A total of 51 researchers have been awarded Villum Experiment grants that supports bold and unorthodox research ideas in their early phase. As many as three of the recipients are from DTU Chemistry.
Villum Experiment is created for technical and scientific research projects that challenge the norm and have the potential to fundamentally change the way we approach important topics.
Applicants are anonymous to the international reviewers to sharpen their focus on the research idea and to allow researchers to think freely in relation to their past merits.
This year, the reviewers received 500 applications and awarded grants to 51 researchers - three of them from DTU Chemistry: Professor Mads H. Clausen, Assistant Professor Søren Kramer and Postdoc Xinxin Xiao. They each receive about 2 MDKK in support of their experimental ideas.
"The three researchers operate within different research areas. This is a recognition of the three researchers individual ideas, but also a testiment of the versatile and original thinking that DTU Chemistry in general stands for," says Professor and Head of Department Erling H. Stenby.
Read more about Villum Experiment here
- Professor Mads Clausen works in the field of chemical biology - focussing on synthesis. He has received the Villum Experiment grant for the project ‘A paradigm shift in carbohydrate chemistry: stereocontrolled glycosylation’. The goal is to develop a new method for the formation of glycoside bonds - the composition of sugars, which largely defines the structure and functions of carbohydrates. As carbohydrates play a crucial role in our food and for our health, it is important to be able to produce carbohydrates in an efficient and sustainable way.
- Assistant Professor Søren Kramer works in the field of catalysis and sustainable chemistry and has received the grant for the project "Sustainable Synthesis of Advanced Organic Molecules by Asymmetric Catalysis and C-H Functionalization". The project aims to improve the production of advanced organic molecules by combining two methods: C-H functionalization and asymmetric catalysis. The combination of the two methods has the potential to make the manufacture of medicines, additives, sensors, etc. significantly greener.
- Postdoc Xinxin Xiao works in the field of nano- and electrochemistry and has received the grant for the project ‘Enable bioelectro-synthesis of chiral amines’. The project aims to reduce the cost of a certain enzymatic reaction that can be used for the synthesis of sophisticated chemicals such as enantiomerically pure chiral amines, which are building blocks in many drugs.