Miriam M. Unterlass
Principal Investigator
Miriam studied chemistry, process engineering and materials science in Germany, the UK, France, and obtained a PhD at the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces in 2011. She worked as postdoc at the École Supérieure de Physique et de Chimie Industrielles in Paris, France, before starting her own group at the Technical University of Vienna (TUW), Austria, in 2012. Miriam was tenured assistant and subsequently associate professor at TUW and obtained her habilitation in materials chemistry in 2018. In 2021 she became full professor of solid state chemistry at the University of Konstanz. Since 2018, Miriam is Adjunct Principal Investigator at the Research Centre for Molecular Medicine of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (CeMM) in Vienna, Austria.
The ambition of her group’s research is to find and develop sustainable advanced materials and molecules without compromising the compounds’ performance and diversity, especially through employing water as reaction and processing medium. Her team has pioneered the chemical synthesis of defined organic compounds in high-temperature water, and holds several patents on these innovations. In 2018, Miriam co-founded her first company UGP Materials GmbH, winner of several start-up awards (e.g. Sallinger Fonds S&B award 2018, RSC sustainable technologies competition finalist 2019) aiming at commercializing hydrothermal polymerization of high-performance polymers. She has received numerous accolades, including Staatspreis Patent 2020, FWF START prize 2017, Austrian founder’s award PHÖNIX 2016, Anton Paar Science award 2015, and has been elected as member of the Young Academy of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW) in 2018. She is alumna of the Fast Track program of the Robert Bosch foundation (2016-2018) and of the International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) of the U.S. Department of State (2018).
Services to the academic community include serving as associate editor of the Journal of Materials Chemistry A and Materials Advances, and as representative for materials and solid state chemistry of the Alexander von Humboldt foundation. Miriam is an expert in green and sustainable chemistry, teaches seminars on the topic, and advises as member of several advisory boards (scientific advisory board “Materials” of the German Federal Institute for Materials research and Testing (BAM), scientific advisory board of the European Forum Alpbach).
Fabián A. Amaya García
PhD Student
Fabián studied chemistry in Bogotá, Colombia, and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He joined our group in June, 2018 for his PhD thesis. Fabián develops new dyes for biological applications, with a focus on sustainable synthesis of the dyes.
D. Alonso Cerrón Infantes
Lab Manager
Alonso studied natural sciences and chemistry in Lima, Peru, and Vienna, Austria. He joined our group in July 2014. Alonso is the lab manager of the research group. In his research project he develops sustainable high-performance polymers and their water-based processing.
Olivier Gazil
PhD Student
Olivier studied chemical engineering in Montréal, Canada. Olivier is working in a highly collaborative and international PhD project, with extended stays in the labs of his co-supervisors: Prof. Nick Virgilio (Montréal) and Prof. Favis (Montréal), Dr. Gauffre (Rennes) and Prof. Unterlass (Konstanz). He joined us in 2018 for six months and is back since September 2022. Olivier develops polymer-metal hybrid materials in water as reaction medium and applies them as catalysts in semi-automated robotics-assisted synthesis.
Elana Harbalik
Research Technician
Elana did an apprenticeship as chemical-technical assistant and subsequently worked in the pharmaceutical and personal care industry from 2004 to 2009, before joining the University of Konstanz. She joined our group in June 2021. Elana investigates co-crystals as sustainable precursors for advanced materials synthesis. Furthermore, she is responsible for our PXRD and SAXS equipment and is one of the radiation protection officers of the Department of Chemistry.
Tobias Klenk
MSc Student
Tobias studies chemistry at the University of Konstanz. He joined our group in July 2022 for his bachelor thesis and stayed for his MSc research project. He works on the hydrothermal synthesis of bulky aromatic compounds.
Florian Vollstädt
PhD Student
Florian studied chemistry at the University of Konstanz. In 2023 he joined the group for his master research. In February 2024 he started his PhD thesis. In this project he explores metal oxides@polyimides hybrid materials.
Frank Sailer
PhD Student
Frank studied nanoscience at the University of Konstanz. In 2022 he joined the group for his master research. In March 2023 he started his PhD thesis. In this project he explores the synthesis of hybrid materials based on silicates.
Robert Pazdzior
Postdoc
Robert studied biochemistry and molecular biology at Trent University in Peterborough, Canada. He obtained his PhD in 2022 at the CeMM Research Center for Molecular Medicine of the Austrian Academy of Science in Vienna, Austria, and joined us the same year. Robert develops an automated platform for the discovery and optimization of syntheses in water.
Martina Lexner
Administrative Assistant
Martina joined us in 2019. She supports the team in project management and administration of our third-party funding projects.
Lukas Leimhofer
Research Technician
Lukas studied technical chemistry in Vienna, Austria. He joined the group in 2015 to work on sustainable hybrid materials’ synthesis and processing. Lukas rejoined the group in 2021 and, currently, focuses on the hydrothermal synthesis of small molecules for application in biology.
Celine Kuchler
MSc Student
Celine studies nanoscience at the University of Konstanz. She joined our group in September 2022 as research intern and stayed with us as research assistant from February 2023 onwards. She started her master thesis in June 2024 dealing with morphology control studies in the semi-automated aqueous precipitation of microparticles.
Yurii Kolbediuk
BSc Student
Yurii studied chemistry at Donetsk National University, Ukraine, where he worked on biologically active compounds and graduated in 2018. He continued his studies at the University of Konstanz. He joined our group in June 2023 as a research assistant and is doing his BSc thesis starting June 2024. In his project he works on the synthesis of F-block-element based hybrid materials
Frederic Hallmann
PhD Student
Frederic studied chemistry at the University of Konstanz. He first joined our group in August 2022 for an internship and returned in June 2023 for his master thesis. In August 2024, Frederic started his PhD thesis which focuses on developing sulfur-containing high performance materials.
Danica Drpic
Project Scientist
Danica studied molecular biology and physiology in Belgrade, Serbia. She obtained her PhD in cell biology in 2017 at the University of Porto, Portugal. Danica joined our group in October 2023 as a project scientist to characterize hydrothermally synthesized cell dyes in vitro.
Margherita Balma
MSc Student
Margherita is doing her master in chemistry at the University of Konstanz after having finished her bachelor in Pisa, Italy. She joined our group in October 2023 for her master thesis. She works on the development of hydrothermal synthesis protocols for Zircon-organic pigment hybrid materials, and subsequent characterisation.
Simon Meier
MSc Student
Simon studies chemistry at the University of Konstanz. He joined our research group in October 2023 for his master thesis where he works on Delafossite-based inorganic-organic hybrid materials, using hydro-/solvothermal synthesis.
Lena Schittenhelm
MSc Student
Lena studies chemistry at the University of Konstanz. She first joined our group in November 2022 for an internship and has returned in October 2023 for her master thesis, which focuses on the synthesis of small organic molecules featuring heterocyles.
Patricia Bächtle
MSc Student
Patricia studies life science at the University of Konstanz. She joined our group in January 2024 for her master thesis. She works on lockdown-related molecules and their structure-activity relationship on human phosphatases.
Lukas Zeyffert
PhD Student
Lukas studied chemistry at the University of Konstanz and started his PhD in the research group of Prof. Helmut Cölfen (†) before joining our group in January 2024. He focuses on the hydrothermal synthesis of MAX-phase-derived organic-inorganic hybrid materials.
Nick Sokov
PhD Student
Nick studied chemistry at the University of Konstanz. He started his PhD in the research group of Prof. Helmut Cölfen (†) and joined us in January 2024 to continue his PhD thesis. He develops polymers for the stabilization and assembly of metal nanoparticles.
Jessica Geppert
PhD Student
Jessica studied nanoscience at the University of Konstanz. She started her PhD in August 2022 in the group of Prof. Helmut Cölfen (†) before joining us in January 2024. She develops new strategies for the synthesis of multi-elemental colloidal nanocrystals with a focus on metal chalcogenides and oxides, as well as their heterostructures with metals and their subsequent investigation of properties.
Hannah Mehringer
MSc Student
Hannah studies chemistry at the University of Konstanz. She joined our group in February 2024 as a research intern. In September 2024, she started her MSc thesis which focuses on the automation of hydrothermal synthesis.
Christine Esenwein
BSc Student
Christine studies chemistry at the University of Konstanz. She joined the group as a research assistant in February 2024 and started her BSc thesis in June 2024. She focuses on the synthesis of plasmonic metal-semiconductor nanomaterials.
Justin Pace
BSc Student
Justin studies chemistry at the University of Konstanz. He joined the group in October 2023 as a research assistant and is working on his BSc Thesis. He focuses on the hydrothermal and solvothermal synthesis of organic materials.
Bastian Jehle
MSc Student
Bastian studies chemistry at the University of Konstanz. He joined our research group in September 2023 for a research internship. In September 2024, Bastian started his MSs thesis dealing with the synthesis of bio-inspired inorganic-organic hybrid materials
We are always interested in highly motivated and dedicated coworkers. Currently we have plenty of interesting opportunities for Master and Bachelor theses. Please contact Miriam to learn more about the currently available topics.
Future position openings will be announced!