Poster prizes sponsored by NJC were awarded at two summer conferences: the 2nd European Conference on Chemistry for Life Sciences and the Chirality at the Nanoscale Conference.

In Wroclaw, Miguela Vieru and Rafael del Villar were the winners of the two NJC Interface Poster Prizes awarded during the 2nd European Conference on Chemistry for the Life Sciences.

Ms Vieru is a 3rd year Ph.D. student at the University of Florence, working in the group of Ivano Bertini. Her winning poster was on the formation of amyloid-like oligomers by metal-free superoxide dismutase. Under physiological conditions, the apo form of SOD1 forms soluble aggregates, which might seed the formation of subsequent insoluble aggregates. Pathogenic aggregates of SOD1 have been found in the motor neurons of patients suffering from familial ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis).

The second winner, Mr del Villar, has just finished the first year of his Ph.D. in the group of Cristina Vicent at the CSIC's Instituto Química Orgánica General in Madrid. In his poster he presented the synthesis of a mimic for the transcription factor YY1, a glycoprotein. Studies on the new mimic will provide information on the role of the glycosidic residue in glycoprotein-DNA binding. 

A few weeks later, in Sitges (near Barcelona), the two winners selected at the Chirality on the Nanoscale Conference were Ms Anna Company and Mr Rafael Martín. 

The award-winning poster of Ms Company, a Ph.D. student in the group of Miquel Costas at the University of Girona, described a new molecular machine based on a new concept. In this molecular flipper, motion of a chiral copper complex is induced by isomerisation of the complex, thus inverting the helical chirality. The motion exhibited by the complex can be described as a bi-paddled flipper, which is electrochemically switched. The oxidation state of the metal ion drives the switching. 

 

 

Mr Martín, who is a post-doctoral fellow in the group of Bert Meijer at Eindhoven University of Technology, presented his poster on the helical organisation of bipyridine-based symmetrical molecules in the bulk. Intramolecular hydrogen bonds pre-organise the molecules, which then stack in a helical matter, thus amplifying the molecular chirality. X-Ray diffraction was used to investigate in more detail the structural features of the helical organisation. 

 

 

Our congratulations go to all the winners and our thanks to the organisers of the two conferences for their help in arranging for these awards. Also, many thanks to all of the senior scientists who served on the juries to select the winners, and in particular to Dr Barbara Nawrot (Polish Academy of Sciences) and Prof. Alan Rowan (Catholic University of Nijmegen).