Dr Alexander N. Zelikin has joined the Department of Chemistry at Aarhus University as an Assistant Professor in Medicinal Chemistry in December 2009. Prior to this, he received a PhD in Polymer Chemistry from Moscow State University under supervision of Prof. Vladimir A. Izumrudov (2003), worked with Prof. Robert Langer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and later with Prof. David Putnam at Cornell University. He then joined the University of Melbourne and in 2006 was awarded an ARC Postdoctoral Fellowship and Discovery Grant toward the development of polymer hydrogel capsules as drug carriers and vessels for cell mimicry. In Aarhus, Dr. Zelikin established and leads an interdisciplinary laboratory for Medicinal Polymer Chemistry with current research activities in polymer therapeutics, antiviral research, physical hydrogels, and surface mediated drug delivery. Dr. Zelikin co-authored over 60 peer reviewed publications; in 2010, Dr. Zelikin received a ‘‘Sapere Aude’’ Career Award from the Danish National Research Council (DFF); his lab currently receives research funding from the Lundbeck Foundation and DFF.
Please follow the link for further information on Alexander’s research group and his recent paper in Polymer Chemistry.
What was your inspiration in becoming a chemist?
The idea that only your imagination is your limit drove me to science. Why chemistry? Suppose it was mostly luck. I really think I would have enjoyed being a scientist in just about any discipline.
What was the motivation behind the research in your recent Polymer Chemistry paper?
My group is actively expanding into the area of physical hydrogels and we needed to make good polymers. Remarkably, in the preceding decades this has not been accomplished for PVA, so we had to start from the very beginning.
Why did you choose Polymer Chemistry to publish your work?
Polymer Chemistry has made an astonishing start as a new forum and we (polymer chemists) already see it as a prestigious journal to publish in. Plus – it also has a friendly feel to it, which helps!
In which upcoming conferences may our readers meet you?
I am definitely going to Hobart for the Australasian Polymer Symposium (February 2012). I miss Australia heaps, and miss Australian polymer community greatly.
How do you spend your spare times?
First of all, my new born son takes good care of my spare time and it will likely stay this way for quite a while. I used to, and will definitely do so again, walk, hike, travel, camp out and move around the world as much as I could. For me, the worst day outdoors is better than the best day between four walls.
Which profession would you choose if you were not a scientist?
I wished to be a clown, a jester, a singer… Now that I have a son, I get to be all that! So you see, my life desires are fast becoming reality. But seriously – travelling. May not be a profession, but that’s what I’d do.
