Biography
Nathalie Katsonis received her MSc (2001) and PhD (2004) degrees from the University Pierre et Marie Curie (Paris, France). Her investigations of the interplay between motion, light and molecular machines started in the group of Ludovic Jullien, where she researched the chromophore that initiates the flagellar movement of purple bacteria. For her postdoctoral research she moved to the group of Ben Feringa to investigate chirality and order in supramolecular assemblies.
Her independent career started in 2007 as Associate Researcher for the French National Center for Scientific Research. In 2008 she was invited back to Groningen to work with Feringa on artificial molecular motors and switches. In 2011 she took up a tenure-track position at the MESA+ Institute for Nanotechnology at the University of Twente (the Netherlands), where she was promoted to Associate Professor in 2014 and to Full Professor in 'Bio-inspired and Smart Materials' since 2017. In March 2020 she joined the Stratingh Institute of Chemistry of the University of Groningen (the Netherlands), as Professor of 'Active Molecular Systems and Materials'.
Katsonis has led the way in transmitting directed molecular motion across length scales, with a special focus on the role of chirality and on the effects of mechanically-relevant motion of molecular machines. Her achievements have provided the underpinnings for increasingly complex functionalities in dynamic and ultimately life-like supramolecular materials.
Awards and grants
- 2019 Board Member of the van't Hoff Foundation
- 2018 ERC Consolidator Grant
- 2017 Gold Medal of the Royal Dutch Chemical Society
- 2017 ECHO grant from the Dutch Science Foundation
- 2016 Athena Award from the Dutch Science Foundation
- 2014 De Jonge Akademie of the Royal Dutch Academy of Arts and Sciences
- 2014 FOM Projectruimte (from the Dutch Foundation for Fundamental Research on Matter)
- 2012 University of Twente "Prof. De Winter Prize"
- 2012 Aspasia Grant from the Dutch Science Foundation
- 2012 ERC Starting Grant
- 2012 international Exchange Grant from the Royal Society
- 2011 U-Twist Fellowship of the University of Twente
- 2010 Vidi grant from the Dutch Science Foundation
- 2004 Veni Grant from the Dutch Science Foundation
Invited lectures
- 2019 Chirality at the Nanoscale, Monte Verita, Ascona, Switzerland
- 2019 International Conference on Molecular Systems Engineering, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
- 2019 International Symposium on Chiral Discrimination, Bordeaux
- 2018 Supr@Lyon “Supramolecular chemistry at work”, Lyon, France.
- 2018 ERC Grantees Conference, Weizmann Institute, Israel
- 2018 Keynote Speaker, Avond van de Chemie (115th anniversary of the Royal Netherlands Chemical Society)
- 2017 Molecular Machines Nobel Prize Conference, University of Groningen, NL
- 2017 International Symposium on Macrocyclic and Supramolecular Chemistry, Cambridge
- 2017 GRC Artificial Molecular Switches and Motors, USA
- 2017 GRC Supramolecular Materials, Switzerland
- 2016 Colloquium of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences
- 2016 International Liquid Crystal Conference, USA
- 2016 Molecular rotors, motors and switches, Telluride, USA
- 2016 Molecular switches and functional surfaces, Germany
- 2016 Anisotropy and shape in biological materials, Lorentz Center
- 2016 First Middle-Eastern Materials Science Conference, Abu Dhabi
- 2016 FOM Dagen focus session on materials, The Netherlands
- 2015 GRC Artificial Molecular Switches and Motors, USA
- 2014 EuCheMs Young Investigators Workshop, Cyprus
- 2014 Symposium of the Royal Netherlands Chemical Society, The Netherlands