SCS Lectureship Awards

Prof. T. Don Tilley, University of California, Berkley, USA
Research interests: Organometallic, Polymer and Materials Chemistry; Catalysis — Synthetic, structural, and reactivity studies on transition metal compounds are pursued in the search for new chemical transformations, polymers with novel properties, catalysts, and advanced solid state materials.

• Mon, March 23, 2026: University of Bern
• Tue, March 24, 2026: ETH Zurich 
• Wed, March 25, 2026: EPFL Lausanne
• Thu, March 26, 2026: University of Genève
• Fri, March 27, 2026:  University of Basel  

Tour organizer: Prof. Maté Bezdek, ETH Zurich

Prof. Paul J. Hegenrother, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, USA
Research interests: Design, synthesis, and evaluation of organic molecules with novel biological properties including enzyme inhibitors and activators; novel anticancer and antibacterial compounds; chemical biology and synthetic organic chemistry

• Mon, March 23, 2026: ETH Zurich or University of Zurich
• Tue, March 24, 2026: University of Basel   
• Wed, March 25, 2026: University of Bern
• Thu, March 26, 2026: EPFL Lausanne
• Fri, March 27, 2026: University of Genève

Tour organizer: Dr. Yves Auberson, Novartis

Prof. Zhenfeng Xi, Peking University, China
Research interests: organometallic chemistry, coordination chemistry, photochemistry, electrochemistry, synthetic organic chemistry, and catalysis
Tour Organizer: Prof. Jieping Zhu, EPFL Lausanne

Prof. Laura Kiessling, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, USA (postponed from 2025)
Research interests: chemical biology to elucidate the biological roles of carbohydrates, with a focus on learning new mechanistic concepts
Tour organizer: Prof. Nina Hartrampf, University of Zürich

Prof. Anat Milo, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, ISR
Research interests: physical organic chemistry that combines experimental, computational, and statistical strategies to identify design principles behind molecular functionality, reactivity, and selectivity
Tour dates: April 7-14, 2025
Tour organizer: Prof. Jérôme Lacour, University of Geneva
Tour Program, Prof. Anat Milo (pdf)

Prof. Tehshik Yoon, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA
Research interests: use of photochemistry to assemble otherwise unaccessible structures with precise stereocontrol
Tour dates: May 19-23, 2025
Tour organizer: Prof. Olivier Baudoin, University of Basel
Tour Program, Prof. Tehshik Yoon (pdf)

Prof. Yamuna Krishnan, University of Chicago, USA
Research interests: quantitative chemical imaging in living systems
Tour dates: September 8-16, 2025
Tour organizer: Prof. Beat Fierz, EPFL Lausanne
Tour Program, Prof. Yamuna Krishnan (pdf)

Prof. Stefan Hecht, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (Germany)
Research fields: Macromolecular and supramolecular systems and their assembly/integration into materials
Lecture title: «Illuminating Materials, Devices, and Manufacturing with Photoswitches»
Tour dates: March 11-15, 2024
Tour organizier: Prof. Stefan Salentinig, University of Fribourg
Tour Program, Prof. Stefan Hecht (pdf)

Prof. Jonas C. Peters, California Institute of Technology (USA)
Research fields: Inorganic Synthesis, Reaction Chemistry, and Mechanistic Studies
Tour dates: March 18-22, 2024
Tour organizier: Prof. Marinella Mazzanti, EPFL Lausanne
Tour Program, Prof. Jonas C. Peters (pdf)

Prof. Kazuaki Ishihara, Nagoya University (Japan)
Research field: development of catalytic organic reactions and processes directed towards green chemistry
Tour dates: April 8-12, 2024
Tour organizier: Prof. Jérôme Lacour, University of Geneva
Tour Program, Prof. Kazuaki Ishihara (pdf)

Charlotte Williams, University of Oxford (UK)
Research fields: homogenous catalysis and polymer chemistry, including the use of bimetallic compounds as catalysts to maximise performances and selectivities.
Tour dates: June 3-7, 2024
Tour organizier: Prof. Eva Hevia, University of Bern
Tour Program, Prof. Charlotte Williams (pdf)

Prof. Kyoko Nozaki, The University of Tokyo (Japan)
Research fields: new reactions mediated by homogeneous catalysis for organic and polymer synthesis
Tour dates: October 14-28, 2024
Tour organizier: Prof. Jérôme Lacour, University of Geneva
Tour Program, Prof. Kyoko Nozaki (pdf)

Prof. Motomu Kanai, University of Tokyo (Japan)
«Catalytic C-H functionalization of hydrocarbons and proteins: dehydrogenation, C-C bond-formation, and amyloid degradation»
Tour dates:27.-31.03.2023
Tour organizier: Prof. Jérôme Lacour, University of Geneva

Prof. Hideki Yorimitsu, Kyoto University (Japan)
«Aromatic Metamorphosis: Breaking Aromaticity to Construct New Cyclic Systems»
«Reductive Metalation of Unsaturated Bonds by Taming Radical Anions»
Tour dates: 24.04-28.04.2023
Tour organizier: Prof. Jérôme Lacour, University of Geneva

Prof. Darren Dixon, Oxford University (UK)
«New Broad Scope Strategies for Amine and Complex Natural Products Synthesis»
Tour dates: 11.-15.10.2021
Tour Organizer: Prof. O. Baudoin, University of Basel

Prof. Andrei Yudin, University of Toronto (CAN)
«The dark side of conformational analysis»
Tour dates: February 17-21, 2020
Tour organizer: Prof. Ch. Sparr, University of Basel

All other Lectureship tours that were planned from March to December 2020 had to be cancelled and/or rescheduled due to the COVID-19 Pandemic:

• Prof. Darren Dixon, Oxford University (UK)
• Prof. Edward I. Solomon, Stanford University (USA)
• Prof. David Nesbitt, JILA and University of Colorado, Boulder
• Prof. Jennifer Field, Oregon State University (USA)
• Prof. Abby Doyle, Princeton University (USA)
  

The following Lectureship tours are approved for 2019:

«Photochemistry of metal hydride complexes inside an NMR spectrometer: Breaking the speed limits of NMR»
«Hydrogen bonding and halogen bonding to transition metal complexes»
Tour dates: April 23 - May 2, 2019
Tour organizer: Prof. Christoph Copéret, ETH Zurich

Prof. Richard Saykally, University of California, Berkeley, US «Hydrogen Bond Network Rearrangement Dynamics in Water Clusters: Dramatic Effects of Librational Excitation on Hydrogen Bond Tunneling Rates»
«Probing Complex Interfaces(Review of the methods we employ, including "DUV SHG, XAS, soft X-ray SHG with FELs)»
«Selective Adsorption of Ions to Aqueous Interfaces: Towards a Complete Mechanism»
Tour dates: May 6-10, 2019
Tour organizer: Prof. Rainer Beck, EPF Lausanne

Prof. Thomas Ternes, Federal Institute of Hydrology, Koblenz, Germany
«Analytical methods for emerging contaminants: advanced tools to understand environmental and technical processes.»
Tour dates: May 13-15, 2019 (lectures in Geneva and Lausanne are cancelled)
Tour organizer: Dr. Marc Suter, Eawag Dubendorf

Prof. Takashi Ooi, Nagoya University, Japan
«Molecular Design of Organic Ions for Asymmetric Catalysis»
«Behavior of Molecules: From Catalysis to Biological Functions»
Tour dates: May 20-24, 2019
Tour organizer: Prof. Jérôme Lacour, University of Geneva

Prof. Gary Siuzdak, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA, USA «Discovering Metabolites that Alter Physiology, an Omics Perspective»
Tour dates: May 27-31, 2019
Tour organizer: Prof. Nicola Zamboni, ETH Zurich

Prof. Sarah E. Reisman, California Institute of Technology, US
«Necessity is the Mother of Invention: Natural Products and the Chemistry They Inspire»
Tour dates: September 9-13, 2019
Tour organizer: Dr. Andreas Marzinzik, Novartis, Basel

Prof. Donna Blackmond, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, US
«Explaining Mechanistic Anomalies in Organocatalysis: “Downstream Intermediates” and a New Paradigm for Stereocontrol»
«Symmetry Breaking and Asymmetric Amplification via Autocatalytic Self-Replication»
«Physical Models for the Origin of Biological Homochirality»
Tour dates: October 7-11, 2019
Tour organizer: Prof. Martin Quack, ETH Zurich

Prof. Scott J. Miller, Yale University, USA«Searching for Selective Catalytic Reactions in Complex Molecular Environments»
Tour date: 26.02.-05.03.2018
Tour organizier: Prof. Christof Sparr, University of Basel

Prof. Masayuki Inuoe, The University of Tokyo, Japan 
«Radical-Based Approach for Synthesis of Complex Natural Products»
Tour date: 7.-15.05.2018
Tour organizier: Prof. Jieping Zhu, EPF Lausanne

Prof. Frank Neese, Max Planck Institute for Chemical Energy Conversion, Mülheim an der Ruhr, GER «Ab-initio Ligand Field Theory and Magnetism of d- and f-Elements»«Insight into the Water Oxidizing Cluster in Photosystem II»
«Insight into CO₂-Activation»
«Reactivity of High-Valent Non-Heme Iron Centers»
Tour date: 14.-18.05.2018
Tour organizer: Prof. Thomas Bally, University of Fribourg

Dr. Eng. Zhaomin Hou, Riken Center for Sustainable Resource Science, Japan«Search for new catalysts for efficient and selective chemical transformations»
Tour date: 28.05.-04.06.2018
Tour organizier: Prof. E. Peter Kündig, University of Geneva

Prof. Craig Crews, Yale University, USA
«PROTAC-mediated Protein Degradation: The chemical equivalent of siRNA»
Tour date: 18.06.-22.06.2018
Tour organizier: Prof. Dennis Gillingham, University of Basel

Prof. Scott Snyder, University of Chicago
«Strategies and tactics for the rapid synthesis of molecular complexity»
Tour date: 10.-17.09.2018
Tour organizier: Prof. Christian Bochet, University of Fribourg

Prof. John R. Yates, The Scripps Research Institute, USA
«Understanding the molecular defect in cystic fibrosis using mass spectrometry and proteomics»
Tour date: 17.-24.10.2018
Tour organizier: Prof. Renato Zenobi, ETH Zurich

Prof. Masahiro Murakami, Kyoto University, Japan
«Life-Long Focus on Four-Membered Rings»
Tour date: 28.10.-02.11.2018
Tour organizier: Prof. Jérôme Lacour, University of Geneva

Dr. Xiaoguang Lei, Beijing
«Complex Natural Product as a Driving Force for Discovery in Organic Synthesis and Chemical Biology» and
«Tightly Linking Chemistry and Biology through Covalent Bonds»
Tour date: 27.-31. March 2017
Tour organizer: Prof. Nicolas Winssinger, University of Geneva

Associate Prof. Ryan Shenvi, The Scripps Research Institute, USA 
«Chemical Synthesis of Secondary Metabolites»
Tour date: 08.-12. May 2017
Tour organizer: Karl Gademann, University of Zurich

Prof. Jonathan Ellmann, Yale University, USA
«C-H Functionalization for the Efficient Assembly and Elaboration of Heterocyclic Compounds»
Tour date: 15.-19. May 2017
Tour organizer: Dr. Andreas Marzinzik, Novartis

Prof. Cathy Crudden, Queen’s University, Kingston, Canada
«Metal catalysts, clusters and surfaces: From the synthesis of chiral bio-molecules to carbon-based self assembled monolayers»
Tour date: 02-09. October 2017
Tour organizier: Jeffrey Bode, ETH Zurich

Prof. Cynthia Burrows, The University of Utah, USA
«The Epigenetics of Guanine:  From chemistry to biology with guanine oxidation»
Tour date: 16.-20. October 2017
Tour organizer: Prof. Thomas Bally, University of Fribourg

Prof. Frank Neese, Max Planck Institute for Chemical Energy Conversion, Mülheim an der Ruhr, GER
«Reactivity of high-valent nonheme iron centers»
«Insight into the water oxidizing cluster in Photosystem II»
«Insight into CO₂ activation»
«Insight into the water oxidizing cluster in Photosystem II»
«Ab initio ligand field theory and magnetism of d- and f-elements»
Tour date: 13.-17. November 2017 
The tour is cancelled and an alternative date in 2018 will be defined.
Tour organizer: Prof. Thomas Bally, University of Fribourg

Prof. Sir Richard Friend, University of Cambridge, UK
«Molecular semiconductors for LEDs and solar cells: designing around the Coulomb interaction»
«New semiconductors and new architectures for LEDs and solar cells»
Tour date: 20.-24. November 2017
Tour organizer: Prof. Majed Chergui, EPF Lausanne

Prof. Shiki Yagai, Chiba University, Japan
«Figuration of Supramolecular Polymers with Spontaneous Curvature»
Tour date: 11.-15. December 2017
Tour organizier: Prof. Bruno Therrien, University of Neuchatel

Prof. F. Fleming Crim, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA
«The Influence of Vibrations on Reactions in Gases and Liquids»
Tour date: 21. September - 21. November 2017
Tour organizier: Prof. Martin Quack, ETH Zurich

Prof. Gregory Scholes, Princeton University (US)
«Coherent Energy Transfer in Photosynthetic Light Harvesting»
Host: Natalie Banerji, University of Fribourg
Tour date: 14. - 18. March 2016

Prof. Michinori Suginome, Kyoto University (JP)
«New Catalytic and Chiroptical Functions of Chirality-Switchable Helical Macromolecules»
Host: Clément Mazet, University of Geneva 
Tour date: 09. - 16. May 2016

Prof. Michael Gottfried, Philipps-Universität Marburg (DE)
«Organometallic and coordination chemistry on surfaces»
Host: Karl-Heinz Ernst von der EMPA
Tour date: 06. - 10. June 2016

Prof. Justin du Bois, Stanford University, California (US)
«The Molecular Mystique of Nature’s Poisons», «Chemical Approaches to the Study of Ion Channels»
Host: Olivier Baudoin, University of Basel
Tour date: 14. - 21. June 2016

Prof. Jeffrey Johntson, Vanderbilt University, Nashville TN (US)
«New Catalysts, Methods, and Strategies that Enable Therapeutic Development and On-Demand Natural Product Total Synthesis»
Host: Jérôme Lacour, University of Geneva
Tour date: 05. - 09. September 2016

Prof. Richard N. Zare, Stanford University, California (US)
«Microdroplet Chemistry»
Host: Stefan Willitsch, University of Basel
Tour date: 12. - 16. September 2016

Prof. Keisuke Suzuki, Tokyo Institute of Technology (JP)
«Lessons from Complex Natural Product Synthesis: Polyphenol Monomers, Oligomers and Hybrids»
Host: Clément Mazet, University of Geneva
Tour date: 03. - 11. October 2016

Prof. Eric V. Anslyn, University of Texas, Austin (US)
«Supramolecular Analytical Chemistry»
Host: Thomas Bally, University of Fribourgl
Tour date: 10. - 14. Oktober 2016

Prof. Eric T. Kool, Stanford University (US)
Lecture Title: «Designer DNA Bases: Probing Molecules and Mechanisms in Biology»
Host: Prof.  Nicolas Winssinger, University of Geneva

Prof. Graham Cooks, Purdue University (US)
Lecture Title: «Mass Spectrometry for Medical Diagnostics, Organic Synthesis and Materials Fabrication»
Host: Prof. Christophe Copéret, ETH Zurich

Prof. Guy Bertrand, University of Califormina (US)
Lecture Title: «Stable carbenes and related species: Powerful tools in organic, inorganic and organometallic chemistry»
Host: Prof. Hansjörg Grützmacher, ETH Zurich

Prof. Kenichiro Itami, Nagoya University (JP)
Lecture Title: «C-H Activation Catalysis for Carbon Materials and Plant/Animal Biology»
Host: Prof. Georg Süss-Fink, University of Neuchâtel

Prof. Tristan Lambert, Columbia University
Lecture title: «Advances in Catalysis via the Exploration of Novel Ionic Structures»
Host: Prof. Jérome Waser, EPF Lausanne

Prof. Michael R. Wasielewski, Northwestern University (US)
Lecture title: «Photoinitiated Charge Transport in Self-assembled Organic Nanostructures» and
«Integrated Molecular Systems for Artificial Photosynthesis»
Host: Prof. Oliver S. Wenger, University of Basel

Prof. Kazuya Kikuchi, Osaka University (JP)
Lecture title: «Design Strategy of Molecular Imaging Probes which Convert Biological Signals to Chemical Output» 
Host: Prof. Nicolas Winssinger, University of Geneva

Prof. Shunichi Fukuzumi, Osaka University (JP)
Lecture Title: «New Strategies for Artificial Photosynthesis»
Host: Prof.  Oliver Wenger, University of Basel

Prof. Huw Davies, Emory University (US)
Lecture Title: «Collaborative Approach for C-H Functionalization»
Host: Prof. Nicolai Cramer, EPF Lausanne

Prof. Peter J. Sadler, University of Warwick (UK)
«Metals in Medicine»
Host: PD Dr. Julien Furrer, University of Bern

Prof. Peter R. Schreiner, Universität Giessen (Germany)
«Enantioselective Multicatalysis - Retrocatalysis»,
«Nanodiamandoids as Next-Generation Carbon Materials» and
«Tunnelling control of chemical reactions»
Host: Prof. Thomas Bally, University of Fribourg

Prof. Mark MacLachlan, University of British Columbia (Canada)
"Supramolecular Chemistry"
Host:  Alan F. Williams, University of Geneva

Prof. Prof. Keiji Morokuma, Kyoto University (Japan)
«Exciting World of Theoretical Studies of Chemical Reactions»
Host:  Prof. Markus Meuwly, University of Basel

Prof. Varinder Aggarwal, University of Bristol (UK)
«Assembly Line Synthesis»
Host:  Prof. Philippe Renaud, University of Berne

Prof. Sukbok Chang, KAIST, Department of Chemistry (KR)
«Development of Direct C-H Amination Reactions Based on Mechanistic Aspects»
Host: Prof. E. Peter Kündig, University of Geneva

Prof. Carl Lineberger, University of Colorado Boulder (USA)
«Anion Photoelectron Spectroscopy: From Radicals to the Reaction Coordinate»
Host: Prof. Thomas Bally, University of Fribourg

Prof. Hanadi Sleiman, McGill University, Montreal (Canada)
«Three-Dimensional DNA Structures for Biological and Materials Applications»
Host:  Prof. Prof. Georg Suess-Fink, University of Neuchâtel

Prof. Michael Famulok, Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn (DE)
«Chemical biology for deciphering cell signaling pathways» and
«Oligonucleotide-based tools for pharmacology and nano-engineering»
Host:  Prof. Wolf-Dietrich Woggon, University of Basel

Program Director
Prof. Beat Fierz, EPFL Lausanne