Month: June 2021

Former IQCC member Abril Castro wins prestigious Young Research Talent grant by the Research Council of Norway

Last week, former member of the IQCC was awarded the prestigious FRIPRO Young Research Talent grant (8 million NOK) for Accurate Prediction and Interpretation of NMR Spectra in Transition-Metal Complexes (SpecTraM) by the Research Council of Norway. With this grant she can start her own research group at the Hylleraas Centre for Quantum Molecular Sciences of the University of Oslo,

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New melanin paper in Angewandte Chemie

This paper on melanin components is the first one coming from the MSCA-IF of Jun Wang with Lluís Blancafort. Melanin is the photoprotecting material in living organisms, and it is composed of dihydroxyindole oligomers. We have studied a comprehensive virtual library of minimal oligomer models and obtained insights into the stability and optical properties that

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Cover EurJIC on Au(I)/Au(III) catalysis

The journal European Journal of Inorganic Chemistry features on its front cover the recently published minireview “Fundamental Basis for Implementing Oxidant-Free Au(I)/Au(III) Catalysis”. Oxidant-free Au(I)/Au(III) catalysis can still be regarded as a young and promising chemistry. Because the first examples of gold catalysis were limited to the activation and functionalization of ?-C?C bonds and very little was

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Engineered peroxygenases enable oxyfunctionalization of organic substrates

Unspecific peroxygenases (UPOs) enable oxyfunctionalizations of a broad substrate range with unparalleled activities. Tailoring these enzymes for chemo- and regioselective transformations represents a grand challenge due to the difficulties in their heterologous productions and lack of structural data. In a new collaboration by the research teams leaded by Dr. Martin Weissenborn (Leibniz Institute of Plant Biochemistry,

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Marc Garcia-Borràs, member of Research Team that receives 2021 Royal Society of Chemistry award

Today, the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) has announced the 2021 RSC prize winners that recognise individuals, collaborations and teams for their exceptional achievements in advancing the chemical sciences. This year’s 2021 RSC Organic Division Horizon Prize: Bioorganic Chemistry Award recognizes an international Team for the discovery of a new class of enzymes, the pericyclases,

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Margarida Borrell wins RSEQ-Lilly Award for PhD studies

Today the Real Sociedad Española de Química (RSEQ) and Lilly announced that Margarida Borrell Recasens, PhD student at the Institute of Computational Chemistry and Catalysis (IQCC) received one of the three 2021 RSEQ-Lilly awards for best PhD studies in organic, pharmaceutical and analytical chemistry (XIX Premios de Investigación para Alumnos de Doctorado en las áreas de

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A remarkable research conference

On May 13-14, several IQCC members participated in a remarkable research conference. For Laia Vicens, Anna Vidal, Albert Poater and Sílvia Simon, going to a conference was nothing new, but this time was different. This was not because of Covid restrictions, but instead because all participants were between 11 and 12 years old! They were present

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IQCC (virtual) Science Slam, June 2-9

The Institute of Computational Chemistry and Catalysis of the University of Girona  organizes the 2021 virtual edition of the Science Slam to show the most representative research projects of the Institute to a wide audience. A Science Slam is a form of science communication where scientists present their own scientific research work in a short

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Carla Calvó-Tusell receives best oral presentation award at Next Generation of Biocatalysis in Bern

Last week at the Next Generation of Biocatalysis conference in Bern, Carla Calvó-Tusell, PhD student under the supervision of Dr. Marc Garcia-Borràs and Dr. Sílvia Osuna, presented her work on switching the cofactor specificity of FDH enzyme, and won one of the best oral presentation awards. Congratulations Carla!   Girona, June 1, 2021 For more

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