People

John  was born in Seoul (South Korea) and grew up in Leeuwarden (The Netherlands). He obtained his BSc degree in Chemistry at Van Hall Larenstein University of Applied Sciences (2018). During his studies, he performed an internship at BASF – Resins and Additives, where he worked on NIR spectroscopy for the determination of hydrosilylation processes; a research internship at Symeres, where he worked on the development of a continuous flow photoreactor for intramolecular [2+2] cycloadditions; and a research internship at the University of Groningen in the group of Prof. Alex Dömling, where he worked on adenine mimetics based on multicomponent reactions.

After graduating, he worked briefly at FrieslandCampina LQS, and in 2019 he joined the Stratingh Institute as a Research Technician, managing and maintaining lab equipment for the Feringa, Harutyunyan, Otto, Barta, and Roelfes groups. In 2022, he obtained a full contract, and his responsibilities shifted to supporting the Feringa, Brown, Kudernac, and Klein groups.

In the Feringa group, he is working on the optimization and upscaling of molecular motor synthesis, making gram-scale synthesis of complex molecular motors possible.

Keimpe-Oeds (1995, The Netherlands) obtained his BSc degree in chemistry at the Hanze University of Applied Sciences. He performed his BSc research in the group of Prof. Philip Elsinga and Prof. Ben L. Feringa at UMCG on the synthesis and labelling of a prostate cancer PET-tracer. Subsequently, he did his Pre-master in chemistry at the university of Groningen (2019) after which he stayed and obtained his MSc degree (2021). During his master he performed his research in the group of Prof. Ben L. Feringa on the synthesis of visible light-responsive azobenzene photoswitches to control biological systems. Then, he decided to work as a research scientist for Symeres (contract research organization, CRO). He did research for the pharmaceutical industry on the synthesis of active pharmaceutical ingredients and side products for registration of pharmaceutical products at the FDA or the EMA. In 2023, he decided on
pursuing a PhD in the group of Prof. Ben L. Feringa on synthesizing new building blocks for water-borne coating to meet current sustainability demands.

Gaime was born in the Netherlands in 2003. He obtained his BSc in Chemistry from the University of Applied Sciences Utrecht in 2024 and subsequently completed a premaster’s programme at the University of Groningen, where he is now enrolled in the MSc Chemistry. As of April 2026, Gaime has started his MSc research project in the Feringa group, focusing on light-activated proteolysis targeting chimeras (PROTACs) under the supervision of Karlijn Meerman.

Lucien was born in 2004 and raised in southwestern France. He spent his first two years of higher studies in Lycée du Parc, Lyon, France and then entered Chimie ParisTech - PSL in 2024, where he is currently pursuing a Master's degree.

In April 2026, he started a research internship in the Feringa group, investigating the interaction between molecular motors and polarized light.

Neil was born and raised in California, USA. He obtained his bachelor’s in chemistry at Pomona College working on palladium and nickel-catalyzed reactions and his master’s in organic chemistry at UCLA working on chemoproteomics. He subsequently spent a few years in the pharmaceutical industry studying small molecule KRAS inhibition and will start his PhD in September 2023 in the Feringa group studying autocatalysis and homochirality. 

Xiaobing was born in Jiangsu Province. He obtained his Bachelor Degree in the field of Materials Science and Engineering. After that, he continued his Master studies at Hangzhou Normal University under the direction of Professor Liwen Xu and Jian Cao in the field of Asymmetric Catalysis. In 2021, he joined Professor Ben L. Feringa’s group for a PhD programme working on Catalytic Asymmetric C-H Functionalization.
He defended his thesis in April 2026 and continued working within the group as a postdoc.

Chantal was born and raised in Emmen and studied tourism and hospitality in Zwolle, after which she was employed in hospitality in Florida and Gran Canaria for a few years. In 2007 she settled back in Emmen, working in a few different hotels in the front- and back office. She moved to Groningen in 2022 and in December of that year joined Ben’s team as his management office assistant, taking care of all secretarial duties.

Annemarie obtained her BSc degree in Chemistry at the University of Groningen. She continued with her MSc at the same university, during which she performed her master research project in the Feringa group on metabolic labelling of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. For this, she won the Unilever Research Prize 2021. To complete her MSc studies, she performed a research project in the group of Prof. Laura Kiessling at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (USA). In June 2022, she returned to Groningen to perform her PhD research on ultrafast photoclick reactions for PET-imaging as a joint project with the department of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging at the UMCG.

Tieze was born in Ede, the Netherlands in 1999 and now holds an MSc in Chemistry with expertise in organic, inorganic, and supramolecular chemistry. He earned both his Bachelor's and Master's degrees cum laude from Radboud University Nijmegen. During his Master's studies, he completed research internships with late Professor R. J. M. Nolte at Radboud University, working on photoswitchable helix-selective polymerization of isocyanides, and Professor R. A. Shenvi at The Scripps Research Institute in San Diego, working on cyanoBOX ligand development for enantioselective metallaphotoredox coupling. From 2025, he pursues his further academic career as a PhD candidate in the group of Professor B. L. Feringa exploring smart surfaces and adaptive materials.

Junyi was born in Singapore and is currently pursuing a Bachelor’s Degree in Chemistry at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. As of Sept 2024, Junyi started his research venture under Prof. Shunsuke Chiba. In June 2026, he joined the Feringa Group to work on his bachelor's thesis under the supervision of Dr. Christophe Lachance Brais on chiral auxiliary for large-scale formation and isolation of molecular motor enantiomers.

Lisa was born in Cayenne, France. She obtained her MSc in 2024 through a joint program between Chimie ParisTech-PSL and Sorbonne University.
During her Master's studies, she investigated the reduction of esters using a novel photocatalyst at IMS (Okazaki, Japan) in the group of Prof. Uozumi. For her end-of-study project, she joined Novecal, a spin-off from Paris-Saclay University, where she worked on cross-coupling reactions and C–H activation catalyzed by Pd–NHC complexes.
In 2025, she joined the Feringa group as a PhD student to contribute to the AI-driven design of phosphoramidite ligands for asymmetric catalysis in water

(Jacobus van't Hoff Distinguished Professor of Molecular Sciences)

Prof. Ben L. Feringa obtained his PhD at the University of Groningen, where he was appointed full professor in 1988, after working as research scientist for Shell. Under his guidance the Feringa group has developed extensive expertise in the fields of organic chemistry, nanotechnology, asymmetric catalysis. His discovery of the molecular motor ranks highly among the many discoveries made over the years. In 2016 Prof. Feringa was awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry, together with Jean-Pierre Sauvage and Sir James Fraser Stoddart.

Thomas Freese was born in Sögel, Germany. From 2011 to 2014, he worked at the Remmers Group in Löningen, where he trained as a Chemical Technician and developed polymers, coatings, and treatments for building restoration and construction. He then studied Chemistry at the Georg-August University in Göttingen, conducting research in the group of Prof. D. Stalke on novel N-heterocyclic silylenes for catalytic applications. In 2018, he joined the University of Groningen as an exchange student, working in the Feringa and Barta groups on sustainable chemistry projects, including molecular motors from lignocellulose and sustainable polymers and coatings with AkzoNobel.
Thomas completed his PhD in Chemistry in 2024 under the mentorship of Ben L. Feringa, focusing on Green and Sustainable Chemistry. His research explored sustainable production routes for hydrogen and hydrogen peroxide through heterogeneous catalysis, photocatalysis, and electrocatalysis, as well as the conversion of lignocellulosic waste into biobased platform chemicals. He co-founded a chemical manufacturing start-up (Circolide), where he serves as CEO and CTO, and remains active in Green Labs, SPARKhub, policy, and Green Chemistry education.

Sina was born in 1990 and raised in Erlangen, Germany, where she also pursued her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Molecular Life Sciences at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU). For her master’s thesis, she joined Prof. Svetlana Tsogoeva’s group, focusing on natural product hybrids as potential anticancer agents. Afterwards, she moved to Innsbruck to pursue her doctoral studies on the investigations on gold(I) N-heterocyclic carbene complexes as antitumor agents (2016-2021). In 2021, she moved to Leiden, The Netherlands, to work with Prof. Sylvestre Bonnet on ruthenium-based photoactivated chemotherapy were she worked on the development on various bioassays to test the compounds. In September 2024 she joined the group of Prof. Ben Feringa as a PostDoc in photopharmacology.

Violette was born next to Paris in France. She obtained her Bachelor’s degree in Physics and Chemistry at Angers University. She then joined the LUMOMAT Master’s program to follow a training focused on the study of light-matter interactions for organic electronics and photonics. During the first year of her Master’s degree, she investigated the design of new atropoisomers of dithienylethenes under the supervision of Dr. Arnaud Fihey and Dr. Julien Boixel at the Institut des Sciences Chimiques de Rennes. 
In the spring of 2025, she pursued her Master's thesis as part of the Feringa group on the design of new helicene-based molecular motors, under the supervision of Dr. Eric Sidler. She joined the Feringa group as a PhD student in September 2025 to work on helicene-based molecular motors and the implementation of molecular motors in liquid crystal environments as part of the MonaLisa European consortium.  

David was born in Heidelberg, Germany. He obtained his BSc and MSc degree in chemistry at the Christian-Albrechts-University of Kiel. During his master studies, he spent a semester abroad in Italy at the Università degli Studi di Bari Aldo Moro. For his master thesis, he worked under the supervision of Prof. Rainer Herges on generation of aryne-diazocines for incorporation in photocontrolled molecular pincers. In November 2022, he joined the Feringa group as a PhD student to work on the photocontrol of antibiotics within the bio-optical window.

Anka was born in Wickede (Ruhr), Germany in 2000. She obtained her BSc degree in biochemistry at the Ruhr University in Bochum, working on protein backbone assignments using multidimensional NMR spectroscopy. In 2021, she moved to Groningen to start her MSc Chemistry studies. She conducted  her master thesis project in the Feringa Group working on Pd-catalyzed cross-coupling reactions, followed by a second research project  at Gecco Biotech, where she worked on enzymatic hydroxylation reactions. In September 2023, she returned to the Feringa lab to start her PhD on chiral amplification and autocatalysis.

Emil Hodžić was born in 2001 in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. In 2022 he obtained his Bachelor’s degree (cum laude) in Chemistry at the University of Amsterdam and the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. His Bachelor’s thesis was about the synthesis and utilization of a sphere template for the supramolecular binding of dyes and hydrogen evolution catalysts to achieve efficient artificial photosynthesis. 
For his Chemistry Master's degree (cum laude) he did multiple internships at the UvA/VU. He did a short rotation (3 months) at the Noël Research Group working on the Minisci reaction with volatile alkanes in flow. He conducted his Master's thesis at the HomKat group under supervision of prof. Bas de Bruin working on electrochemical intramolecular C–N bond formation from a primary unactivated aliphatic amine.
In 2025, he joined the Feringa Group as a PhD student to work on the robotic exploration of novel catalytic transformations in water using phosphoramidite ligands.

Martijn was born in Delfzijl (The Netherlands), and obtained his BSc (hons) and MSc in Chemistry at the University of Groningen, focussing on organic chemistry, catalysis, and smart materials. During his BSc studies, he conducted research in the Katsonis and Protesescu groups, working on liquid crystal droplet motility and battery materials, respectively. For his MSc thesis, he worked on copper catalyzed photocatalytic N-methylation reactions in the Beil group. To finish his studies, he conducted a research internship at CSIRO Energy in Newcastle, Australia, working on chemical vapour deposition of perovskites for tandem photovoltaics. In 2024, Martijn started his PhD studies in the Feringa group, focussing on electroactive materials for energy storage.

Patricia was born in Madrid (Spain) in 1997. She obtained her BSc and MSc in Chemistry from the Complutense University of Madrid in 2019 and 2020, respectively. During both degrees, she conducted research under the supervision of Prof. Nazario Martín and Dr. Jesús M. Fernández-García, focusing on the bottom-up synthesis of molecular nanographenes.
In 2020, she began her PhD in the same group within the joint “UCM-Harvard” program, where her work centered on the synthesis and properties of chiral molecular nanographenes. As part of her doctoral training, she carried out a predoctoral research stay in the group of Prof. Jarad Mason at Harvard University. Her thesis was awarded cum laude and received the International Mention. In July 2024, she continued as a postdoctoral researcher at Complutense University, developing chiral bilayer nanographenes. 
In June 2025, she joined the group of Prof. Ben L. Feringa at the University of Groningen as a postdoctoral researcher, working on the development of nanographene-based molecular motors.

Andries was born in Leeuwarden, the Netherlands. He obtained his BSc in chemistry at the University of Groningen. During his bachelor he did research in the group of Prof. Dr. Sijbren Otto, working on foldamers. After completing his bachelor, he started his MSc in chemistry at the same university. During his master he started doing research in the group of Prof. Ben. L. Feringa working on the synthesis of polymer building blocks from biomass. A second research was conducted at Symeres B.V., synthesizing anthraquinone dyes. After completing his master in 2022, he started his PhD focusing on sustainable waterborne coatings.

Lena grew up in Munich as a child with a vivid imagination and a strong interest in puzzles. After she had the heartbreaking realization that she could neither be a superhero nor the boss of her two brothers, she decided that science might be a worthy alternative. She especially liked the problem-solving nature of chemistry and decided to pursue these studies after high school. She finished her B.Sc., M.Sc., and doctorate (2024) at the Technical University in Munich with a focus on technical chemistry, polymer chemistry, and material science.
During her research, she developed a strong desire to push sustainability and joined “Radical Dot”, a start-up for plastic recycling, as a scientist for “high-risk research”. However, after finishing her project and breaking down many different polymers, she was drawn back into creating them in a sustainable manner when she accepted the PostDoc position with the Feringa group (2025).

Chris was born in 2004 in the Netherlands. He obtained his BSc in Chemistry at the University of Groningen in 2025. During his BSc thesis he conducted research in the field of asymmetric autocatalysis. Chris Started his MSc thesis in the Feringa group in 2026, focusing on photoswitches as substrates for [2+2] cycloadditions.

Christophe Lachance-Brais did his undergraduate studies in Chemistry at the University of Montréal in Canada, during which he undertook research internships with Pr. Hanan working on Rhenium complexes and with Pr. Dollé and Pr. Iftimie  on lithium ion batteries. After an exchange at the EPFL, Switzerland, he completed his studies in 2016 with both the Prestige and the Lucien-Piché awards. He then spent a year tutoring mathematics and sciences at a juvenile detention center.  In 2017, he began his Ph.D. at McGill University under the supervision of Pr. Hanadi Sleiman, for which he was awarded the Vanier Graduate Scholarship. He obtained his Ph.D. in 2023 for his thesis on DNA/small-molecule hybrid materials and their applications. He started his postdoctoral research in the Feringa lab in January 2024, funded FRQNT and NSERC scholarships, with the aim of positioning molecular motors with supramolecular tools.

Tim was born in Kaufbeuren, Germany, in 1998. He obtained both his BSc and MSc degrees in Chemistry from the Technical University of Munich. During his master’s studies, he spent a semester abroad at the University of California, San Diego.

In 2025, he received his PhD from the Technical University of Munich under the supervision of Prof. Bernhard Rieger. His thesis focused on enhancing stereoselectivity in transition metal-catalyzed olefin polymerization.

After working as a process engineer at Texas Instruments for one year, he decided to return to chemical research and joined the Feringa group as a postdoctoral researcher in May 2026. His current work focuses on the production and processing of polymers derived from sustainable feedstocks.

Sean was born in Curaçao in 2000. He obtained his BSc in molecular life sciences from Radboud University. He then did a Master’s in medicinal chemistry at the same university. His master thesis was done in the group of Dr. Willem Velema, where he worked on covalent inhibitors targeted towards the flavin mononucleotide riboswitch. Then, a second research project was conducted in the lab of Dr. Sebastian Pomplun, focusing on the application of ring-closing metathesis to combinatorial peptide synthesis. In 2025, he joined the Feringa Group as a PhD student to work on amphiphilic peptides as surfactants and potential catalytic systems.

Tirtha was born in Howrah, West Bengal (India). He completed his BSc and MSc from
Jadavpur University in organic chemistry. From 2015 to 2021 he pursued his PhD at Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science under the supervision of Prof. Jyotirmayee Dash working on Ru-catalyzed olefin metathesis for the synthesis of nitrogen heterocycles.
Later, he joined the group of Prof. Oliver Reiser at the University of Regensburg, Germany as a Marie-Curie Postdoctoral Fellow to work on Cu- and Fe-mediated photocatalytic transformations. In July 2026 Tirtha joined the Feringa group as a postdoc working on the development of catalytic approaches towards bio-based surfactants.

Alexandra was born in Bucharest, Romania in 1997. She obtained her BA in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Bryn Mawr College (Pennsylvania, United States) in 2020. For her undergraduate research, Alexandra worked under the supervision of Prof. William P. Malachowski on the efficient generation of potentially therapeutic tricyclic ring systems with quaternary carbon stereocenters via a catalytic enantioselective Birch-Heck pathway. Alexandra started her MSc in Chemistry at the University of Groningen in 2020. She conducted her Master thesis project in the Feringa group working on the regioselective preparation of 1,5-enynes from in situ generated propargyllithium species. Then, she conducted a second research project at Symeres B.V. where she worked on the synthesis of unique scaffolds for developing screening libraries. After completing her MSc in 2022, Alexandra returned to the Feringa group to start her PhD focused on the anti-Markovnikov functionalization of olefins.

Karlijn Meerman obtained both her BSc and MSc degree at the University of Groningen where she specialized in organic chemistry, supramolecular chemistry and smart materials. During her BSc’s degree, she worked in the group of dr. Johannes Klein where she conducted a computational study on the mechanism of the thermal relaxation of cis-azobenzofurane. For her MSc research, she joined the group of prof. Sijbren Otto where she worked on transferring chiral information between molecular and supramolecular structures. To finalize her studies, she moved to Newcastle (Australia) for an internship at CSIRO, the Australian research organization. Here, she worked on stable transition metal complexes for redox flow batteries. In November ’24, Karlijn started her PhD in the Feringa group working on light-activated drugs for precision therapy.  

Jelmer (1999, the Netherlands) obtained his BSc degrees in chemistry and chemical engineering at the University of Groningen. During his bachelor he conducted his research project under the supervision of Ben Feringa, working on controlled odor and drug release of bio-based polymers. After completing his bachelors he stayed at the same university for his MSc in chemical engineering. During his master another research project was conducted in the group of Ben Feringa, developing a flowsetup for photocatalytic production of hydrogen peroxide. A second research project was conducted at Symeres B.V., working on the optimization of [2+2] photocycloadditions in flow. In 2023 he started his PhD focusing on biologically sourced adaptive coatings.

Alexandre (1997, Luxembourg) obtained his BSc in chemistry at the Rijksuniversiteit Groningen in 2021. His BSc project was conducted within the group Prof. Dr. A. J. Minnaard and focused on the total synthesis of cellular membrane lipids of acidobacteria. Upon completion, he returned to Luxembourg and worked two years in industry as a material science laboratory technician for IEE S.A.; aiding in the development of safety sensing solutions within the automobile industry. However, over this time frame his interest in chemistry grew substantially such that he returned to the Rijksuniversiteit Groningen and completed a MSc in 2025. This time around he pursued his MSc research project within the group of Prof. Dr. W. Szymanski and worked on developing the iminothioindoxyl photoswitch towards photopharmacological applications. His 2nd research project was conducted at the UMCG within the group of Prof. Dr. P. H. Elsinga where he synthesized and investigated a novel antagonistic radiotracer for the PET imaging of the follicle-stimulating hormone receptor. In 2026 he started his PhD under the supervision of Prof. Dr. P. H. Elsinga, Prof. Dr. B. L. Feringa, Prof. Dr. B. Cornelissen, and Dr. I. Antunes where he will be developing novel fluorine-18 radiotracers for the detection of cellular senescence.

Cristina was born in Romania and she obtained her BSc degree in the Netherlands in 2020, at the University of Maastricht. As an undergraduate, she did an honours research project focused on biobased building blocks for polymers at the Aachen-Maastricht Institute for Biobased Materials. For her bachelor thesis internship, she worked on supramolecular metal-organic cages at the University of Cambridge in the group of prof. Jonathan Nitschke. She did her MSc Chemistry studies at the University of Groningen (2020--2022), with a master thesis on the self-assembly and (supra)molecular chirality of disulfides with prof. Ben Feringa. She also did a second master research project on substituent effects on excited state chlorobenzenes (computational study) under the supervision of dr. Stefano Crespi, at the University of Uppsala in Sweden. In November 2022 she returned to the Feringa lab to do a joint PhD in collaboration with the De Feyter group at KU Leuven in Belgium, focusing on the design and synthesis of motors and switches for chiral symmetry breaking on surfaces.

Batuhan was born in Arnhem, The Netherlands in 1999. He obtained his BSc degree in chemistry at the Radboud University in Nijmegen (2020). He stayed in Nijmegen and specialized in organic chemistry, where he obtained his MSc degree in Molecular Chemistry (2023). He performed his research internship in the Molecular Nanotechnology department of prof. dr. Roeland J. M. Nolte where he synthesized a nonsymmetric Ni(II) salen complex which was cross-coupled to a porphyrin cage compound. The project was part of a research line to develop a processive supramolecular catalyst which can thread and perform enantioselective epoxidation reactions on functionalized polymer strands for binary data storage in the form of chiral epoxides. After briefly working in the group of prof. dr. Roeland J. M. Nolte as a student researcher and elaborating on his research project, he performed an industrial research internship at the coating resins company Allnex in Wageningen. Here he investigated γ-hydroxybutenolide, reported by prof. dr. Ben L. Feringa and co- workers as a potential platform chemical for a novel class of biobased monomers and a green alternative to acrylic acid. During the project he has investigated the scalability of the photo- oxidation of furfural to γ-hydroxybutenolide and its potential applications within the product portfolio of Allnex. After briefly working in the start up company Plantics he decided on pursuing a PhD in the group of prof. dr. Ben L. Feringa to continue researching γ-hydroxybutenolide based coatings and implement smart functionalities to control coating properties.

Ilayda (1996, the Netherlands) obtained two BSc degrees at the Hanze University of Applied Sciences. For her BSc in Chemistry, she performed an internship and thesis project focussing on asymmetric catalysis in the group of Prof. Syuzanna R. Harutyunyan at the University of Groningen (2018). For her BSc in Sensor Technology (Electrical and Electronics Engineering), she went to Seoul (South-Korea) to perform her thesis project focussing on off-axis digital holography in the super-depth imaging group of Prof. Wonshik Choi at the Institute for Basic Science and Korea University (2020). In between, she followed a Pre-Master at the University of Groningen and after graduation she returned for a MSc in Chemistry, for which she did her research project focussing on photocleavable antibiotics in the group of Prof. Ben L. Feringa (2022). Afterwards, she rejoined the Feringa group for a PhD on photopharmacology and molecular motors.

Bram was born in Wageningen and raised in Renkum, the Netherlands.
He obtained his bachelor degree in Chemistry from the University of Applied Sciences Utrecht. During that time he spent two terms in industry at PFW Aroma Chemicals and FrieslandCampina, as well as one term at the University of Amsterdam/Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. 
He then continued with a Master degree in Organic Chemistry at the University of Stockholm. He received his PhD degree from the same university (2023) where he conducted reactivity and selectivity studies in catalytic asymmetric hydrogenation under guidance of prof. Pher G. Andersson.
After a short employment as Senior Medicinal Chemist at Sprint Bioscience, Bram currently occupies a post-doctoral position at the University of Groningen under guidance of prof. Ben L. Feringa. His research includes stereoselective (auto) catalysis.

Fabio was born in Sinsheim, Germany, and holds both a Bachelor's and Master's degree in Chemical Biology from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). During his
undergraduate studies under the supervision of Prof. Meier, he focused on the modification of polysaccharides. For his Master's thesis, he worked with Dr. Zbigniew L. Pianowski on photochromic inclusion complexes.
Currently, Fabio is pursuing his PhD in the group of Prof. Feringa, where his research centers on inclusion complexes of molecular motor-based amphiphiles.

Robert was born in Herrenberg, Germany. He studied Chemistry at the University of Tübingen, where he obtained his bachelor’s and master’s degrees between 2017 and 2022. During his studies, he carried out research in solid-state chemistry under the supervision of Prof. Dr. H.-Jürgen Meyer and later worked on C–S cross-coupling reactions in the group of Prof. Dr. Ivana Fleischer.

In 2022, he began his PhD in the Fleischer group at the University of Tübingen, focusing on the catalytic activation of C–C bonds. His doctoral research combined mechanistic investigations with synthetic method development and was supported by a scholarship from the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes, which he completed in December 2025.

In February 2026, Robert joined the Feringa group at the University of Groningen as an Alexander von Humboldt Fellow under the guidance of Prof. Dr. Ben L. Feringa. Building on previous work, his current research focuses on earth-abundant transition-metal catalysis.

Baptiste was born in Paris, France. He completed a joint Bachelor’s program at University Paris-Saclay and École Normale Supérieure de Paris-Saclay. During this time, he did a placement at ChimieParisTech, studying metal-catalyzed methods for the dearomatization of nitroarenes.

He pursued a Master’s degree through a joint program between École Normale Supérieure de Paris-Saclay and Sorbonne University. This included three internships: at EPFL (Zhu group), focusing on photochemical β-functionalization of alcohols; at the University of Illinois (White group), studying α-functionalization of heterocycles via C–H hydroxylation; and at Sorbonne University (ROCS team), exploring dizinc species reactivity toward multiple C–C bonds.

From 2021 to 2025, he completed his PhD studies in the Leonori group, first in Manchester, UK, then in Aachen, Germany, developing novel photochemical methods to synthesize aromatics and azoles. In June 2025, Baptiste joined the Feringa group as a postdoc, working on the design of potent photoredox two-electron carriers

Alexander Ryabchun obtained his Ph.D. from Moscow State University (Russia) in 2012. Later in 2013, he joined Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Polymer Research (Germany) Alexander von Humboldt postdoctoral fellow. In 2016, he moved to the Netherlands to work with Prof. Nathalie Katsonis (University of Twente, since 2019 University of Groningen). His research is focused on smart adaptive materials powered by artificial molecular machines (molecular motors, switches, mechanically interlocked molecules) and includes broad aspects of polymer materials and liquid crystals. Since March 2022, he joined the group of Prof. Ben Feringa as a research manager.

Patricia was born in Santiago de Compostela (Galicia, España) in 2001. She
completed her Bsc in Chemistry, with honors, at the University of Santiago de
Compostela in 2023. As part of her degree program, she conducted research
under the supervision of Prof. Javier Montenegro (CiQUS), working on peptide
exo-helix chirality. Afterwards, she joined the group of Prof. Juan Granja as part of
the CiQUS Summer Fellowship Program. During this time, she worked on
developing supramolecular assemblies formed by cyclic peptides. As part of her
BSc final project, she performed a joint project under the supervision of Prof.
Eugenio Vázquez (CiQUS) and Prof. Miguel González-Blanco (CiMUS), in which
she worked on peptides for DNA binding.
Later, in 2024, she joined a Master's program in chemistry at the interface with biology and materials science (ChemBio&Mat), organized by the same research institute (CiQUS). There, she continued to develop her expertise in peptide chemistry and fluorescence spectroscopy.
In October 2025, she joined the Prof. Feringa group as a PhD student, as part of the MonaLisa MSCA consortium. She is currently working in the field of synthetic biology, developing peptide-functionalized motors and characterizing them in membranes.

Born in Yekaterinburg, Russia, Sofia spent her childhood there, followed by her teenage years in Limassol, Cyprus.  She earned her Bachelor's degree in Chemistry (Cum Laude) from the University of Groningen in 2025, with her Bachelor’s research project conducted in the Feringa group, focusing on the green synthesis of biobased coatings from furfural under the supervision of Jelmer Meijer. She returned to the Feringa group for her Master’s thesis, working on incorporating covalent adaptive networks into butenolide coatings, which is also supervised by Jelmer Meijer.

Lotte was born in the Netherlands and obtained her BSc (Hons) degree in chemistry at the University of Groningen. After completing her BSc thesis in the Feringa group, she moved to Switzerland for her master’s programme at ETH Zurich, where she conducted a research project in the group of prof. Chen and completed her MSc thesis under the supervision of prof. Mezzetti, working on Mn(I) catalysts for the asymmetric hydrogenation of ketones. In November 2019, Lotte returned to the Feringa group as a PhD student to work on the development of molecular motors and switches. In March 2024, she started her position as a research manager in the group. 

Petko was born in Sofia, Bulgaria, in the year 2000 and studied at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), where he obtained both his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in chemical biology. His Bachelor’s thesis in the group of Prof. H.A. Wagenknecht focused on synthesizing a clickable nucleoside for DNA labelling, while his Master’s thesis with PD. Z. Pianowski and co-supervised by Prof. H. Mutlu (RPTU) explored light-responsive soft materials including liquid crystals and sustainable polymers.
After graduating he continued research in the Pianowski group, collaborating with Prof. M. Meier (KIT) as well as completing a short research stay with Prof. N. Katsonis (RUG). Petko is also a recipient of an Evonik fellowship, mentored by Prof. H. Mutlu. Petko joined the Feringa group in 2025 to pursue his PhD, focusing on the design and synthesis of molecular motors as building blocks for human-made molecular machines. 

Lynn was born and raised in Hamburg, Germany. She began her Bachelor’s degree in Chemistry at the Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, where she completed her Bachelor’s thesis in the group of Prof. R. Herges. She stayed in Kiel for her Master’s programme and conducted a research project in the Feringa Group in 2023. In the following year, she joined the Szábó Group at Stockholm University to work in the field of catalysis. In November 2024, she returned to Groningen to begin her Master’s thesis on ultrafast photoclick reactions for PET imaging. 
In December 2025, she rejoined the Feringa Group to pursue her PhD on radiolabelling of antibiotics.

Jinghao was born in Hubei, China in 1997. He obtained his Bachelor and Master’s Degrees under the supervision of Professor Huibin Qiu and Chengshuo Shen at Shanghai JiaoTong University, focusing on the synthesis of helicenes and chiral nanographene chemistry. In 2022, he joined the Feringa group as a PhD student in the field of design, synthesis, assembly and functioning of switches and motors.

Jiayi was born in Hangzhou, China. She obtained her Bachelor’s degree in Analytical Chemistry at Zhejiang University of Technology. In 2022, she began her Master studies at the Southern University of Science and Technology under the supervision of Prof. Chuan He, working on asymmetric catalysis and boron chemistry. In November 2025, she joined the Feringa group as a PhD student to study the origin of homochirality.