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Three CPS researchers win ENW-M1 grants for innovative chemical research

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1 July 2025
The NWO Science Board has awarded ENW-M1 grants to three young researchers from the Department of Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.

The highly competitive funding scheme, part of the Open Competition Domain Science-M programme, supports innovative, high-risk scientific research within the exact and natural sciences and enables individual researchers to pursue pioneering ideas that lay the groundwork for future breakthroughs.

In his project "Steering Sweet Synthesis", Dr. Thomas Hansen aims to overcome long-standing synthetic challenges related to bacterial glycans—biomolecules with powerful biological activities such as antimicrobial, antiviral, and antitumor effects. These glycans are notoriously difficult to synthesize in the lab due to their unusual chemical structures, particularly the absence of oxygen groups that standard glycosylation methods rely on. Dr. Hansen will employ cutting-edge organocatalysis to achieve precise control over these reactions. The resulting synthetic routes will enable the preparation of diverse bacterial glycosides in sufficient quantities for functional studies in glycobiology and biomedical applications.

In his project "TRANSLATION: Tuned Receptor ActivatioN by Same Ligand stimulATION", Dr. Christopher Schafer will investigate how G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs)—a major class of cell surface receptors—generate distinct cellular outcomes from the same ligand or stimulus. These receptors are central to a wide range of physiological processes including immune responses, cell proliferation, and migration. Dr. Schafer will explore the molecular logic that enables similar receptors to produce different signals in response to the same input. His work will uncover how GPCR signaling is fine-tuned, advancing our understanding of biased signaling and laying the groundwork for more selective drug therapies.

In his project "Turning on the light: Efficient Simulations of Light-Matter Interactions", Dr. Arno Förster will develop more accurate and computationally efficient simulations to understand how large molecules interact with light—a central question in both chemistry and biology. Existing simulation methods often fail due to either lack of accuracy or excessive computational demands. Dr. Förster proposes a novel strategy: include key physical effects that are typically neglected but essential, while omitting others that are costly yet less impactful. This balanced approach will allow for practical simulations of light-induced processes in complex molecular systems, such as proteins and photoactive compounds.

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