SCS Lectureship Awards

Prof. Anastassia Alexandrova, University of California Los Angeles, UCLA (USA)
Titels: 08./09./10.03.2027: «Enzymes as molecular capacitors»
11./12.03.2026: «Catalytic interfaces as phase boundaries outside of thermodynamic equilibrium»

• Mon, March 8: University of Zurich
• Tue, March 9: University of Basel
• Wed, March 10: University of Bern
• Thu, March 11: EPFL, Lausanne
• Fri, March 12: University of Geneva

Tour organizer: Prof. Bogdan Dereka and Prof. Ali Deliz Liang, University of Zürich

Prof.  Matthew S. Sigman, The University of Utah, Salt Lake City (USA)
«Developing Data Science and ML Tools for Synthetic Chemists»

• Mon, April 5: Roche, Basel
• Tue, April 6: University of Zurich
• Wed, April 7: University of Bern
• Thu, April 8: University of Geneva
• Fri, April 9: EPFL, Lausanne

Tour organizer: Prof. Philippe Schwaller, EPFL Lausanne

Prof. Brian Shoichet, University of California, San Francisco, UCSF (USA)
Research interests: The Shoichet lab seeks to bring chemical reagents to biology, combining computation and experiment.
Tour dates: May 10 to 14, 2027 (tbc)
Tour organizer: Prof. Oliver Zerbe, University of Zurich

Prof. Christina M. Woo, Harvard University, Cambridge, USA
Research interests: chemical biology, organic synthesis, and mass spectrometry to understand small molecule activity in the proteome.
Tour dates: late April/early May 2027 or December 2027
Tour organizer: Prof. Zuzanna Kozicka, 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 dates: June 2-8, 2027
Tour organizer: Prof. Nina Hartrampf, University of Zürich

Prof. Debabrata Maiti, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (ITT), India
Research interests: Regioselective transformation of C-X bonds via a plethora of functionalization/defunctionalization pathways through metal catalyzed chemical processes
Tour dates: December 6-10, 2027
Tour organizer: Prof. Jérôme Lacour, University of Geneva

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.
Tour dates: March 23-26, 2026  
Tour organizer: Prof. Maté Bezdek, ETH Zurich
Tour Program, Prof. T. Don Tilley (pdf)

Prof. Paul J. Hergenrother, 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
Tour dates: March 23-27, 2026
Tour organizer: Dr. Yves Auberson, Novartis
Tour Program, Prof. Paul J. Hergenrother (pdf)

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
Tour Program, Prof. Zhenfeng Xi (pdf)

Prof. Dan Nocera, Harvard University, USA
Research interests: renewable energy, solar energy conversion and storage

• Tue, October 13, 2026: ETH Zurich, co-organized with University of Zurich
• Wed, October 14, 2026: EPFL, Lausanne, co-organized with University of Geneva
• Thu, October 15, 2026: University of Basel
• Fri, October 16, 2026:  University of Fribourg, co-organized with University of Bern

Tour organizer: Prof. Martin Quack, ETH Zurich
Tour Program, Prof. Dan Nocera (pdf)

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