Swiss researcher Alexandra Teleki has won the first prize in the DSM Science &
Technology Awards (South) 2009. An international judging committee, chaired by
Dr Manfred Eggersdorfer, R&D Director at DSM Nutritional Products, selected
Alexandra Teleki, who obtained her doctorate from the Swiss Federal Institute
of Technology ETH Zurich (Switzerland), for her PhD research on the production
and application of coated nanoparticles.
Alexandra Teleki has succeeded in developing a highly reproducible method for
the simplified production of structured nanoparticles. Structured
nanoparticles are expected to play a major role in enabling sustainable routes
to materials production. Dr Teleki was presented with the award by Mr Leendert
Staal, President and CEO of DSM Nutritional Products on Tuesday, June 23, at a
festive awards event at Park Hotel Vitznau in Vitznau (Switzerland). As the
winner of the first prize she will also receive a cash prize of EUR 10,000.
The second prize (EUR 5,000) was awarded to Christian Nilewski of the Swiss
Federal Institute of Technology ETH Zurich (Switzerland) for his PhD research
on marine toxins and their effect on human health. The third prize (EUR 2,500)
was awarded to Frederik Wurm of the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz
(Germany) for his PhD work on linear hyperbranched block copolymers that offer
great potential for medical and pharmaceutical applications. The other nine
finalists will each receive a cash prize of EUR 1,250.
The DSM Science & Technology Awards form part of the DSM Innovation Awards
Program sponsored by the DSM Innovation Center. They are granted for
outstanding PhD research by doctoral students from Switzerland, which is the
home base of DSM Nutritional Products, and the neighboring regions of Austria,
Northeastern France and Southern Germany.
Commenting on this year’s awards, Mr Staal said: ‘DSM wants to
recognize and reward exceptional achievements, both by our own employees and
by talented researches working outside DSM. Science and technology will
continue to play a key role in enabling the solutions the world is looking for
in so many different areas. And this makes pioneering scientific work, like
the PhD research done by the awards candidates, extremely valuable.’
Report of the judging committee
In its report about the winner
of the first prize, the judging committee said it was impressed by the
considerable scope of the research of Alexandra Teleki, ranging from the
development of new production methods to the application of a series of new
coated nanoparticles: ‘A striking aspect of the research is that all of the
synthesis and preparation steps have been simplified, particle formation and
coating now being integrated in a single flame synthesis step.’ The judging
committee expects that the outcome of the research will prove very useful in
the routine and large scale synthesis of silicon oxide coated and metal dotted
nanoparticles.
The judging committee commended the high quality of the work of all the other
finalists.
The winners of the first, second and third prizes
Alexandra
Teleki conducted her research at the Institute of Process Technology, Swiss
Federal Institute of Technology ETH Zurich (Switzerland), under the
supervision of: Prof. Sotiris E. Pratsinis.
Christian Nilewski conducted his research at the Laboratory of Organic
Chemistry, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology ETH Zurich (Switzerland),
under the supervision of Prof. Erick M. Carreira.
Frederik Wurm conducted his research at the Institute of Organic Chemistry,
Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (Germany), under the supervision of Prof.
Holger Frey.
Other winners
The other nine prize-winners are:
Morgan Donnard
Laboratory of Organic and Bio-organic Chemistry,
University of Haute-Alsace (France)
Christine Goedl
Department of Biotechnology and Bioprocess Technology,
Graz University of Technology (Austria)
Kathrin Lang
Institute of Organic Chemistry, University of Innsbruck
(Austria)
Ludwig Limbach
Institute of Chemical and Bioengineering, Swiss Federal
Institute of Technology Zurich (Switzerland)
Pauline Peltier-Pain
Institute of Organic and Supramolecular
Chemistry, Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Chimie de Rennes (France)
Stephan Reitmeier
Institute of Chemical Technology, München University
of Technology (Germany)
Alexander A. Solovev
Institute for Integrative Nanosciences, Leibniz
Institute for Solid State and Materials Research Dresden (Germany)
Jan Streuff
Laboratory of Homogeneous Catalysis and Molecular S
ynthesis, University of Strasbourg (France)
Constance Voss
Department of Chemistry, University of Graz (Austria)
Two parallel awards schemes
DSM launched the Science &
Technology Awards twenty-four years ago. Until 2006, the awards were open to
doctoral students from the Netherlands, Belgium and the German state of
Nordrhein-Westfalen (DSM Science & Technology Awards – North). In view of the
high reputation and popularity the awards had gained in academic circles, in
2007 DSM introduced a parallel contest for PhD researchers from universities
in Switzerland, Austria, Northeastern France and Southern Germany (DSM Science
& Technology Awards – South).
Encouraging pioneering research
DSM performs a great deal of
its R&D work in close collaboration with universities. Through its Science &
Technology Awards DSM wants to encourage young research scientists to
undertake creative, pioneering research. This is important because this kind
of research often provides the basis for the development of new,
knowledge-intensive industrial processes and innovative products.
