ERC Starting Grant for Dr Otto

The European Research Council (ERC) has awarded a Starting Grant to Dr Sijbren Otto of the Stratingh Institute for Chemistry. The ERC Starting Grant is a prestigious personal grant supporting researchers in setting up a research team or programme. Otto will receive EUR 1.5 million over five years. His research, ‘Self Replication in Dynamic Molecular Networks’, is in the field of systems chemistry and combines organic chemistry with molecular self-assemblage and self-replication.

New concepts in self-replication

The research will concentrate on new concepts in self-replication based on the mechanical fragmentation of larger assembled structures to create smaller structures. The resulting smaller structures will be able to grow faster than the larger structures. This process is expected to lead to exponential growth, whereby the product itself will function as a catalyst for the creation of more of the same product (known as self-replication). This is a new way to create macrocycles.
 

The research has potential applications in the field of molecular sensors, smart materials and systems chemistry.