Month: desember 2016
Welcome to Raju!
Dr. Raju Dey recently joined the chemistry department as a postdoctoral researcher to work on the design of homogeneous late transition-metal catalysts for hydrodeoxygenation of lignin model compounds. 
His project is a part of the ENERGI-X project “Renewable aromatics for fuel blending from lignin by novel homogeneous catalysis.” Raju Dey is from Kolkata, India, where he completed his MSc and PhD degrees in Chemistry with emphasis on organic chemistry, organometallic chemistry and heterogeneous catalysis.
Dr Mikel joins the club
Mikel Oregi Bengoetxea stood tall and defended his thesis Formic acid aided catalytic lignin conversion in ethanol and water media today. You may read more about his work (in Norwegian) here.
Mikel’s portrait has already joined the yet-to-be-inaugurated Gallery of PhD graduates from the Department of Chemistry (2016 onward). The gallery may be found across from the reciprocal room!
State of the Pub Gallery
As of December 20, the paper wall (aka as the pub gallery) counts 60 peer-reviewed papers published in scientific journals in 2016, featuring at least one coauthor affiliated with the Department of Chemistry. Nice!
Julelunsj — Christmas Lunch
Den tradisjonsrike Julelunsjen ved KI blei ei fin samlingsstund for tilsette, emeriti, pensjonistar og studentar. Instituttkoret drog forsamlinga med i lystig sang, og ellers var det rom for både tilbakeblikk, god mat og drøs, og nokre frampek.
Takk til Marit, Reidun og Bjarte som med god hjelp frå entusiastiske phd-studentar stod for arrangementet!
Riktig god jul til alle som har (eller har hatt) Kjemisk institutt som arbeids- og studiestad!
Kontrakten er signert: Ny 600MHz NMR i kjømda!
I dag har UiB signert kontrakt om kjøp av nytt NMR-instrument frå Bruker Biospin! Instrumentet har kryoprøvehaldar for proton, karbon, nitrogen og fosfor NMR og vil bli plassert i Verkstadsbygget (NNP). Det er same programvare og prøvevekslarsystem for både 600 og 850 MHz instrumenta, slik at det blir praktisk for brukarar å flytte mellom dei to instrumenta (som vil stå attmed kvarandre). Begge instrumenta har lukka system for flytande nitrogen, slik at det ikkje er naudsynt med regelmessig fylling av anna enn helium.
Vi forventar installasjon tidleg neste haust. Etter at akseptansetestar er OK, vil det gamle 600MHz-instrumentet (frå 2004) bli slått av. Dette instrumentet har vore plaga av ustabilitet det siste året, og var m.a. utsett for ei kostbar utslokking av magneten («quench») i fjor haust.
Professor Kvalheim er nøgd. Foto: På høyden.
Kjøpet blir finansiert i eit spleiselag kor Bergen Forskningsstiftelse, UiB og to helseføretak bidrar tungt. Dette har blitt mogeleg på rekordtid takka solid velvilje og satsingsvilje frå dekanat@MN, rektorat@UiB, Styret ved BFS og visjonære direktørar ved Helse Førde og Helse Bergen, på bakgrunn av stor fagleg samling frå ulike institusjonar. Stor takk til alle bidragsytarar!
Det nye 600MHz-instrumentet er spesielt eigna til lange prøveseriar av biologiske prøvar og særleg for medisinske metabolomikk-studiar. Olav M. Kvalheim har vore ei heilt avgjerande drivkraft bak å etablere det underliggjande nettverket av drivande fagfolk samt å formidle nytteverdien som denne forskninga har, til styringsnivået. Gratulerer med dagen!
Joyous news 4!
6 new projects have been funded within the NANO2021 program, aiming at innovation in the industrial sector. This represents a rate of success of close to 50%, in terms of either number of proposals or applied-for funds. 
One of the successful proposals were submitted by Aanderaa Data Instruments AS, titled A quantum dot/organic dye on nanostructured sapphire pH sensor for reliable long-term monitoring applications. 
In addition to the company, both CMR, the nanophysics group at the physics department, and the chemistry department are partners in the project. Assoc. prof. Tore Skodvin is responsible for the chemistry part of the project. The project will result in the recruitment of a researcher in a 2 year position.
Joyous news 3!
The BIOTEK2021 programme is the Research Council of Norway’s most comprehensive research initiative in the field of biotechnology. 
This week, ten projects were granted a combined NOK 76 million, out of a total of 26 projects applying for NOK 194 million. This implies that almost 40% of the applications were granted, which should encourage a number of researchers at our department to take part in this competition! One of the ten excellent and grant-winning proposals, and the only one from UiB, is the project Novel drug candidates for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease treatment, led by professor Nathalie Reuter at the department of molecular biology. She put together a strong team that includes our own
Bengt Erik Haug in a major role.
Three observations come easily. Firstly, it is gratifying to note the competitiveness of a research collaboration involving the two departments at UiB that focus on molecular science! Secondly, in light of our strengthened ties to BTO, it may be of interest to note that this project is granted in an optimization call, where BTO plays an important part. You should know where and when to look up BTO-Elisabeth! Finally, it is in place to note that this is Bengt Erik’s second home run this fall. Hardly a coincidence – Congratulations!!
Jointly, we prevail
Uni Research and CMR are two of five research institutions that have committed to a process aiming to pave the way to fusion into a one new, major research company. 
The five participants had a combined gross turnover exceeding 1 billion Norwegian kroner in 2015. For comparison, the corresponding number for Sintef is more than 3 billion NOK. Still, the new institution has the prospects of a game changer on the national research arena, lending muscles to and benefiting from close collaboration with the universities on the west and south coasts of Norway. Exciting prospects! Read more (in Norwegian) here.
Dr Markus!
Markus Baumann successfully defended his PhD thesis today! 
The thesis title is Synthesis of Bicyclic CXCR4 Antagonists and a popular-science summary is provided in Norwegian here. Markus came south (from Tromsø, where he obtained a masters degree in pharmacy) in 2012 and has been supervised by Bengt Erik Haug and Jon Våbenø (UiT). Congratulations to all involved and most of all to Markus!
Jolegrana er tent!
Så er jolegrana på plass utanfor kopirommet, og Marit og Reidun har tent lysa! Treet er i samsvar med instituttet sitt engasjement innan polymerisering.
Foto: Hardanger Folkeblad
Dei som eventuelt skulle ønske naturleg gran, kan ta kontakt med ein av instituttet sine PhD-studentar, Olav, som i desse dagar har godt sal frå eigen skog!
Påminning: Alle tilsette på instituttet er invitert til Julelunsj på tysdag klokka 12, på Tripletten. Påmelding på instituttkontoret innan klokka 12 torsdag.