Mach-5: Molecular Machinery: Making, Measuring, Modeling
postponed to September 11 - 14, 2022
Awards
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Award Ceremonies
Mach-5 will include the delivery ceremony of two awards:
- Sauvage-Stoddart-Feringa Junior Award
- The SSF junior prize 2022 is awarded to Dr. Víctor García-López, assistant professor at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, USA. He started his scientific education by studying chemistry in Monterrey (ITESM, Mexico) and in Mexico City (CINVESTAV), where he finished his undergraduate studies. In 2011, he joined the renowned research groups of Prof. James Tour and Prof. Marti at Rice University in Texas, to work on artificial molecular machines. After a postdoc fellowship at ETH in Zürich (Switzerland) and Rice University (Texas), he was appointed to his current position as assistant professor at Louisiana State University (USA). Dr. Garcia-Lopez already proved his scientific talent in his doctoral thesis by the design and synthesis of molecular machines that work in the liquid phase. Based on these results he prepared molecular motors that operate in live cells and destroy cancer cells by disruption of their cell membranes. Other highlights of his research include motorized nanocars that drive on metal surfaces. He constructed the fastest electrically driven molecular car, winning the First International Nanocar Race in 2017 and he designed and build the first nanocar that is controlled and powered by light. Dr. Garcia Lopez received a number of honorable awards. He will continue to be a leader in the field of molecular machines closing the gap between basic research and applications.
- Sauvage-Stoddart-Feringa Senior Award
- Laureate: Vincenzo Balzani / Bologna
- The SSF senior prize 2022 is awarded to Prof. Vincenzo Balzani. He is emeritus professor of Chemistry at the University of Bologna, and he is a highly cited chemist with a h-index well above one hundred. In the early years of his career, he laid the foundations for the study of photochemical reactions of coordination compounds, with a series of works that have been a source of inspiration for scientists from many countries. In the 1970s Prof. Balzani was one of the first researchers to propose the conversion of solar energy into chemical energy through the photosensitized splitting of water into hydrogen and oxygen. He explored in detail the properties of the Ruthenium-tris-bipyridine complex, one of the most important molecules of modern chemistry, demonstrating its utility in many chemical processes of application importance (for example, as a photocatalyst and as a sensor). Since the 1980s he designed and investigated multi-component molecular devices capable of performing a wide variety of functions (e.g., molecular logic gates and circuits). In the same period, he developed the concept of mechanical molecular machine, and explored early prototypes based on supramolecular compounds. His work on molecular shuttles, rotary switches and elevators driven by light, electricity or chemical fuels has been a source of inspiration for the generations of chemists that today are bringing molecular machines, and nanotechnology, to a next level of complexity. Prof. Balzani has always combined scientific research with an intense dissemination activity on the relationship between science and society and between science and peace, with particular reference to energy and resource issues.
Mach-5 is kindly supported by:
