16:00
  February 6, 2020	Prof. Athina Anastasaki	ETHZ	Pushing ATRP to the limits: controlling dispersity and understanding oxygen tolerant polymerization	AMI	16:00
  February 13, 2020	Prof. Katharina Maniura	EMPA	Soft biomaterial interfaces to steer cell and tissue response	AMI	16:00
  February 20, 2020	Prof. Véronique Michaud	EPFL	Tough and healable structural composite materials	AMI	16:00
  February 27, 2020	Livia Bast	Adolphe Merkle Institute	Plant-leaf mimetic coating of surfaces with waxes and proteins	AMI	16:00

• 2018-2019

  Speaker	Institution	Title
  Dr. Tom Schroeder	BioPhysics, Adolphe Merkle Institute	Energy Conversion from Gradients across Bio-Inspired Membranes
  Luis Miguel Olaechea	Polymer Chemistry & Materials, Adolphe Merkle Institute	Stimuli-responsive metallosupramolecular polymers containing platinum
  Prof. Thomas P. Russell	University of Massachusetts Amherst, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab & Beijing University of Chemical Technology	3D printing of adaptive, structured liquids
  Prof. Felix Schacher	Friedrich-Schiller University Jena, Germany	Charge control in polymeric materials – from reversible adsorption to catalytically active block copolymer membranes
  Prof. Erik Berda	University of New Hampshire	Functional nanomaterials from single polymer chains
  Prof. Bruno Ehrler	AMOLF	Beyond solar cell efficiency limits with down conversion and tandem solar cells
  Prof. Claudia Bagni	University of Lausanne	Gender equality in academia - myth and reality
  Prof. Marleen Kamperman	Wageningen University	Bioinspired complex coacervate-based adhesives
  Prof. Giulia Rossi	University of Genoa	Nanoparticle-protein and nanoparticle-lipid interactions: insights from molecular dynamics simulations
  Hana Barasova	BioNanomaterials, Adolphe Merkle Institute	3D human lung co-culture model cultured at the air-liquid interface to assess the (pro-)fibrotic potential of carbon nanotubes
  Philipp Lemal	BioNanomaterials, Adolphe Merkle Institute	Magnetic nanoparticles: a multifunctional approach to modern cancer therapy
  Prof. Kaori Sugihara	University of Geneva	Can antimicrobial peptides be an antibiotic alternative? Fundamental studies and tool development
  Prof. Iván Mora-Seró	Jaume I University, Spain	Halide Perovskite Becomes Nano
  Prof. Jean-François Lutz	Institut Charles Sadron, University of Strasbourg	Digital Polymers: Emergence of a new class of functional macromolecules
  Dr. Guiomar Hernández	Uppsala University, Sweden	The Role of Polymers in Batteries
  Prof. Melissa A. Grunlan	Texas A&M University, College Station	Orthopedic Biomaterials Enabled by Network Architecture
  Mathias Weyland	ZHAW School of Engineering & Adolphe Merkle Institute	Co-evolving model parameter search using cell survival and time-resolved comet data: A holistic view on the synergistic effect of hyperthermia and radiotherapy
  Olivia Eggenberger	BioPhysics, Adolphe Merkle Institute	Protein Sensing with Lipid-Coated Synthetic Nanopores
  Mirela Malekovic	Soft Matter Physics, Adolphe Merkle Institute	Organic/inorganic vapour sensors inspired by nature
  Prof. Craig Brodersen	Yale University (Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies)	A multi-method approach for studying leaf optics and the effect of diffuse vs. direct light on photosynthesis
  Dr Andreas Bruder	Laboratory of Applied Microbiology, SUPSI, Bellinzona	Anthropogenic impacts on the ecological roles of aquatic hyphomycetes
  Prof. Stefan Salentinig	Department of Chemistry, University of Fribourg	Food- and Digestion-Inspired Nano-Biointerfaces for Drug Delivery
  Prof. Nitash Balsara	University of California, Berkeley, USA	Ohm’s Law for Polymer Electrolytes and the Clean Energy Landscape
  Prof. Pol Besenius	Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz, Germany	Transient Supramolecular Materials Mediated by Redox-Responsive Subunits
  Samuel Raccio	Macromolecular Chemistry, Adolphe Merkle Institute	Polymerization-based amplification as a tool for malaria diagnostics
  Cédric Kilchoer	Soft Matter Physics, Adolphe Merkle Institute	Block copolymer-based plasmonic materials
  Prof. Gerd Schröder-Turk	Murdoch University, Perth, Australia	What makes for a 'good' disorder: a simple mechanism that leads to hyperuniform order
  Prof. Anja Palmans	Department of Chemical Engineering and Chemistry, TU Eindhoven, The Netherlands	Folded amphiphilic polymers in aqueous media: towards enzyme-like catalysis
  Prof. Stuart Rowan	Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering and Department of Chemistry, University of Chicago, IL, USA	Design and Synthesis of Adaptive Polymeric Materials and Unusual Polymer Architectures
  Prof. Ulrich Wiesner	Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Cornell University, NY, USA	Block copolymer directed organic-inorganic hybrid materials: From Polycrystalline Samples to Bulk Single Crystal

• 2017-2018

  Speaker	Institution	Title
  Dr. Andreas Herrmann	Firmenich SA, Switzerland	Photolabile Profragrances - from Organic Chemistry to Material Sciences
  Prof. Cordt Zollfrank	Technical University of Munich, Straubing, Germany	Biotemplating as a route to advanced structural and functional materials
  Dominic Urban	Adolphe Merkle Institute	Taylor dispersion analysis. Expanding the characterization techniques of nanoparticles
  Federica Crippa	Adolphe Merkle Institute	Magneto-responsive substrates for cell culture
  Prof. Jan Eijkel	University of Twente, Enschede, The Netherlands	Nanofluidics for nanomachining, energy generation and cavitation
  Dr. Florian Johann	Oxford Instruments, Asylum Research AFMs	Video-rate AFM enables new research opportunities
  Prof. Andreas Walther	Albert Ludwigs University of Freiburg, Germany	Static and dynamic bio-inspired self-assembled material systems
  Dr. Claire Hansell	Nature, London, UK	Publishing science in Nature - an editor's perspective
  Prof. Mélanie Auffan	CEREGE – European Geosciences Center, Aix-en-Provence, France	Indoor mesocosms: an integrated approach to assess the environmental risks of nanomaterials
  Ana Milosevic	Adolphe Merkle Institute	Functionalized gold nanoparticles and their cellular fate
  David Bossert	Adolphe Merkle Institute	Quantification of Silicon Dioxide Nanoparticles Leaching from Wood
  Prof. Emily Cranston	McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada	Cellulose nanocrystal hydrogels and aerogels for functional nanoparticle devices and tissue engineering
  Prof. Evelyne van Ruymbeke	Université catholique de Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium	Decoding the viscoelastic response of supramolecular entangled polymers
  Prof. Alan Russell	Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA	Polymer-Enhanced Biomacromolecular Systems
  Omar Rifaie Graham	Adolphe Merkle Institute	Marine glow biomimicry by nucleobase-containing force responsive polymersome nanoreactors
  Karolina Korzeb	Adolphe Merkle Institute	Controlled self-assembly of block copolymer templates for optical metamaterials
  Marc Karman	Adolphe Merkle Institute	Mechanically triggered fluorescence change in polymers
  Dr. Erik Thiele	DuPont Performance Materials, Geneva, Switzerland	R&D in a global science company: How things work
  Prof. David Haviland	KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden	Measuring and modeling viscoelasticity with the AFM
  Prof. Gary E. Wnek	Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio USA	Observations Regarding Poly(acrylic acid) Gels and Fibers
  Prof. Jon K. Pokorski	Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio USA	Protein/Polymer Composites for Medical Applications
  Preston Sutton	Adolphe Merkle Institute	3 questions about batteries including why my cell phone’s is so bad
  Céline Calvino Carneiro	Adolphe Merkle Institute	Towards mechanochromic materials based on non-covalent interactions
  Anne-Cécile Ferahian	Adolphe Merkle Institute	Structure-property studies of isophthalic acid-pyridine (ipa-py) based supramolecular polymers
  Edward Apebende	Adolphe Merkle Institute	Synthesis and characterization of force-responsive block copolymers
  Dr Peter Nirmalraj	Adolphe Merkle Institute	Challenges and opportunities in molecular imaging at the liquid-solid interface
  Prof. Damien Thompson	University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland	Nanoscale computer-aided design of supramolecular materials
  Sandy Sanchez Alonso	Adolphe Merkle Institute	Flash infrared annealing for perovskite solar cells
  Sebastian Ulrich	Adolphe Merkle Institute	Functionalized amphiphilic polymer co-networks from active ester precursors
  Prof. Michael Nash	University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland	Engineering multi-enzyme complexes using single-cell and single-molecule studies
  Prof. Anders Hagfeldt	EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland	The versatility of mesoscopic solar cells
  Prof. Serena Corr	University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK	Microwave-assisted synthesis of new materials for safer, all solid-state batteries
  Prof. Emily Pentzer	Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio USA	Functional composite materials architected from 2d nanoparticle surfactants
  Prof. Niels Holten-Andersen	MIT, Cambridge, MA, USA	Bio-inspired metal-coordination crosslinking: Easy access to broad dynamics when engineering polymer gel mechanics
  Dr Bruno Ehrler	AMOLF, Amsterdam, The Netherlands	Beyond solar cell efficiency limits with down conversion and tandem solar cells
  Prof. Jochen Feldmann	Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany	Metal halide perovskite nanocrystals: 2D materials and supercrystals
  Laura Neumann	Adolphe Merkle Institute	Metallosupramolecular polymers – investigations at multiple length scales
  Daniel Hauser	Adolphe Merkle Institute	Polydopamine/transferrin hybrid nanoparticles for targeted cell killing
  Worarin Meesorn	Adolphe Merkle Institute	Cellulose nanocrystal-based bioinspired composite with mechanical adaptive properties
  Prof. Clemens Bechinger	University of Konstanz, Germany	Orientation & Communication of Synthetic Microswimmers
  Prof. Herbert Waite	University of California Santa Barbara, CA, USA	Long-term mussel adhesion depends on intricate extracellular redox control