Congratulations, Are!
Congratulations to Are Sæle Bruvold for succesfully defending his thesis on Friday November 15! The picture shows Are, the two opponents and the leader of the defence, Magne.
Det 38. organisk-kjemiske vintermøtet
Welcome, Nathan!
Salut everyone!
My name is Nathan, and I’ve just started my postdoc here in Bergen. I’m originally from France, and I did all of my studies in the beautiful city of Strasbourg—which, by the way, is only 2,000 km from here, if you’re ever in the mood for a visit!
My journey began with a bachelor’s in Chemistry, followed by a master’s in Chemistry, Biology, and Drug Development. Caught up in the momentum of research, I enthusiastically jumped into doing a PhD, which I finished last year. My PhD focused on Medicinal Chemistry (or to be exact, Biological and Therapeutic Chemistry—if we’re getting technical!), where I worked on developing new synthetic strategies to access biologically redox-active compounds aimed at treating tropical diseases like malaria and Chagas disease.
I’m really passionate about the multidisciplinary nature of medicinal chemistry, and I’m thrilled to have joined Professor Magne Sydnes’ team to dive deeper into the world of photodegradable antimicrobial agents!
I’m excited to meet all of you and I hope we’ll get the chance to know each other better!
Welcome, Vinh!
Currently serving as an MSCA Postdoctoral Scholar in the Shaping European Research Leaders for Marine Sustainability program at the Department of Chemistry, University of Bergen, I have been actively involved in the field of natural product chemistry and biochemistry. I successfully completed my doctoral studies in Pharmaceutical Chemistry at the College of Pharmacy, Chungnam National University, Korea, earning a PhD in 2020. Throughout my career, I have focused on the study of metabolomics from medicinal plants, fungal strains, and marine organisms, publishing over 60 SCIE-indexed papers in this area. My expertise includes proficiency in NMR, HPLC, and MS techniques, enabling me to effectively analyze and characterize complex natural compounds.
Welcome Nilgun!
Hello everyone! My name is Nilgun, and I come to the Department of Chemistry from the Geophysical Institute on loan 40% while Torill is on leave. You can find me in her office (3A9c) on Mondays and Tuesday and Thursday afternoons, or you can reach me on TEAMS (55583734) or by email (nilgun.kulan@uib.no) anytime.
I started working at UiB – GFI five years ago as a research advisor and project manager of an EU – H2020 project called TRIATLAS. I have a PhD in Physical Oceanography and have been involved in research both as a researcher and an administrator. In my personal life, I have been fortunate enough to live in diverse environments in Turkey, Canada, Japan, and now, in Norway.
Looking forward to meeting you all!
Welcome Zeljana!
Hi everyone! My name is Zeljana, and I recently started my PhD in educational research at the department, with the supervision of Monica Jordheim and Anja Møgelvang Jacobsen. My background is in psychology, and after my master´s degree I started working as a research assistant in projects aimed at improving student integration and learning environment in higher education. As I was working with these projects it became clear that educational research was the field I wanted to work in, and I am very excited to pursue that work here at the department! Can’t wait to meet everyone!
Welcome Brij!
Hello everyone! My name is Brij, and I am from Azamgarh (U.P.), India. I completed my bachelor’s degree from the University of Delhi and pursued my master’s in chemistry from IIT Kanpur. During my master’s program, I worked on synthesizing organometallic complexes and their application in Suzuki coupling.
Recently, I started my PhD under the supervision of Associate Professor Mali Husby Rosnes. My research work aims to combine organometallic complexes with Polyoxometalates to create a highly recyclable catalyst for sustainable copolymerization of CO2 and epoxide. The significance of this work motivated me to join the Rosnes group and I couldn’t be more excited about the possibilities that lie ahead.
Looking forward to meeting you all!
Welcome Iris!
Hello everyone!
My name is Iris, and I just started my PhD in the molecular design group at the chemistry department. I grew up in the very northern part of Italy and just moved here to Bergen. My academic journey started with a bachelor’s in pharmacy at the University of Innsbruck, in Austria. As for my master’s I studied drug discovery and development at the University of Vienna. There I found my passion for computer aided drug discovery and development, which has led me to the current project. 
Here, at UiB under the supervision of Prof. Jensen I will focus on de-novo drug design for the discovery of novel potential hit-compounds against challenging targets as part of an interdisciplinary, collaborative project.
I very much look forward to meeting everyone!
Welcome Lars!
Hello everyone!
My name is Lars, and I recently started my PhD in the marine natural products group led by Associate professor Monica Jordheim. I’m originally from a small town in Ryfylke called Jørpeland but moved to Bergen in 2015 to study chemistry. After my master’s degree I spent a couple of years working as a head engineer at the Marine research institute, but now I’m excited to be back at UoB as a PhD candidate.
I also did my master’s in the same research group, where I worked on bioprospecting metabolites from a deep-sea sponge. But this time around my research will be focused on the extraction and characterization of polyphenols from brown macroalgae.
I look forward to meeting you all!
Lars Højmark
Welcome Gunnhild!
Hello everyone! My name is Gunnhild and I have just started my PhD in the Chemical Medical Technology group under the supervision of John Georg Seland. 
For the last four years I have worked as a medical physicist with MRI scanners at Oslo University Hospital. MR technology fascinated me during my bachelor’s in physics at UiB, so when it was time for me to choose a subject for my master’s, the decision fell on MR spectroscopy. I am so happy that I now get to continue working with spectroscopy for my PhD, and I look forward to getting to know all of you better as well!