In this new feature of the ISGS Newsletter, we will report significant achievements and awards gained by col-leagues within the Sol-Gel community. Please pass on any details of such awards to the Editor for inclusion in the Newsletter.
Promoting academic cooperation between outstanding scientists and German and foreign academics, the Alex-ander Van Humboldt Foundation annually awards post-doctoral fellowships via a competitive selection process. This program seeks to stimulate research projects and the careers of talented young researchers, with the sup-port of German research institutions and in cooperation with a substantial network of Humboldt alumni.
Dr Mathilde Laird, a graduate of the Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Chimie de Montpellier, current Post-Doctoral Fellow at Kyoto University’s Institute for Integrated Cell-Material Sciences and active member of the ISGS community, has been awarded a Humboldt Foundation Post-Doctoral Fellowship which will be undertaken in the laboratory of Professor Guido Kickelbick at the University of Saarland.
Mathilde began her scientific career with a double degree between the Ecole Centrale de Marseille (France) and the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), which offered her the opportunity to carry out research in catalysis for polymeriza-tion and for the conversion of ethanol. Her interest in research led her to complete her doctorate at the ENSCM, under the direction of Dr Michel Wong Chi Man and in collaboration with Professor John Bartlett (Western Sydney, Australia) and Dr Carole Carcel (ENSCM). Her thesis work on mesopo-rous organosilicas and oligomeric silsesquioxanes has al-ready led to the publication of eight papers in international journals, including seven as first author. Among her important contributions is the report in Angewandte Chemie International Edition, of the isolation and characterization of a POSS cage composed of 18 silicon atoms, the largest isomerically pure POSS cage obtained to date. Her recent work on the use of multifunctional dendrimer for the creation of functional pores modulated by the generation of the dendrimer, as well as the production of the first periodic mesoporous organosilicas with double po-rosity including functional porosity, is also generating growing interest in seminars and international conferences.
Since November 2020, Mathilde has been working at Kyoto University Since November 2020, Mathilde has been working at Kyoto University (Japan), in collaboration with an American company, where she is developing nanoparticles for cancer therapy (boron neutron capture therapy and Auger therapy), which has led to the publication of two papers to date.
Humboldt Post-Doctoral Fellowship will be undertaken in the team of Professor Guido Kickelbick at the Universität des Saarlandes (Saarbrücken, Germany) from May 2023, and will explore the development of new reversible silylated precursors for applications in nanomedicine, self-healing materials and optoelectronics.
