Belgian researcher Gert De Cremer has been awarded the first prize in the DSM Science & Technology Awards (North) 2010. An international judging committee, chaired by DSM Chief Technology Officer Dr Jos Put, selected Gert De Cremer, who received his doctorate from the Catholic University Leuven for his PhD thesis entitled “In situ monitoring of dynamics in redox chemistry by fluorescence micro- and nanoscopy”. Dr De Cremer has succeeded in developing a new category of environmentally friendly fluorescent materials which can be manufactured on a large scale at low cost. These new materials offer an attractive alternative to currently used – but more expensive – materials for a variety of applications such as lighting, solar cells, security labeling and medical diagnostics. Gert De Cremer was presented with the award by Dr Rob van Leen, Chief Innovation Officer of DSM. As the winner of the first prize he will also receive a cash prize of EUR 10,000.
The second prize (EUR 5,000) was awarded to Anke Detzer of the Univeristy of Lübeck (Germany) for her PhD research entitled “The intracellular bioavailability of siRNA and Argonaute 2 represents the major obstacle towards therapeutic application of RNAi-based drugs”. The third prize (EUR 2,500) was awarded to Siebe van Mensfoort of Eindhoven University of Technology (Netherlands) for his PhD research entitled “Effects of disorder on the charge transport and recombination in organic light-emitting diodes”. The other six finalists will each receive a cash prize of EUR 1,250.
The awards were presented at a special event held in Vaals (Netherlands) on June 1 to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the awards.
