Prof. Dr. Aharon Gedanken (Personal Page )
Prof. Aharon Gedanken, of the Department of Chemistry, is a member of the Nano Materials Center at the Institute of Nanotechnology and Advanced Materials (BINA), and a recipient of the President of Israel Achievement Award for coordination of a European Funded Research.
Gedanken is a pioneer of sonochemistry – a discipline in which chemical reactions are accelerated through the application of ultrasonic sound waves. His many discoveries include a process that removes heavy metals ions from polluted water using aquatic plants and microwave radiation – a fast and low-cost method for producing purified water on the one hand, and metallic nanoparticles on the other hand.
Gedanken is an expert in the fabrication of nanostructures with special properties such as antibacterial, antiviral (i.e. Swine influenza), antifungal and antibiofilm. Among his discoveries is the fact that ultrasound radiation can coat a large variety of solid surfaces such as metals, ceramics, polymers, glass, textiles, and even paper, enabling him to impart a variety of properties to the solid. The vision behind the EC grant that Gedanken leads, with 17 partners from academia and industry, is the Hospital of the Future, in which all all textiles such as bed sheets, pajamas, pillow covers, curtains, doctors’ robes, are antibacterial. Due to deep embedding of antibacterial nanoparticles in the textiles, their antibacterial properties are maintained even after 65 hospital washing machine cycles at 92°C.
Together with Prof. Shulamit Michaeli, Gedanken has also recently fabricated RNA-based nanoparticles that can “silence” specific genes and are kept stable at room temperature even after a week. Gedanken uses sonochemistry to produce micro and nano-vehicles that deliver antibiotics and anti-cancer drugs in a rapid-release mode. These drugs are encapsulated in proteinaceous micro and nano spheres. Prof. Aharon Gedanken and Prof. Yeshayahu Nitzan have demonstrated that nanoparticles can kill pathogenic bacteria on direct contact. Working together with Dr. Ehud Banin, Prof. Gedanken is also developing antibacterial and antibiofilm nanoparticles for coating the surface of catheters and other implanted medical devices.
Gedanken has developed a microwave-based process that transforms consumer cooking oilsand burned oil from restaurants into biodiesel in 10 seconds for a stirred reaction, and in 40 seconds for an unstirred reaction. He has also developed a one-step process, usingmicroalgae grown on seawater together with CO2 released from a power station, to convert allthe lipids in the algae into biodiesel.
Gedanken is now applying for a patent for a novel fermentation process that converts glucose to bioethanol 2.5 times faster than the conventional fermentation process.
Prof. Dr. Virender K. Sharma (Personal Page)
Prof. Sharma's educational background is in analytical, marine and environmental chemistry. He is experienced in solution thermodynamics and kinetics. He was twice awarded Diplomas by the Universidad Nacional Autonoma De Mexico for studying metals contamination in the coastal environment of the Gulf of Mexico in collaboration with ICML, UNAM, Mexico in 1992 and 1996. He was also awarded the certification of Merit award in 1996 by the ACS (Environmental Chemistry Division) for his presentation "Oxidation of Thiourea by Ferrate(VI)". He served as an Associate Editor for "Directory of Research in Chemistry at Primarily Undergraduate Institutions", Council of Undergraduate Research, 6th Ed. (1995). He organized the symposium "Thermodynamics and Kinetics in Natural Waters" in honor of Frank Millero at the 1999 ACS meeting in Anaheim, California and was a Guest Editor of a special issue of Marine Chemistry, (Vol 70, 2000).
Dr. Sharma served as Secretary of the American Chemical Society (Geochemistry Division) from 1999 to 2002. In summer 2004, Virender Sharma has organized the international symposium Innovative Ferrate(VI) Technology in Water and Wastewater in Prague, Czech Republic. Currently, Dr. Sharma has active international collaborations with scientists all over the world on the chemistry and applications of higher oxidation states of iron. This has resulted in ACS Symposium Ferrates: Synthesis, Properties, and Applications in Water and Wastewater Treatment in 2006. In 2006, The Orlando section of the American Chemical Society has given him an outstanding chemist award. Recently, Florida Tech gave him its Faculty Excellence in Research award. More recently, he was also given the Faculty of the Year Award by the Student Affiliation of the American Chemical Society at Florida Tech. One of his research papers has been cited as the Top-50 most cited article by the Elsevier Colloids journals.
Prof. Dr. Shin-ichi Ohkoshi (Personal Page, Short CV )
Shin-ichi Ohkoshi is the Professor at the Department of Chemistry, School of Science, The University of Tokyo. He is the head of Ohkoshi laboratory. His team is trying to open a new field of solid state chemistry by design and synthesis of novel magnets which have novel properties and functionalities. The summaries are described by the phenomena as follows.1. Synthesis of a metal oxide with a room-temperature photoreversible phase transition, 2. Light-induced spin-crossover magnet, 3. Synthesis of metal complexes with novel magnetic functionalities, 4. Magnetic property in metal oxides. Prof. Shin-ichi Ohkoshi was awarded the 23rd IBM Japan Science Prize on Nov. 27, 2009, for his study on “Creation of New Magnetic Materials Based on Magnetochemistry.” As Prof. Ohkoshi also received the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Prize and the Japan Academy Medal on March 3, 2008 for “Design and Demonstration of New Magnetic Properties Based on Magnetochemistry,” this marks his feat of being successively awarded Japan's top two awards for young researchers (under the age of 45) who have made outstanding achievements. He has authored more than 270 papers in addition to book chapters, etc. and holds more than 70 patents
Prof. Dr. Ernő Kuzmann (Personal Page , Short CV )
Ernő Kuzmann was graduated at Eötvös Loránd University as a physicist. He obtained PhD. Degree in Physics from the Eötvös University in 1973. He became a titular professor of the Glasgow Caledonian University in 1996. In 2003, he received his DSc. degree from the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and became Doctor of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. In the same year, he completed his habilitation procedure at Eötvös University and obtained Dr. Habil. degree. In 2004, he became full professor at Eötvös Loránd University. Simultaneously with his professorship at Eötvös University Professor Kuzmann was appointed to be head of the Laboratory of Nuclear Chemistry at the Chemical Research Center of Hungarian Academy of Sciences in January 2007.
The areas of his research activity include physics of alloys, high temperature superconductors, heavy ion irradiation effects, coordination chemistry, surface chemistry and nanochemistry, corrosion studies, chemical, biochemical, biological, mineralogical and industrial applications of Mössbauer spectroscopy He is the author/co-author of more than 450 scientific publications, including numerous monographs. Professor Kuzmann is a recipient of many prestigious national and international awards. He is an editor of Hyperfine Interactions, a member of the MEDC International Advisory Board, the chairman of the committee of Materials Testing with Nuclear Methods at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, a member of the ISIAME Scientific Executive Committee and a member of the IBAME Board. He was very active (as member of the organizing committee or secretary) in organizing international Mössbauer conferences in the series “Eötvös Workshops in Sciences”, regularly held at Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, in 1994, 1999 and 2004. In 2008, Professor Kuzmann was the chairman of the International Symposium on the Industrial Applications of the Mössbauer Effect (ISIAME 2008) held between 17-22 August in Budapest.,
Prof. Dr. Purnendu Dasgupta (Personal Page , Short CV )
Assoc. Prof. Kevin A. Schug (Personal Page , Short CV )
Kevin Schug is Associate Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA). Kevin received his B.S. degree in Chemistry in 1998 from the College of William and Mary, and later his Ph.D. degree in Chemistry from Virginia Tech in 2002 under the supervision of Prof. Em. Harold M. McNair. From 2003-2005, he performed post-doctoral research in the laboratory of Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Lindner at the Institute for Analytical Chemistry and Food Chemistry at the University of Vienna in Austria. Since joining UTA in 2005, his research has been focused on the theory and application of separation science and mass spectrometry for solving a variety of analytical and physical chemistry problems.
Two main research threads are currently pursued with some intertwined aspects: 1) the use of soft ionization – mass spectrometry for investigating noncovalent interactions, particularly in high throughput formats; and 2) isolation, characterization, and trace analysis of bioactive compounds in complex matrices. Financial support for this research is from UTA, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, Eli Lilly and Company, and the National Science Foundation. Dr. Schug has received the 2009 Emerging Leader in Chromatography award given by LCGC magazine, an NSF CAREER award, and the 2009 Eli Lilly and Company ACACC Young Investigator Award in Analytical Chemistry. He is a member of the Editorial Advisory Board of Journal of Separation Science and LCGC Magazine. He has authored more than 50 papers in addition to book chapters, etc.
Prof. Dr. Kevin Sivula (Personal Page , Short CV)
Prof. Sivula is the head of the Laboratory For Molecular Engineering Of Optoelectronic Nanomaterials LIMMO, Ecole polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne. He was Born in the United States and studied at the University of Minnesota (USA), where he obtained a Bachelor degree in chemical engineering. He continued his studies in this field at the University of California, Berkeley (USA), where he gained his doctorate in 2007. Later, he joined Professor Michael Grätzel’s group at EPFL, where he developed nanostructured films with an iron oxide base for hydrogen production using solar energy. Kevin Sivula advocates a resolutely modern approach to teaching chemical engineering, combining basic courses with more targeted courses in the material sciences that correspond to industry’s latest needs. The students are also encouraged to assess the economic and environmental impact of new techniques for producing materials. He published more than 35 papers in addition to book chapters, etc.
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Vasilios Georgakilas (Institute Home Page)
V. Georgakilas received his BS and PhD degrees in Chemistry and Organic Chemistry from the University of Ioannina (Greece) in 1989 and 1998, respectively. He then worked in the laboratory of nanostructured and composite materials in the Institute of Material Science of N.C.S.R ‘’Demokritos’’ (Greece) as a Postdoctoral Fellow. In 2000, he moved to the laboratory of Prof. M. Prato at the Department of Pharmaceutical Science of University of Trieste (Italy), as a Postdoctoral Fellow, working on the organic functionalization of carbon nanostructures (carbon nanotubes and fullerenes). In 2002, he moved back to the Institute of Material Science of N.C.S.R ‘’Demokritos’’ as a research Associate working on the synthesis and chemical properties of nanostructures. In February of 2010 he was elected Assistant Professor in the Department of Material Science, University of Patras (Greece). His Research Interests: Carbon nanostructured materials (nanotubes, fullerenes, new carbon allotropes) – Chemical modification, new composite materials combining polymers, metallic nanoparticles, organic functional groups, inorganic nanomaterials (porous, layered). Metallic nanoparticles – chemical modification and their properties (magnetics, catalysis, optical properties). Inorganic layered, porous nanomaterials –chemical functionalization. V. Georgakilas is author of more than 65 articles in peer – reviewed scientific journals with more than 2700 citation (h-index: 24).
Prof. Dr. Ing. Marcel Miglierini, DrSc., (Personal Page, Short CV)
Prof. Miglierini is experienced particularly in spectroscopic techniques of nuclear physics such as Mössbauer spectroscopy, electron-positron annihilation and gamma spectroscopy, nuclear magnetic resonance or nuclear resonance scattering of synchrotron radiation. He investigates structural and magnetic properties of disordered materials prepared by a rapid cooling and/or by a milling (e.g. amorphous metal glasses, kvasi-crystals, nanocrystals, powdered steel), zeolites, nanobiomaterials. He is a member of International Board on the Application of the Mössbauer Effect (IBAME).
Prof. Anirban Pathak (Department of Physics of Jaypee Institute of Information Technology, Noida, India)
Prof. Adam Miramowicz (Personal Page)
Prof. Adam Miramowicz, of Faculty of Physics of Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan, Poland, specializes in quantum optics and
quantum information. He is interested in quantum statistical properties of light generated in nonlinear media, quantum entanglement
and quantum information processing. He made inportant contributions to the problem of quantum phase, quantification of nonclassical
properties of light, quantification of entanglement of mixed states and quantum information processing in nanodots. In RCPTM, he will
cooperate with the Division of Optical and Photonic Tehcnologies in the area of quantum information processing and photon counting.
Prof. Maria Bondani
Prof. Maria Bondani, of Department of Mathematics and Physics of Universita degli Studi dell’Insubria, Como, Italy, specializes in
characterization of twin beams, quantification of their entanglement and photon-number detection. She made important contribution to the measurement and quantification of intensity as well as photon-number correlations of twin beams. She, together with Prof. Alessandra Andreoni, developed new techniques for photon-number resolving measurements even for mesoscopic twin beams. She also made pioneering work in investigating properties of three-mode entangled states generated in paired nonlinear interactions. In RCPTM, she will perform joint experiments with the group of optical and photonic technologies in the area of analysis of quantum-correlated light fields using photon-number resolving detection systems.
Prof. Juan Peres Torres (Personal Page)
Prof. Juan Peres Torres, of Institute of Photonic Sciences, Castelldefels, Barcelona and Universidad Politecnica de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain, specializes in the area of the generation, amplification, modulation and control of optical waves including photon-pair fields. He made important contributions in the field of photon-pair generation from various nonlinear sources including photonic sources. He developed a new method for the generation of photon pairs with variable spectral entanglement allowing to generated spectrally correlated, anti-correlated or even un-correlated photon paits. He also investigated the orbital angular momentum in optical beams. He is a laureate of the Award of the Government of Catalonia for the promotion of University Research (2003). In RCPTM, he will cooperate with the group of optical and photonic technologies mainly in the area of photonic structures generating quantum-correlated photons.