Patrick has obtained his B.Sc. in Biochemistry at the Ruhr-University Bochum and his M.Sc. in Chemistry at the Ruprecht-Karls-Universität in Heidelberg.

Within the CRC 1333, he will be working in project A08. His research will focus on asymmetric oxidative catalysis in MOFs.

Welcome to the CRC 1333, Patrick! We’re excited to work with you!

Der Beitrag Welcome to Patrick Römgens erschien zuerst auf Collaborative Research Center 1333.

Zarfishan’s work will include the synthesis of hybrid MOCOF materials and the evaluation of their performance in various catalytic reaction systems. She previously worked in the Laschat Group in Project A08, where she focused on synthesising MOF linkers and evaluating the catalytic activity of Zr‑MOFs (UiO‑67 and UiO‑68) in aldol reactions.

Welcome back to the CRC 1333, Zarfishan! We’re excited to work with you and to have you back on the team!

Der Beitrag Welcome back to Dr. Zarfishan Dilruba erschien zuerst auf Collaborative Research Center 1333.

Fiona is originally from Barcelona, Spain, where she earned her bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Physics. She is currently working towards her Master’s degree in Physics. Within the CRC, Fiona will be supporting our work as Data Steward, helping to ensure high-quality research data management across the consortium.

Welcome to CRC 1333, Fiona! We’re excited to have you on the team and look forward to working with you.

Der Beitrag Welcome to Fiona Rabascall Bohan erschien zuerst auf Collaborative Research Center 1333.

Sahar’s research focuses on the synthesis and characterization of photoactive metal–organic frameworks for solar energy conversion and storage. She holds a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Shahid Beheshti University and a master’s degree in inorganic chemistry from the University of Tehran, Iran.

Welcome to CRC 1333, Sahar! We’re excited to work with you and have you on the team.

Der Beitrag Welcome to Sahar Yoosefi erschien zuerst auf Collaborative Research Center 1333.

Manpreet completed his Ph.D. in India, where his research focused on porous crystalline functional materials for environmental remediation. Prior to joining the department, he was a JSPS Postdoctoral Fellow in Japan, conducting research on functional porous materials, particularly the use of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) for quantum information systems. His previous research experience includes heterogeneous catalysis, fluorescence-based chemical sensing, and the synthesis of porous adsorbents for selective CO₂ capture.

At CRC 1333, Manpreet is currently working on the development of MOF-based catalysts for the conversion of carbon dioxide (CO₂) into methanol. His research involves the development and modification of existing MOFs and COFs to achieve highly efficient CO₂ conversion. The overarching goal is to improve efficiency and selectivity in catalytic pathways under milder reaction conditions. Manpreet brings extensive expertise in MOF structures that regulate active sites, adsorption behavior, and catalytic performance. His earlier work bridges CO₂ capture and non-redox fixation into cyclic carbonates, offering integrated solutions for carbon recycling and sustainable chemistry. His current research aims to further enhance the applicability of functional polymeric and hybrid materials in catalysis and environmental remediation, with a particular emphasis on CO₂ fixation.

Welcome to the the CRC 133, Manpreet! We are excited to work with you.

Der Beitrag Welcome to Manpreet Singh erschien zuerst auf Collaborative Research Center 1333.

Lifang is a DFG project leader whose research focuses on developing methodologies to accelerate melting property calculations within the density-functional-theory (DFT) framework. Such calculations are typically highly resource-intensive, making high-throughput screening of new materials challenging. The method she has developed not only provides accurate melting properties with high efficiency but also enables detailed investigations of liquid phases and the efficient computation of their thermodynamic properties with sub-meV/atom ab initio accuracy.

She is currently extending this method from metals and alloys to amorphous/liquid silica (SiO₂). However, the slow dynamics in amorphous and liquid silica make direct simulations within DFT particularly difficult. Moreover, standard DFT has known limitations in accurately describing phase-transformation energetics in silica systems. To address these issues, Lifang incorporates nonlocal many-body effects in the correlation energy via the random phase approximation (RPA)—a method beyond standard DFT. While highly accurate, this approach is computationally demanding, motivating her efforts to develop far more efficient strategies.

Her work strengthens the theoretical foundation for understanding mesoporous metallo-silicates by delivering accurate thermodynamic properties and electronic-structure benchmarks that are directly relevant to the materials studied in CRC 1333, particularly within project A04.

We look forward to working with you, Lifang!

Der Beitrag Welcome to Lifang Zhu erschien zuerst auf Collaborative Research Center 1333.

Janis completed his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Chemistry at the University of Stuttgart. His Bachelor’s and Master’s theses were carried out in René Peters’ group, focusing on asymmetric cooperative catalysis. 

At CRC 1333, Janis is contributing to project B06 with his research on  “Confined Asymmetric Polyfunctional Aldehyde Catalysis”. 

We look forward to working with you, Jannis!

Der Beitrag Welcome to Janis Gschwind erschien zuerst auf Collaborative Research Center 1333.

Misha received her Bachelor’s degree from Arunodaya University and her Master’s degree in Chemistry from IIT Gandhinagar, both in India. Her Master’s project focused on “Promotion of CO₂ reduction by stabilizing intermediates and incorporating second-sphere alkaline earth crown ethers on Fe-Salen.”

At CRC 1333, Misha is contributing to project B08.

We look forward to working with you, Misha!

Der Beitrag Welcome to Misha Kumari erschien zuerst auf Collaborative Research Center 1333.

Akash has completed his Master’s degree in Chemistry at the University of Ulm, where his research focused on light-driven transmembrane electron transfer using ruthenium complexes and oligo-aromatic molecules. Before that, he worked as a Trainee Officer in Quality Control at Lupin Pharmaceuticals Ltd., gaining experience in analytical techniques such as HPLC and UV-Vis spectroscopy.

Within the CRC 1333,  Akash is working on Seed Funding Project 6. He will work on the synthesis of hybrid metal–organic/covalent–organic frameworks (MOCOFs) for catalysis confinement and will also support the synthesis of Lewis-acidic Zr MOFs for project B05.

We look forward to working with you, Akash!

Der Beitrag Welcome to Akash Deshpande erschien zuerst auf Collaborative Research Center 1333.

Patrick has recently joined the CRC 1333 administration team and is working as the new head of the CRC 1333’s graduate school as well as supporting the management of events and the writing of the proposal for the third funding period. 

Patrick studied chemistry in Mainz, Rehovot (Israel), and Stuttgart and completed his dissertation in theoretical chemistry with Prof. Johannes Kästner as a Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes doctoral fellow. He is also working as as a postdoctoral researcher in Prof. Kästner’s group.

Der Beitrag Welcome to Patrick Becker! erschien zuerst auf Collaborative Research Center 1333.