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Dr. Jan-Georg Rosenboom received the KlarText Award from the Klaus Tschira Stiftung for his PhD thesis as well as for his excellent science communication article on the production of bioplastic.

Prof. Bill Morandi and his team established a simple iron-catalyzed reaction that leads to unprotected primary amines. Primary amines are present in many biologically active molecules and are very versatile building blocks in the synthesis of drugs and agrochemicals.

Chemical properties of actinides are not as well understood as for other elements. This is due to the fact that they are radioactive and therefore difficult to handle experimentally. In addition, theoretical studies on actinides are also challenging because of pronounced relativistic effects. PD Dr. Stefan Knecht and an international team of researchers now succeeded in calculating the most detailed electronic structure of diuranium molecule, U2, showing that it forms a quadruple bond.

Cristina Müller, Senior Scientist at the Center for Radiopharmaceutical Sciences, received this year’s Marie Curie Award for her research on Terbium-161 based therapy of prostate cancer, presented at the 31st Annual Conference of the European Association of Nuclear Medicine (EANM).

In collaboration with colleagues from ETH Zurich, researchers at the University of Bern have for the first time investigated a substance found in liverwort, which resembles THC. The psychoactive substance, which is consumed as a “legal high”, also exerts analgesic and anti-inflammatory effects, which might be superior to those of THC.