Chemical Communications Blog

We are excited to share the success of Ioana M. Ilie’s first-time independent article in ChemComm; “Unlocking novel therapies: cyclic peptide design for amyloidogenic targets through synergies of experiments, simulations, and machine learning” included in the full milestones collection. 

Read our interview with Ioana below.

What are the main areas of research in your lab and what motivated you to take this direction?

In my lab we develop computational tools aiming (1) to understand and control the aggregation mechanisms of polypeptides and their response to the biological environment, (2) to design peptide-based therapeutics and (3) to build smart (bio)materials with tunable and responsive properties. More specifically, we use atomistic simulations to gain insight into the biochemical mechanisms of protein folding, which we then modulate by rationally designing and evolutionary optimizing agents to control their response. We also develop coarse-grained models for proteins and biomaterials uniquely capturing their intrinsic flexibility to understand the interaction mechanisms with the biological environment on the nanoscopic scale, which we then exploit to design novel materials. Importantly, we parametrize the coarse-grained models relying on our atomistic simulations and experimental input. Hence, we learn across scales, linking and incorporating the relevant properties at different spatio-temporal resolutions.

Can you set this article in a wider context?

Current therapies for neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease address symptoms rather than preventing their onset. This work opens new doors for novel (preventive) therapeutic interventions and beyond. Particularly, it underlines the synergies between simulations, experiments, and machine learning when designing cyclic peptides as promising anti-amyloidogenic candidates.

This feature explores recent advancements in cyclic peptide design against amyloidogenic targets from a computational perspective, emphasizing the synergies with machine learning and experiment in optimizing the design process. The discussion encompasses the difficulties encountered in designing novel peptide-based inhibitors and proposes innovative strategies that incorporate “the powerful trio”: experiments, simulations, and machine learning .

In the broader context, the proposed combination of strategies extend beyond cyclic peptide design, serving as a template for the de novo generation of any type of (bio)materials with programmable properties.

What do you hope your lab can achieve in the coming year?

Scientifically, in the coming year, on the one hand my lab will focus on the development of machine learning algorithms for the iterative design of cyclic peptides against amyloidogenic and cancerous targets. On the other hand, my lab will continue our endeavours in building versatile coarse-grained models for biomaterials and developing agents to control their fate in specific environments.

On the team side, I expect my team to grow, which will further strengthen our international position in the peptide design and computational soft matter fields.

Describe your journey to becoming an independent researcher.

I am trained as a computational biophysicist with a PhD from the University of Twente in the Netherlands. During my PhD, advised by Profs. Briels and den Otter, I developed coarse-grained models of proteins and studied their aggregation dynamics. Wanting to understand the microscopic origin of aggregate formation, I switched focus towards higher resolution models during my postdoctoral stay at the Technical University of Darmstadt in Germany in the group of Prof. van der Vegt. I continued with adding a biochemical perspective to my biophysical background by joining the Computational Structural Biology group of Prof. Caflisch at the University of Zurich in Switzerland. Both postdoctoral experiences contributed significantly towards my growth as an independent researcher, which led to my current Assistant Professorship at the University of Amsterdam in the van ‘t Hoff Institute for Molecular Sciences.

The Multiscale Simulation of Biomolecular Systems group uniquely combines my international and multidisciplinary experience to tackle fundamental biomedical and technological problems from diverse disciplinary and methodological angles, i.e. atomistic, coarse-grained.

What is the best piece of advice you have ever been given?

Be patient.

Why did you choose to publish in ChemComm?

ChemComm has an excellent reputation for publishing urgent research of outstanding significance and appeal to experts in the field, supported by a rigorous peer review process. Furthermore, ChemComm has a broad chemistry readership, which is in line with my research that lies at the interface of chemistry and physics and biological sciences. Another compelling aspect was the chance to showcase my lab’s research through publication in the Emerging Investigators edition of the journal.​​

Ioana M. Ilie is an Assistant Professor in Computational Chemistry at the van ‘t Hoff Institute of Molecular Sciences at the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands. She received her PhD from the University of Twente, where she worked with Prof. Wim Briels and Prof. Wouter den Otter on the development of coarse-grained models of proteins to understand their aggregation dynamics. She continued with postdoctoral experiences in the group of Prof. Nico van der Vegt at the University of Darmstadt, Germany, and then received a Peter und Traudl Engelhorn Postdoctoral Research Fellowship to carry out further postdoctoral studies in the group of Prof. Amedeo Caflisch at the University of Zurich, Switzerland. In 2022, Ioana embarked on her independent career at the van ‘t Hoff Institute of Molecular Sciences at the University of Amsterdam, supported by a Career Development Award from the Synapsis Foundation. Webpage: https://www.compchem.nl/staff_members/dr-ioana-illie/ Twitter/X: @ioana_ilie_UvA

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We recently caught up with Jeffrey Ting (Nanite Inc.) – our latest ChemComm Milestones author. We wanted to find out about Jeff’s research and experiences as a first-time corresponding author in the interview below. You can now read Jeff’s research paper ‘Frontiers in nonviral delivery of small molecule and genetic drugs, driven by polymer chemistry and machine learning for materials informatics’ in our growing ChemComm 1st collection.

Our interview with Jeff

What are the main areas of research in your lab and what motivated you to take this direction?

Nanite is a next-generation nonviral gene delivery startup company headquartered in Boston, MA, focused on developing a new class of programmable polymer nanoparticles for a range of therapeutic modalities and indications. Polymers have been widely used in medicine as excipients for pharmaceutical small molecules. They generally offer shelf-life stability, low cost, and controlled release profiles. However, while they have been widely investigated as gene delivery nanocarriers for decades, the design space with genetic cargo is near infinite and must balance noncovalent interactions across multiple biological barriers. To this end, SAYER™ is the company’s proprietary platform that combines high-throughput methods to rationally design delivery vehicles at the intersection of biology, materials science, and artificial intelligence (AI).

I was motivated to join Nanite because of the potential of bringing polymer-based gene therapy solutions forward. There are unresolved fundamental questions around how to tailor polymers to protect and release nucleic acids across dynamic biological environments, which is intellectually stimulating and fun to pursue as a polymer scientist. I enjoy contributing to and learning from talented Nanite coworkers that have expertise from adjacent disciplines in data science and molecular biology. The emergence of lab automation and AI has begun to change how we think about doing chemistry research more effectively and creatively. In terms of need, with Katalin Karikó’s and Drew Weissman’s 2023 Nobel Prize for enabling the development of mRNA vaccines against COVID-19, it truly seems like we are at a turning point in how we can treat diseases with new genetic vaccines and drugs. It has been extremely rewarding to learn from genetic medicine companies and patient advocacy groups that Nanite partners with, such as the Charcot-Marie-Tooth Research Foundation and the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, and already discover polymer nanoparticles that potentially compete with alternative nanocarriers. In short, it has never been a more exciting time to be a polymer scientist working in the biotech field!

Can you set this article in a wider context?

Our Highlight article shows the immense progress and potential of nonviral delivery with polymers, propelled by advances in materials informatics (MI). To give an update on the state of MI for this area, we first review recent examples of how research groups combine polymer chemistry with machine learning to design high-performing biomaterials with therapeutic small molecule drugs, nucleic acids, and protein. In each case, the teams use rapid data generation to train machine learning models. Next, we provide an outlook for expanding these themes to pharmaceutical applications in nonviral gene therapy, emphasizing laboratory workflow automation and data management best practices. We hope that these practical lessons learned as a growing biotech startup provide a unique perspective for the global chemistry community.

What do you hope your lab can achieve in the coming year?

It has been incredible seeing the growth of the company in a short amount of time. In terms of synthesis, I am proud to lead the first polymer production campaigns that got SAYER™ off the ground with thousands of well-defined polymers for high-throughput screening and bioevaluation. Now, because of the diverse backgrounds and talent in our team, we are uniquely poised to not only rapidly identify key structure-property relationships of these materials across multiple length scales, but also leverage this understanding to AI-driven biodelivery applications. Delivery with tissue selectivity is the current rate-limiting bottleneck for advancing more nonviral gene therapies into safer and more affordable treatments. In the coming year we are expanding the number of partner projects that uses our platform’s core technology to down select high-performing polymer nanoparticle candidates in shorter time frames.

Describe your journey to becoming an independent researcher.

I began my career as an industrial scientist at 3M in 2020. I was hired as a Senior Polymer Scientist in the Materials Informatics Group, as part of 3M’s Corporate Research Materials Lab. Though this was an interesting time to start a new job at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, this was a transformative time in changing how I think about integrating my polymer chemistry background with new advances in data science and machine learning. I gained experience on working closely with small teams to automate the collection of systematic datasets to enable predictive, data driven materials and process development.

I joined Nanite in 2022 as a senior scientist and its first employee at our initial incubator lab site. One of my PhD advisors, Dr. Theresa Reineke, co-founded the company with a group of serial entrepreneurs who have previously led successful biotechnology companies in various executive roles. Theresa has always been a supportive mentor at all stages of my independent career. My graduate work focused on synthesizing tunable polymers as solubilization agents for oral drug delivery, and my postdoctoral work aimed to better understand the fundamental physical properties of polyelectrolyte complex assemblies. This initial experience gave me a unique perspective on how to think about polymer nanoparticles from a chemistry, physics, and engineering viewpoints.

What is the best piece of advice you have ever been given?

For students, the best advice is to be open to change and opportunities that may not be apparent at the present. For myself, I have always hyper-focused on specific goals as guiding beacons for figuring out my professional career path. But you don’t know what your future self wants— as I was finishing up my chemical engineering degree in college before going to grad school, I had no desire to do anything in biology. At the end of grad school, I had meticulously positioned myself to go into academia with my postdoc position. Before each of these major inflection points, you haven’t met the extraordinary people (mentors, friends, partners, collaborators) that can come in and fundamentally change the trajectory of your life. Your future self will be different than what you may expect it to be, so don’t let the endless possibilities of what could have been (and what can be) overwhelm you. Play an active role in crafting the person you are going to become.

Why did you choose to publish in ChemComm?

ChemComm has had a longstanding reputation for spotlighting cutting edge research in the chemistry community with fast turnaround time for publication. I am proud to have Nanite’s first independent publication in this journal. Please reach out if you have any questions about our mission or if our nonviral delivery platform is of interest for further discussions.

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Dr. Jeff Ting (he/him) received his BS in Chemical Engineering at the University of Texas. Jeff received his PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of Minnesota in 2016, working with Frank Bates and Theresa Reineke on synthesizing tunable polymers for oral drug delivery. During his doctoral studies, he was a recipient of the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship, the AIChE Pharmaceutical Discovery, Development and Manufacturing Student Award, and the University of Minnesota Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship. Afterward, Jeff worked as a NIST-CHiMaD Postdoctoral Fellow with Matt Tirrell as part of the Center for Hierarchical Materials Design (CHiMaD), supported by NIST and the Materials Genome Initiative. His work focused on understanding the fundamental static and dynamic properties of polyelectrolyte complex assemblies. In 2020, Jeff joined 3M as a Senior Polymer Scientist as part of the Materials Informatics (MI) Group in the Corporate Research Materials Laboratory. He was a lead experimentalist in launching a broad effort to strategically apply MI tools and data-driven methodologies for industrial materials research and product development workflows. He was recognized as 1 of 12 individuals for the 2021 Young Observers Program by the U.S. National Committee of IUPAC. In 2022 Jeff became a Senior Scientist and the first employee at a venture-backed stealth biotech startup, Nanite, in Boston, MA. Twitter/X: @J_Ting1 LinkedIn: jting1 Nanite Inc.

We are excited to share the success of Yasutomo Segawa’s first-time independent article in ChemComm; “Synthesis of penta- and hexa(3,4-thienylene): size-dependent structural properties of cyclic oligothiophenes” included in the full milestones collection. 

Read our interview with Yasutomo below.

What are the main areas of research in your lab and what motivated you to take this direction?

Structural organic chemistry. I am always impressed when I synthesize a molecule that no one else in the world has yet see its structure.

Can you set this article in a wider context?

The cyclic thiophene molecules synthesized in this study serve as a platform for the nonplanar polycyclic arenes. This is a major step toward the systematic synthesis of non-planar molecules that are expected to have 3D carrier transport.

What do you hope your lab can achieve in the coming year?

We will achieve the synthesis of a 3D organic π-conjugated framework. This is the beginning of synthetic organic chemistry that designs 3D electronic structures.

Describe your journey to becoming an independent researcher.

After studying supramolecular chemistry (Prof. Takuzo Aida), organic main-group chemistry (Prof. Makoto Yamashita), and organometallic chemistry (Prof. Kyoko Nozaki) as a student, I spent 10 years at Nagoya University working on structural organic chemistry of non-planar aromatic hydrocarbons with Prof. Kenichiro Itami. Based on these experiences, I started my own chemistry to establish the synthetic organic chemistry that can design not only single molecules but also three-dimensional solid-state structures.

What is the best piece of advice you have ever been given?

“Some red lights are not to be crossed.” (Prof. Kyoko Nozaki)

Why did you choose to publish in ChemComm?

Simply because I like ChemComm. My milestone articles are in ChemComm including my first corresponding author paper in the group of Prof. Kenichiro Itami (2012, 48, 6642), and a memorial paper with Prof. Douglas W. Stephan (2012, 48, 11963). At the beginning of my academic career, I read through the ChemComm journal in 1980s (around the year of my birth) for inspiration of research ideas.​​

Yasutomo Segawa was born in Chiba, Japan (1982). He studied chemistry at the University of Tokyo, Japan, and completed his PhD in 2005 under the supervision of Prof. Kyoko Nozaki. In 2009, he became an Assistant Professor in the group of Prof. Kenichiro Itami at Nagoya University, and in 2013 a Group Leader of the JST-ERATO Itami Molecular Nanocarbon Project (Designated Associate Professor, Nagoya University). Since 2020, he is an Associate Professor (a Principal Investigator) at the Institute for Molecular Science and SOKENDAI, and a research fellow of JST-FOREST since 2022. His research focuses on the design and synthesis of three-dimensional and topologically unique organic systems. Twitter: @Segawagroup, @YasutomoSegawa

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We are excited to share the success of Ashok Kumar Pandey’s first-time independent article in ChemComm; “Ru(II)/Ru(IV)-catalyzed C(sp²)–H allylation with alkene difunctionalization to access isochroman-1-imines” included in the full milestones collection. 

Read our interview with Ashok below.

What are the main areas of research in your lab and what motivated you to take this direction?

Our research team is working in the “Transition Metal Catalysis in Organic Synthesis” research area and developing new methodologies to access biologically relevant organic molecules in both racemic and enantioselective forms.

We are designing new approaches for the efficient synthesis of natural products and Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API) using ruthenium and nickel catalysts. We are currently focusing on C-H functionalization and cross-coupling strategies to construct diversified organic scaffolds using these metal catalysts. The current pharmaceutical industry’s demand for affordable and sustainable synthetic methods to access APIs and bioactive molecules has motivated us to work on transition metal catalysis.

Can you set this article in a wider context?

In this article, it has been discovered the first time that the Ru(IV)allyl complex formed from [Ru(p-cymene)Cl₂]₂ and MBH acetate, and transferred its allyl group to the ruthanacycle via a redox process. This new mechanistic finding of Ru(IV)allyl complex in the C-H allylation reaction has greatly enriched the ruthenium catalysis in organic synthesis and the Ru(IV)allyl complex may serve as a new allylating reagent in synthetic chemistry. Additionally, the C-H allylated products have been telescoped into medicinally important isochroman-1-imine in a single operation. The synthesis of a natural product Cytogenin (antibiotic) and its analogues can be accomplished using this isochroman-1-imine in a concise pathway.

What do you hope your lab can achieve in the coming year?

It has been mentioned in our manuscript that this methodology can provide a short and sustainable synthetic route to design isochrominone-based natural products and bioactive molecules. As a result, it can be possible to synthesize the antibiotic Cytogenin and its analogues in the upcoming years. In this study, we discovered a novel Ru(IV)allyl complex that was difficult to stabilize and isolate. In the coming years, we will put our efforts into stabilizing and derivatizing this Ru(IV)allyl complex so that it can be used as an allylating reagent in synthetic organic chemistry for its practical application.

Describe your journey to becoming an independent researcher.

My research career started as a postgraduate student at the University of Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, India. During my M.Sc., I worked on the preparation of organic compounds via Aldol condensation, Cannizzaro reaction, etc., and their characterization using spectroscopic techniques. My training and skills were primarily developed while pursuing doctoral studies at the Indian Institute of Technology Ropar (IIT Ropar), India, under the supervision of Prof. Prabal Banerjee. I have worked on the development of new and convenient methodologies to access various carbocyclic and heterocyclic molecules using strained rings e.g. cyclopropane, epoxides, aziridines, etc. under Lewis acid catalysis. After that, I relocated to South Korea for my postdoctoral studies at Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU) under the guidance of Prof. In Su Kim. At SKKU, I have worked on C-H functionalization reactions using rhodium and ruthenium-based metal catalysts and their mechanistic studies. In addition, I have synthesized numerous organic molecules in a single step that are very suitable for designing of natural products and pharmaceuticals. In summary, all the aforementioned studies and research experiences have skilled and enabled me to work as an independent researcher in the area of “Sustainable Transition Metal Catalysis in Organic Synthesis”.

What is the best piece of advice you have ever been given?

“The time of failure is the best season to sow the seeds of success” advice was given by my beloved grandfather in my childhood.

Why did you choose to publish in ChemComm?

Chemical Communication Journal is one of the most renowned journals in chemical science with a broad readership and followers all over the world. Results that have been published in this journal have a good opportunity of being read and noticed by a global research community working in different research areas of chemical science. Our presented article can be helpful in exploring ruthenium chemistry in a new direction that can benefit the chemical industries. These unique features of ChemComm have motivated me to publish our work in this prestigious journal.

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Dr. Ashok Kumar Pandey is currently working as a scientist and assistant professor in the Fluoro-Agrochemical division, CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Technology Hyderabad (CSIR-IICT Hyderabad) under the umbrella of “Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)” New Delhi, India. He worked as a postdoctoral fellow at Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU), South Korea, before joining CSIR-IICT Hyderabad. He received a Ph.D. degree in 2016 from the Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology Ropar (IIT Ropar), India. He has received several awards for research in India viz. “Junior Research Fellowship (JRF)” and “Senior Research Fellowship (SRF)” from CSIR, New Delhi, “International Travel Support (ITS)” and “National Postdoctoral Fellowship (NPDF)” from Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB), New Delhi. Recently, SERB has awarded him with a “Start-up Research Grant (SRG)” to support his independent research career at CSIR-IICT Hyderabad. His current research interest is focused on the development of new sustainable methodologies to access biologically relevant molecules using ruthenium and nickel-based transition metal catalysts and their application in the synthesis of natural products, pharmaceuticals, and agrochemicals. Webpage: https://www.iict.res.in/People/view?id=570 Twitter: @akpandey_lab LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-ashok-pandey-79672b35/

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We are excited to share the success of Naoyuki Shimada’s first-time independent article in ChemComm; “Catalytic dehydrative amide bond formation using aqueous ammonia: synthesis of primary amides utilizing diboronic acid anhydride catalysis” included in the full milestones collection. 

Read our interview with Naoyuki below.

What are the main areas of research in your lab and what motivated you to take this direction?

My research focuses on the development of efficient synthetic methodologies taking advantage of the properties of organoboron compounds. Specifically, the development of amide bond and peptide bond formation reactions based on the electrophilic activation of carboxylic acid derivatives utilizing multi-organoboron catalysts, and the development of site-selective functionalizations and glycosylations of carbohydrates based on the nucleophilic activation of hydroxyl groups utilizing Lewis base-containing organoboron catalysts. My motivation for promoting the research is that organoboron compounds exhibit interesting and diverse reactivities, and that the development of new organoboron catalysis has the potential to lead to the efficient synthesis of bioorganic molecules such as peptides, sugar chains, and glycolipids.

Can you set this article in a wider context?

Primary amides are important chemical linkages found in many pharmaceuticals, agricultural chemicals, and bioactive natural products. So, the development of efficient synthetic methodologies for primary amides are in high demand. Although many synthetic approaches of primary amides have been developed, the direct amidation of readily available carboxylic acids with ammonia equivalents is one of the most direct approaches. Moreover, inexpensive and safe aqueous ammonia is the ideal ammonia equivalent. A wide variety of organoboron-catalyzed dehydrative amidations have been developed to synthesize secondary and tertiary amides. However, these have been difficult to apply to the synthesis of primary amides using aqueous ammonia because common organoboron catalysis requires dehydrative operations such as the addition of dehydrating agents or azeotropic reflux to remove water. In this study, my research group reported the development of a catalytic synthesis of primary amides by dehydrative condensation of a-hydroxycarboxylic acid or b-hydroxycarboxylic acids with aqueous ammonia. The key to the success of this research is the use of my unique diboronic anhydride (DBAA) catalyst.

What do you hope your lab can achieve in the coming year?

In this report, it was clarified that the dehydrative amide condensations proceed even under hydrous conditions using aqueous ammonia as the amine substrate by utilizing diboronic anhydride catalyst (DBAA), so in the future, I would like to challenge the development of a dehydrative condensation in aqueous media. Since the development of a reaction that proceeds even at lower temperatures without any dehydrative operations is also another challenge, I would like to overcome this problem by creating new diboronic acid anhydride catalysts. Finally, I hope that the first graduate students in my lab will complete their degrees and work as researchers.

Describe your journey to becoming an independent researcher.

My journey started with the development of Brønsted acid catalysis in water utilizing water-soluble calix arenes as inverse phase-transfer catalysts under the supervision of Prof. Shoichi Shimizu at Nihon University (“Mannich-type reactions in water using anionic water-soluble calixarenes as recoverable and reusable catalysts; Green Chem., 2006, 8, 608–614; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1039/B603962F”). During that time, I experienced the wonders of scientific research and obtained my Master’s degree in engineering. After that, I joined the research group of Prof. Shunichi Hashimoto at Hokkaido University to develop the enantioselective carbon–carbon bond formation reactions using dirhodium catalysts incorporating N-phthaloyl amino acids as chiral bridging ligands (Hashimoto catalyst). After I received my Ph.D. at Hokkaido, I spent two years as a postdoctoral researcher in Prof. Tius’ research group at the University of Hawaii, where I developed an asymmetric Nazarov cyclization reaction. In this way, my experience in developing catalytic reactions with different approaches, such as reaction processes, catalysts, and reactions, has become my asset as a researcher. After returning to Japan, I worked in the Prof. Makino research group at Kitasato University, developing catalytic reactions utilizing the unique reactivities of organoboron compounds, and received the Pharmaceutical Society of Japan Division of Organic Chemistry Award in 2021. I got the opportunity to start my independent research group in the department of chemistry and moved to Nihon University in April 2022.

What is the best piece of advice you have ever been given?

“A person cannot live alone. People live by being supported by many people and things. The only way to repay that kindness is to nurture people and make use of things.” This is the advice I got from my great-grandfather who was a monk when I was in elementary school.

Why did you choose to publish in ChemComm?

ChemComm is one of the leading journals in chemical science, publishing new and important findings in short communications. ChemComm has readers all over the world, because of its long history and high reliability. A rapid peer review system is also attractive to researchers. In addition, ChemComm was the first paper for Professor Shimizu, the birth father of my research, after starting his new independent research project (“Water-soluble calixarenes as new inverse phase-transfer catalysts. Nucleophilic substitution of alkyl and arylalkyl halides in aqueous media; Chem. Commun., 1997, 1629–1630; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1039/A704347C”). After starting my own independent research group, I wanted to publish my first paper in ChemComm.

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Naoyuki Shimada obtained his B.Eng. in 2001, and M.Eng. in 2003 from Nihon University under the guidance of Prof. Shoichi Shimizu. He received his Ph.D. in 2007 from Hokkaido University under the supervision of Prof. Shunichi Hashimoto. After that, he worked as a Research Associate and an Assistant Professor (non-tenure) at Hokkaido University, he joined Prof. Tius’ Research Group at University of Hawaii at Manoa as a Postdoctoral Researcher in 2009. He returned to Japan as an Assistant Professor at Kitasato University in 2011, and was promoted to Junior Associate Professor in 2019. He moved to the Department of Chemistry, Nihon University as a Principal Investigator in 2022. He received the Kaneka Award in Synthetic Organic Chemistry, Japan, Pharmaceutical Society of Japan Division of Organic Chemistry Award, and the UBE Young Researcher Award. His research interest is the development of organic reactions using organoboron catalysts and their application to the synthesis of biological molecules.   Group website: https://www.shimadalab.org/en

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We are excited to share the success of Weijin Li’s first-time independent article in ChemComm; “Bionic electroluminescent perovskite light-emitting device” included in the full milestones collection. 

Read our interview with Weijin below.

What are the main areas of research in your lab and what motivated you to take this direction?

My lab’s research areas include open framework materials (e.g. metal-organic frameworks, hydrogen organic frameworks), thin films and their electrical (e.g. dielectric)/ luminescent/sensing properties. Focus on the scientific questions inside the energy conversion, I am motivated to take the direction of dielectric control of open framework materials and film assembly. By controlling the dielectric constant and consumption, we aim to design either high-dielectric materials for energy storage or dielectric materials for electromagnetic radiation shielding. Besides, human health will face a great threat if one contacts polluted gas, water and some other agents. Inspired by the sensing mechanism of open framework materials based on a dielectric or luminescent behaviour change, we will also take the direction of dielectric and luminescent materials for sensing devices.

Can you set this article in a wider context?

The novelty of this work is in its configuration of fluorescent films. The ultrafast dynamic color change with ultra-high-definition flat panel display was realized in a simple and facile way based on perovskite light-emitting-diodes (PeLED). A PeLED displaying green color is combined with a brown fluorescent coating layer to form a hybrid FC-PeLED system. The FC-PeLED system can simulate the complete cycle of bionic plant colors from green to yellow through low energy (<0.6 mW) input. Thanks to the low-power-consumption/high-brightness of the PeLED and the color adjustability of the fluorescent layer, we built a new type of bionic electroluminescence system (FC-PeLED). The bionic process for the entirely natural process of ginkgo leaves realized by the obtained FC-PeLED will promote the future development of low-cost and low-power consumption bionic technology.

What do you hope your lab can achieve in the coming year?

In the coming year, we hope to develop crystalline coordination polymers with fast bionic color change at the stimulation of an electrical field and reveal the electrochromic mechanism. Focus on our research direction, both theoretical and experimental insights of dielectric materials based on conductive coordination polymers are going to be brought to light in the coming year.

Describe your journey to becoming an independent researcher.

I obtained my PhD degree under the supervision of Prof. Rong Cao (NSFC distinguished professor) at the Fujian Institute of Research on the Structure of Matter, Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2015, where my thesis was “Preparation and properties of carboxyl-based metal-organic frameworks film”. Since 2016, I join Prof. Cao’s lab in Xiamen University, with the close collaboration of Prof. Xinchen Wang at Fuzhou University and Prof. Lasheng Long and Prof. Jun Tao at Xiamen University, on the topic of dielectric properties of metal-organic framework thin film. After a one-year postdoctoral stay at Xiamen University, I joined Prof. Roland A. Fischer’s group at the Chair of Inorganic and Metal-organic Chemistry, Department of Chemistry, Technical University of Munich, Germany (2016-2021), under funding support from the Joint Chinese Scholarship Council-German Academic Exchange Service (CSC-DAAD), an Alexander von Humboldt fellowship and German Research Foundation (DFG), and worked on preparation and study of metal-organic framework thin film for electrocatalysis. I was awarded the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Fellowship under the host of Prof. Takuzo Aida in Riken with the research on “mass transport in two-dimensional nanospace formed by polymeric nanosheets”. Unfortunately, due to the 2019-coro pandemic situation, I was unable to join Prof. Aida and just worked with Prof. Aida and colleagues online for some research exchanges and discussions. By chance, I was granted an Overseas High-level Recruitment of Talents-Youth Project in 2021. Then, I began my independent Professorship at the School of Materials Sciences and Engineering, Nanjing University of Science and Technology with an interest in open framework materials and their dielectric/luminescent/sensing properties.

What is the best piece of advice you have ever been give?

“Perseverance is helpful for researchers since it is common that researcher obtains more negative results than good results.”

Why did you choose to publish in ChemComm?

I published a work “patterned growth of luminescent metal-organic framework film: a versatile method for electrochemical-assisted microwave deposition” and also see recent publications in ChemComm related luminescent materials. Consideration of the novelty of my work, thus I decide to submit it to ChemComm.

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Weijin Li received his Ph.D. at Fujian Institute of Research on the Structure of Matter, Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2015. During six years of postdoctoral experience across Xiamen University, China (2015-2016) and Technical University of Munich, Germany (2016-2021), Weijin received the research awards of an Alexander von Humboldt fellowship and Japan Society for the Promotion of Science. Granted Overseas High-level Recruitment of Talents-Youth Project, Weijin began his independent Professorship at the School of Materials Sciences and Engineering, Nanjing University of Science and Technology in 2021. His research interest focuses on inorganic and organic hybrid materials and their dielectric/luminescent/sensing properties. Researchgate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Weijin-Li

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We are excited to share the success of Zhen Jiang’s first-time independent article in ChemComm; “Designing strong, fast, high-performance hydrogel actuators” included in the full milestones collection. 

Read our interview with Zhen below.

What are the main areas of research in your lab and what motivated you to take this direction?

In my project, harnessing the power of organic/polymer chemistry, we are designing and synthesizing new polymeric materials that could shape the future of soft robotics. The created polymers can change their shape or size in response to stimuli like electricity, heat, light, chemical or pH. We are very passionate about this research because we believe that expansion of the capabilities of soft robotics requires new synthetic polymeric materials.

Can you set this article in a wider context?

A key component in soft robotic devices is soft actuators which can transduce energy into mechanical motions. Among all of the soft actuator materials, hydrogels absorbing large amounts of water are particularly promising to be integrated into soft robotics, due to their tissue-like softness, and ability to undergo large deformations. However, there are substantial shortcomings that limit their performance and real-world applications.

In this Highlight, we discuss the recent advances in material designs to address pre-existing limitations in hydrogel actuators such as poor mechanical properties, slow actuation speed and limited actuation performance. We also comment on the important role of synthetic chemistry in creating hydrogel actuators with improved material performance and exceptional functionalities. It is thus anticipated that our article can spark great interest among chemistry community in developing advanced materials for soft robots.

What do you hope your lab can achieve in the coming year?

In the next few years, using molecular design principles, we will focus on synthesizing advanced soft actuator materials exhibiting a unique combination of high-power actuation, excellent mechanical properties and good processability.

Describe your journey to becoming an independent researcher.

I did my Master in Material Science at Fudan University, China. I was trained with extensive organic chemistry skills to synthesize functional small molecules/polymers and learned how to design photodeformable polymers. Then I went to University of Queensland for my PhD study, working on a number of projects related to synthetic polymers while aiming for different applications including high-resolution lithography, functional nanopatterns and soft actuators. These research experience enable me to develop a high level of independence which lay foundation for my current project. In 2022, I was awarded an Australian Research Council Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (ARC DECRA) to broaden my network and mature as an independent researcher.

What is the best piece of advice you have ever been give?

The best advice I have received is probably from my Master supervisor Prof. Yanlei Yu at Fudan University “Opportunities are only for those who are prepared”. This advice helps me get through the tough time in my research career, and keeps me optimistic and have faith.

Why did you choose to publish in ChemComm?

As a polymer chemist, I am a regular reader of ChemComm which is one of the best journals in the field of chemical science. The reviewer’s comments are very helpful in improving the quality of submitted manuscripts. I am also especially impressed by its strong support to early career researchers.

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Zhen Jiang is an early-career polymer chemist, specializing in designing and synthesizing stimuli-responsive soft materials for soft robotics and artificial muscles. He received his B.Eng. in Polymer Science and Engineering from Donghua University in 2011, his M.Eng. in Materialogy from Fudan University in 2014, and his Ph.D. in Polymer Science from The University of Queensland in 2018. In 2022, he received Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA) from Australian Research Council (ARC) to advance his research career. His research interests include soft actuators, liquid crystalline elastomers, hydrogels, and photo-responsive polymers.

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We are excited to share the success of Dinesh Shetty’s first-time independent article in ChemComm; “Salicylaldehydate coordinated two-dimensional-conjugated metal–organic frameworks” included in the full milestones collection. 

Read our interview with Dinesh below.

What are the main areas of research in your lab and what motivated you to take this direction?

We are working on designing tunable porous materials for energy and water purification applications. The major focus is to develop framework materials/membranes for emerging water pollutants removal and also for desalination via capacitive deionization. In parallel, we are working on both photocatalytic and electrocatalytic framework materials for CO2 and N2 conversion, battery, and supercapacitor. The motivation is stemming from the fact that both focused research areas are socially relevant and need of the time.

Can you set this article in a wider context?

The novelty of this work is in its simplicity. The building block that we utilized for the construction of conjugated MOFs can be synthesized economically and the method we followed is green (first time in c-MOFs synthesis). The advantage of these combinations helping us to scale up and utilize these interesting materials in many applications.

What do you hope your lab can achieve in the coming year?

We are in the direction of achieving an interesting efficient framework system (both covalent organic frameworks and conjugated metal organic frameworks) that can be useful in energy conversion and water purification. We are on the path to developing a scaleup fabrication setup for above mentioned materials, which will help us to achieve the path of real-life applications (in a way commercialization)

Describe your journey to becoming an independent researcher.

It was a rough one but I started to appreciate it more now. It took 8 years after my PhD to get an independent position, however, those years of experience in interdisciplinary fields and spending time with world-renowned scientists really helped me to shape my career. The journey also helped me to gain my trust in the relevance of perseverance and hard work to achieve your dreams. Another advantage of my journey is learning multicultural scientific environment (I spent time in India, USA, and South Korea before starting my independent career), which is greatly helping me to supervise a group of scientists and students coming from different parts of the world.

What is the best piece of advice you have ever been give?

It was from my parents: ‘Your knowledge should not be judged by your medals/laurels but should be judged by how it helps solve the social problems

Why did you choose to publish in ChemComm?

Firstly, it is one of the best short communications journals: readers friendly and has sharp scientific ideas and broad-readership. Secondly, it is close to my heart as I published a major part of my PhD work in this journal many years ago.

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Dr. Dinesh Shetty is an Assistant Professor of Chemistry in the College of Arts and Science, Khalifa University since fall-2019. He holds Ph.D. in chemistry from Seoul National University (SNU), South Korea. From 2011 to 2013, he was a postdoctoral fellow at Winship Cancer Institute, Emory University, USA, and later moved back to South Korea in the year 2013 where he was a research fellow in the group of Professor Kimoon Kim at the Center for Self-assembly and Complexity, Institute for Basic Science, POSTECH. In 2016, he moved to New York University Abu Dhabi as a research scientist. He is a trained chemist with experience in multidisciplinary research areas including material science, porous materials, renewable energy, water purification, supramolecular chemistry, and biomedical science. He is the author of 53 peer-reviewed journal papers, >30 conference papers, 21 invited talks, and 6 patents with an h-index of 27. He received Young Investigator Award from the Korean Society of Nuclear Medicine and the Best Researcher Award from the Korean Cancer Research Foundation. He is the recipient of the US National Academy of Science Arab-American Frontiers seed grant. His author profile was recently introduced by Angewandte Chemistry International Edition, a flagship chemistry journal. He delivered research talks in multiple countries and is currently an active member of the Royal Society of Chemistry under the Future Leaders in the Filed category. In his free time, he writes poems and newspaper column articles and also podcasts his thoughts. His research interest is focused on the development of multifunctional materials for various applications including energy, water purification, and biomedical applications. A list of publications can be found at: Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=QVgucAQAAAAJ&view_op=list_works&sortby=pubdate

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