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ABOUT THE GROUP
Our research group is located at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and affiliated with the University of Heidelberg. Our research is focused on the synthesis and application of biofunctional materials, surfaces and nanoparticles.
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Prof. Levkin participates in the World Laureate Forum (WLF) in Shanghai (https://2023.wlaforum.com/en), which brings together about 200 scientists from all over the world including many recipients of prestigious awards, such as the Nobel Prize, the Turing Award, the Wolf Prize, the Breakthrough Prize, the Fields Medal, etc. The WLF is committed to "promote basic science, advocate for international cooperation, and support the development of youth".
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Prof. Levkin discusses about our recent development of UV-based method for the degradation and recycling of diapers (superabsorbers) on Programm BR24: Click for audio file
News articles (click to read articles):
- Scientists improve diaper recycling
- Diapers reloaded: 200 times faster recycling with light - Recycled plastic molecules can be used in many way
- Windeln reloaded: 200-mal schneller recyceln mit Licht – Recycelte Kunststoffmoleküle vielseitig einsetzbar
- Diapers transformed into raw materials by light
- Windeln 200-mal schneller recyceln mit Licht
- KIT: Windeln reloaded: 200-mal schneller recyceln mit Licht
- Windeln durch Licht in Rohstoffe verwandelt
- Vielseitig anwendbar: Recycelte Polymere aus Windeleinlagen
- So kann man Superabsorber aus vollen Windeln recyceln
- Wie man Windeln zu Verdickungsmitteln und Haftklebstoffen recyclen kann
Read the full article here.
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A very warm welcome to the newest member of our family, Tatiana Starikova! We are very excited to work with you and look forward to being a part of your wonderful scientific journey. Welcome! :D
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2 million tons (yearly) of non-recyclable superabsorbers (diapers) may no longer end up in landfills or incinerators. We report a rapid UV-based recycling method for sodium polyacrylate hydrogels, accelerating the degradation time by 200x. No chemicals, just water and UV! The product of pampers degradation is soluble sodium polyacrylate with numerous applications - from eco-friendly dyes to pressure-sensitive adhesives. This simple new approach is fast, scalable, and green, promising a sustainable future for these polymers. Read the full article here.
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Congratulations to Zhenwu, whose paper on “High-Performance Pressure Sensors based on Shaped Gel Droplet Arrays” has been accepted in Small! Great job! We wish you all the best in your new Postdoc position at Harvard.
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Congratulations to Julius Höpfner! His paper "On-chip palladium-catalyzed synthesis of biphenyls in nanoscale" has been just accepted for publication in Small. Well done, Julius!
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Julius is a Master's student that recently joined us for his thesis. He is a Mechanical Engineer interested in tissue engineering and biofabrication. Hurray and welcome! :)
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Mariia's paper just got published in Macromolecular Materials and Engineering! :)
Here, Mariia and coauthor explore polymer structures with nano-, micro-, and macroporosity, fabricated via 3D printing, for lightweight materials with high mechanical durability. The relationship between pore size, density, and stiffness is investigated, highlighting the potential for further research on lattice architectures and other printing methods.
Biggest congratulations! 🥳🥳🥳 Link to paper.
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Matthew Morben from Doane University just joined us as an intern for the Summer. Excited to have you with us :D
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Congratulations to Anna Popova, Haijun Cui and Sun Xueyuan, whose paper has been just accepted for publication in Advanced Healthcare Materials: "Repurposing FDA-Approved Drugs for Temozolomide-resistant IDH1 Mutant Glioma using High-Throughput Miniaturized Screening on Droplet Microarray Chip"!🥳🥳🥳
In this paper, several thousands of FDA approved drugs were screened with Glioma spheroids. This was a very successful collaboration with the group of Sevin Turcan from Heidelberg/DKFZ. The screen identified several novel compounds potent against glioma (brain tumor).