Polymer Chemistry Blog

New academic: Dr. Guillaume Delaittre @ Karlsruhe Institute of Technology

Remzi Becer, web writer — Fri, 17 May 2013 08:24:42 +0000

Our first new academic is Dr. Guillaume Delaittre who took up an independent position of Junior Group Leader at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) in Germany by 1^st of March 2013. His research will focus on nanostructured polymeric materials for biotechnological and biomedical applications. He has received funding for 5 years from the German Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) to create his academic position, fund PhD students and postdocs, and run his lab. We invited him to write an essay to describe his pathway and share his experience. His story is summarized below, while the full essay can be found here.

I was born in 1979 and grew up in a small town not far from the Channel Sea in Picardy, France. I enrolled at the University and obtained a 2-year diploma in Sciences of Matter with honors. I then integrated the Institut de Science et Technologie of the University Pierre et Marie Curie. After I completed my degree of Ingénieur there with a six-month traineeship as junior project leader at Cray Valley, my Polymer Chemistry professor, Bernadette Charleux, recruited me for my Master on the topic of controlled emulsion polymerization. Having worked really hard on my exams to obtain a fellowship, I was then able to continue with Bernadette and Maud Save (at IPREM, in Pau, France since 2007) on the same topic for my PhD. As a PhD student I realized the importance of regularly following the literature, especially as a way to gain inspiration. The numerous scientific discussions with Bernadette and Maud also taught me a great deal about how to properly conduct a study, critically evaluate results, and extract the very substance of it.

Towards the end of my PhD it was clear that I wanted to become an academic. I liked the freedom that this field offers, as well as the possibility to create (at least in chemistry) something new, even if I sometimes wonder whether it is still possible! In January 2008 I successfully defended my PhD thesis.

The next month I moved to Radboud University Nijmegen (the Netherlands) in the group of Roeland Nolte, co-advised by Jeroen Cornelissen (now in Twente, the Netherlands) and spent a little less than 2 years there as a post-doc. Afterwards, I have received an Alexander von Humboldt fellowship and started working in Christopher Barner-Kowollik’s research group in June 2010 in Karlsruhe.

How did I finally come to this position? Through a combination of circumstances actually: the right time, the right place, the right boss, the right profile, the right amount of publications… Along almost two years I have applied unsuccessfully for several grant applications. Patience is another required quality in academic research. Towards the end of 2012 I obtained funding from the BMBF for five years in the frame of Biotechnologie 2020+, a national research programme. I will work jointly with Christopher’s team and the Institute of Toxicology and Genetics (ITG) at the KIT. During this long process, my former supervisors helped me with their kind recommendations, young group leaders I did not know provided me with grant proposal examples, and Christopher, Uwe Strähle (head of the ITG), and Jürgen Hubbuch (coordinator of the grant application) continuously showed me great support and reassurance. I also presented my project to several researchers of the KIT who gave me advice and agreed to collaborate with me: this was undoubtedly instrumental to the successful awarding of funds.

Now, when I think about how I personally came to this point, I must say that I became a real fan of the field I chose to work in. Since my PhD, when I am not physically at work, I very often think about the current and possible future projects. I would like to finish with a quote of a professor of Polymer Chemistry who, not so long ago at a conference in Obernai, told me with his Southern French accent: “On est chercheur à l’Université, on est libre: on n’a pas à se plaindre!”. I AGREE.

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO READ TO FULL VERSION OF GUILLAUME’S STORY PLEASE FOLLOW THIS LINK!!!

New academics in polymer science

Remzi Becer, web writer — Fri, 17 May 2013 08:20:26 +0000

Dear Polymer Chemistry Blog followers,

We would like to introduce a new category on New Academics in Polymer Science. We will be inviting young academics to share their experiences in becoming an independent academic on our blog. Most of the PhD students and post-doctoral researchers try to answer the same question at some stage of their projects. This question is “How to become an academic?“.

Most of the academics state that they always aimed to become an academic but also a significant number of academics say it just meant to happen. There is one common feeling about becoming an academic, which is competition is getting more and more though everyday. The number of independent fellowships is limited, the candidates have very high number of publications, and permanent academic posts are getting short.

Therefore, we believe it is important to share the experience of new academics to give the next generation an idea about how to become an academic. There is no right or wrong way in this adventure but it is more about the combination or series of actions started during your PhD studies. Every small step in following the literature, creating your own brilliant ideas, presenting, publishing, and networking will make you closer to become an independent academic. Once you think you finally reached your goal, actually it will be just starting!!

Please contact Remzi Becer (r.becer@qmul.ac.uk) if you would like to share your stories on your academic move at any level. We would also like to share the experiences of established academics when they move their groups to another institution. Hopefully, these stories will help the next generation to find their first academic positions!

UPDATE – Challenges in Organic Materials & Supramolecular Chemistry (ISACS10)

Katie Bayliss, Development Editor — Wed, 15 May 2013 10:17:55 +0000

Early Bird Deadline – 17 May 2013
Don’t forget that the early bird deadline for Challenges in Organic Materials and Supramolecular Chemistry (ISACS10) is this Friday. Make sure you register for this significant conference before Friday 17 May 2013 to guarantee your place at the reduced fee.

Programme Live
We are pleased to announce that the ISACS10 programme is now available to view online. Take a look at the schedule for the entire conference and discover stimulating lecture titles which span all five themes of the event.
For full details on Challenges in Organic Materials & Supramolecular Chemistry (ISACS10), please visit the dedicated website.

Author of the Week: Prof. Chih Wei Chou

Cyrille Boyer — Fri, 10 May 2013 12:26:17 +0000

Chih Wei Chou received his bachelor’s degree in Medicinal Chemistry from the Chia Nan University of Pharmacy and Science in Taiwan in 2001, his MS degree in 2003 in Materials Engineering from Tatung University, and a PhD in Chemical Engineering from the National Chung Hsing University (NCHU) in 2006. From July 2004 to December 2004, he was also part of an exchange of research student with Prof. Hiroo Iwata at the Kyoto University in Japan. He joined the Department of Cosmeceutics at the China Medical University in Taiwan as an assistant professor in 2007. He received the Gold Medal Award of interdisciplinary scientific talent nurturing convergence plan from the Taiwan Ministry of Education in 2009 and 2010. His current research interests include the synthesis of nano/micron structures by biopolymers for the development of functional materials with sensing, imaging and biomedical device applications.

What was your inspiration in becoming a chemist?

I become a chemist because of three important reasons. First, our teachers in China Nan University of Pharmacy and Science always encouraged us to do some interesting pharmacy chemistry experiments, which fully inspired my curiosity. Second is undergraduate and graduate studies further underlay my background in polymer science. Finally, I am so lucky to meet two wonderful teachers (Professor Hong-Ru Lin and Professor Ko-Shao Chen) in China Nan University of Pharmacy and Science and Tatung University which opened me to a wonderful world: the polymer chemistry.

What was the motivation behind the research in your recent Polymer Chemistry paper (DOI: 10.1039/C2PY20972A) ?

Breast cancer (1.38 million new cases, 458, 400 deaths per year) and colon cancer (1.2 million, 608, 700 deaths per year) severely impact human lives and are among the most terrifying health problems. The cost and side effects of chemotherapy drug are other problems of patients. This was the motivation of our study. We try to find the way can decrease cost and side effects of chemotherapy drug. The nanoscopic size of this carrier system allows interactions with cellular membranes, subcellular organelles, passing through microvasculature, and may reduce immunogenicity by avoiding eticuloendothelial uptake. Modification of the nanocarrier surface with a hydrophilic polymer such as polyethylene glycol (PEG) can enhance these carrier system effects and result in longer systematic circulations, and subsequently deliver optimal chemo-drug concentrations to cancer cells. This study shows possible improvement or replacement of nowadays existing cancer diseases fighting methods by encapsulation of the pharmaceutically important herbal compound Berberine into a nanocarrier system that meets all the requirements of a drug delivery system. The importance and significance of this study may be established with the following:

· Mass production of the nanomedicine by a simple and cheap method

· High loading amount of the herbal compound

· Water solubility improvement of the herbal compound Berberine

· Bioavailability improvement of the Berberine in in vitro and in vivo systems

· High bioavailability of orally administered nanomedicine

Why did you choose Polymer Chemistry to publish your work?

Polymer Chemistry is an excellent journal with high quality and impact manuscripts in polymer science. Moreover, the review and publishing process of this journal is very fair and fast.

In which upcoming conferences may our readers meet you?

I will attend the 35th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC’13) (3-7 July 2013), at the Osaka International Convention Center, in Osaka, Japan.

How do you spend your spare time?

I like travelling with my wife, playing with my cat, cooking and running when I have free time.

Which profession would you choose if you were not a scientist?

Good question. If I am not a scientist then Calligrapher is the best choice of another profession.

Cyrille Boyer is a guest web-writer for Polymer Chemistry. He is currently a Senior Lecturer and an ARC-Future Fellow at the Australian Centre for NanoMedicine and Center for Advanced Macromolecular Design (School of Chemical Engineering, University of New South Wales (Australia)).

Paper of the week: Post-polymerization modification of reactive polymers derived from vinylcyclopropane

Remzi Becer, web writer — Thu, 09 May 2013 12:43:04 +0000

Monomers based on vinylcyclopropane (VCP) have not attracted a lot of attention in polymer chemistry compared to regular vinyl monomers. This is mainly due to the difficulty in synthesizing them and their polymerisation behaviour. Polymerisation of VCP is known to proceed via a 1,2-type or a 1,5-type, i.e. a radical ring opening polymerization (RROP). RROP of VCP can lead to three different isomeric repeating units: two pent-2-enyl units and one cyclobutyl unit. These different polymerization pathways are the reason why VCP derivatives are not frequently used in polymer chemistry.

Theato et al. have demonstrated the synthesis and polymerization of a new reactive vinylcyclopropane monomer, 1-cyano-1-pentafluorophenoxycarbonyl-2-vinylcyclopropane. The obtained polymer contained exclusively the pent-3-enyl repeating unit in the polymer backbone. Taking advantage of activated ester chemistries, post-polymerization modifications with different aliphatic amines have been conducted. All prepared polymers exhibited an upper critical solution temperature (UCST) in ethanol and ethanol–water. It was found that the UCST was directly related to the amide moiety of the polymer. An increased solubility of the polymer in ethanol with the increase of the volume of the aliphatic amide moiety was observed. The reverse effect was found when adding water to the ethanolic solution of the polymer.

Post-polymerization modification of reactive polymers derived from vinylcyclopropane: 1. synthesis and thermo-responsive behaviour by Denis H. Seuyep N., Gerrit A. Luinstra and Patrick Theato Polym. Chem., 2013, 4, 2724-2730.

Author of the Week: Dr Sophie Monge

Cyrille Boyer — Fri, 03 May 2013 09:46:41 +0000

Sophie Monge obtained her Ph.D. in 2000 at the University of Montpellier 2 (France). She was then awarded a Marie Curie fellowship for a postdoctoral position (two years) in the group of Prof. Dave Haddleton at the University of Warwick (UK), working on atom-transfer radical polymerisation. In 2002, she became an associate professor at the “Engineering and Macromolecular Architectures” team (Prof. J.-J. Robin) of Institute Charles Gerhardt in Montpellier. Her research interests mainly focus on the synthesis of well-defined (co)polymers with stimuli-responsive properties, and with polymers bearing heteroatoms, in particular phosphorus.

Website of the lab: www.iam.icgm.fr

What was your inspiration in becoming a chemist?

I was immediately interested in Chemistry when I started to learn it at school. What I really enjoyed was to achieve some little experiments. So I asked my parents to buy me a Chemistry lab playset but they never did. I think that they were frightened about what my brother and I could do with it…

What was the motivation to write your Polymer Chemistry article ?

In our team, we have been interested since a long time on phosphorus-based polymers. I am notably currently working on a book named “Phosphorus-based polymers: from synthesis to applications” as a co-editor which will be published soon by the RSC. We also have a great expertise on controlled radical polymerisation. As a consequence, we thought that combining both phosphorus and RAFT was a good idea to achieve polymers with well-controlled architecture, thus leading to interesting properties of the produced materials. In our article (DOI: 10.1039/C3PY00426K), we notably describe for the first time the controlled polymerisation of a phosphonated containing methacrylate, namely the dimethyl(methacryloyloxy)methyl phosphonate (MAPC1), by the RAFT process. This work is of great interest as successful “living” radical homopolymerisation of MAPC1 and related monomers was never reported in the literature. Additionally, we recently reported the RAFT polymerisation of phosphonated-based acrylamide in another paper also published in Polymer Chemistry (Polymer Chemistry, 2013, 4, 795).

Why did you choose Polymer Chemistry to publish your work?

I consider Polymer Chemistry as a leading journal in the field of polymers, with a broad audience. Impact factor is excellent, reviewers’ comments are very constructive and publication is very fast.

In which upcoming conferences may our readers meet you?

I will be attending the 34th Australasian Polymer Symposium at the beginning of July (7th – 10th July 2013) which will be held at Darwin, in the Northern Territory of Australia. I will notably speak about RAFT polymerisation of phosphonated-based monomers.

How do you spend your spare time?

I spend my spare time with my two daughters and my husband. We enjoy being all together, at the moment gardening, especially growing some tomatoes and strawberries in our vegetable garden.

Which profession would you choose if you were not a scientist?

I think I never thought to do something else, really. But I would have enjoyed being a pianist, even if I never learned to play… but it is not too late to do it!

NanoDDS’13: Oct. 25-26, 2013 – University of California, San Diego

Hannah Porter, Publishing Assistant — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 07:54:23 +0000

The 11th International Nanomedicine and Drug Delivery Symposium (NanoDDS’13) will be held Oct. 25-26, 2013 at the University of California, San Diego. NanoDDS is the key annual event for researchers developing next-generation delivery vehicles: targeted, responsive, biodegradable nanomaterials for drug delivery, diagnostics, noninvasive imaging, and regenerative medicine. This symposium, co-chaired by Adah Almutairi of UC San Diego and Andrew Mackay of the University of Southern California, features a diverse group of creative, high-profile investigators, including Erkki Ruoslahti, Samuel Stupp, and Allan Hoffman.

Abstracts for poster presentations will be accepted from May through September; the top three abstracts will win prizes and oral presentation slots.

More information can be found here.

245th ACS National Meeting & Exposition Chemistry of Energy and Food- Polymer Chemistry Poster Prize Winners

Hannah Porter, Publishing Assistant — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 08:23:21 +0000

Polymer Chemistry was delighted to award three Poster Prizes at the 245th ACS National Meeting & Exposition Chemistry of Energy and Food held in New Orleans, Louisiana on 7th – 11th April. The winners were:

1st place:

Boyu Zhang, Tulane University
“Exploring the effect of amphiphile architecture: Synthesis, characterization, and self-assmebly of both cyclic and linear poly(ethylene glycol)-b-polycaprolactone”

2nd place:

Ravinder Elupula, Tulane University
“Multi-arm globes via ‘click’ coupling”

3rd place:

Takahiro Ogawa, Tokyo Tech.
“Rational Synthesis of cyclic polymer via rotaxanation of linear polymer directed towards linear-cyclic reversible topology conversion.”

Each prize winner received a Polymer Chemistry Poster Prize certificate as well as 1 year electronic subscription to the journal.