Dominik Schauenburg receives the NWO Open Technology Grant

We are very happy to announce that MERLNs principal investigator Dominik Schauenburg has received the NWO Open Technology grant of €917,000. Together with Kevin Neumann of Radboud University he will use the funding to develop a new technology for the automated and programmable synthesis of polyamides. 

Polyamides are all around us: from the proteins that make up our bodies to everyday plastics such as nylon in tights and Kevlar in protective equipment. In nature, these molecules are built up with remarkable precision, but current technologies are not yet able to match this precision in the laboratory or in industry. The ‘From Code to Chain’ (C2C) project introduces a groundbreaking technology for the automated and programmable synthesis of polyamides, thereby bridging the gap between natural precision and synthetic production. This innovation paves the way for the development of next-generation materials with tailor-made properties.

Dominik: ‘Besides being great colleagues, Kevin and I are also friends. The idea for the automated and programmable synthesis of polyamides was conceived over a beer. We are very excited about the opportunities this project will open up. Not only for advancing sustainable and programmable polymer synthesis, but also for enabling the development of new functional materials.

NWOs Open Technology Programme provides funding for application-oriented technical-scientific research that is free and unrestricted and is not hindered by disciplinary boundaries. The programme offers companies and other organisations an accessible way to participate in scientific research that is intended to lead to societal and/or scientific impact.

Learn more about Dominik Schulenburg’s research and the ‘Bio-click - Chemical reactions in complex systems’ group here.