|20 Nov 2025|
Abinaya Arunachalam wins second place Jan Ritzema Bosprijs
Abinaya Arunachalam won the second place for the Jan Ritzema Bosprijs 2025. The price is awarded to researchers contributing to plant health capable of explaining their scientific contributions to a broad audience.
Congrats Abinaya!
|11 Nov 2025|
PhD Defense of Armin Amirsadeghi
Armin successfully defended his thesis titled ‘Design and Processing of Advanced Materials for Extrusion-Based Additive Manufacturing’ showcasing his hard work, and commitment to advancing knowledge in the field of additive manufacturing.
Many congratulations to Dr. Amirsadeghi for achieving this remarkable milestone!
|19 March 2025|
Hugo wins the best poster prize at the SupraLife Third School 2025
Hugo won the prize for the best poster at the SupraLife Third School for his poster on bioinspired spider silk production.
Congrats Hugo!
|6 December 2024|
Abinaya wins the best poster prize at the Bio-Joining Conference 2024
Abinaya won the prize for the best poster at the Bio-Joining Conference 2024 for her poster: Biomimicry Meets Agriculture: Designing Nature-Inspired Adhesives for Green Pest Control.
Congrats Abinaya!
|6 December 2024|
UEF invests millions in HTRIC
The Ubbo Emmius Foundation (UEF) has funded HTRIC €18.4 million to support research in health technology.
More information can be found here.
|29 November 2024|
Ayla wins NRS Masterclass Award at Young Investigators Symposium
Ayla won the NRS Masterclass Award at the Young Investigators Symposium for her pitch on Development of Novel Adhesives for Lung Volume Reduction Treatment of COPD.
Congrats Ayla!
|19 October 2024|
Marleen’s lecture at ‘de avond van wetenschap en maatschappij’
Marleen gave a lecture at ‘de avond van wetenschap en maatschappij’ (The Evening of Science & Society) held in the Pieterskerk in Leiden on 7th of October, 2024. She spoke about inspiration from nature in developing new materials. More informations can be found here.
|19 October 2024|
Adrivit wins the best pitch presentation at Chemical Engineering PhD day
Adrivit won the first place for her presentation at Chemical Engineering PhD day. The topic of her talk was ‘Flexible Bioelectronic Sensors: Bridging the Biomechanical Gap via Vapor Deposition of Conductive Polymers’.
Congrats Adrivit!
|19 October 2024|
Adrivit wins the public award for best presentation at ENTEG day 2024‘
Adrivit won her best presentation award at ENTEG day 2024 for her talk on soft electrically conductive hydrogels for bioelectronic interfacing.
Congrats Adrivit!
|12 October 2024|
Marleen’s interview on OOG op wetenschap
Marleen was featured on the OOG Radio, a local broadcaster of Groningen. Tune in to Spotify to listen to her interview about mimicking silk using 3D printing!
|12 October 2024|
Gosia wins an ERC Starting Grant!
Congratulations to Gosia who has been awarded an ERC Starting Grant. The European Research Council’s (ERC) Starting Grants consist of €1.5 million, for a period of five years. The grants are meant for outstanding researchers with the aim of stimulating cutting-edge research in Europe.
More informations can be found here.
|19 June 2024|
Adrivit wins the ‘Best Oral Talk’ prize at Vlieland 2024
The Vlieland conference is organized by the Zernike Institute for Advanced Materials biannually.
At Vlieland 2024, Adrivit won the ‘Best Oral Talk’ prize for his presentation of ‘Hybrid Harmony: Soft Electrically Conductive Hydrogels for Bioelectronic Interfacing’ .
Congratulations Adrivit!
|15 April 2024|
Ayla wins a grant from the Cara foundation!
Ayla was awarded a grant of €7.000 from the Noordelijke Cara Stichting, a Dutch foundation that focuses on research in the field of asthma and COPD. The grant was awarded for the project ‘Developing a novel sprayable airway stent to treat airway obstruction’, which has the goal to develop a polymer-based spray that can form a supportive structure in the airways of patients with several lung diseases.
Congratulations!
|10 April 2024|
Moving to Feringa Building
Our group moved from the old building of Nijenborgh 4 into the new Feringa Building! This week we start working in the new building. Thanks for the hard work of everyone in moving! Curious about our new lab? Click here for more pictures!
|10 April 2024|
Marleen wins the Gravitation grant!
Marleen was awarded a Gravitation grant for the Green Tissue Engineering research program as a co-applicant. The research program will focus on exploring the the mechanical properties of plant cells in order toenhance plant defences. Marleen has been awarded 1.5 million euros for her materials research in this program. Congradulations!
More informations can be found here.
|09 March 2024|
Marleen is a member of KHMW
Marleen has been appointed as a new scientific member of The Royal Holland Society of Sciences (KHMW: Koninklijke Hollandsche Maatschappij der Wetenschappen). KHMW members are responsible for organising scientific activities that reduce the distance between citizens and science. Congradulations!
More informations can be found here.
|23 December2023|
Julien wins a NWO XS grant!
Julien was awarded an NWO XS grant of 50.000€ for his project ‘Let’s move: 3D printing of contractible hydrogels as muscle tissue mimics.’ In this project, he aims to develop muscle tissue mimics by using a novel 3D printable granular hydrogel based on responsive microparticles. The dimensions of the microparticles can be changed reversibly and on-demand after printing, thus obtaining muscle-like, contractible materials. Congradulations, Julien!
More informations can be found here.
|23 December2023|
Julien wins a top 3 FSE Postdoc Prize!
The FSE Postdoc Prize is an incentive to a successful postdoctoral researcher at the Faculty. It recognizes outstanding young researchers who have demonstrated excellent research and who are showing an exceptional promise for the future.
Julien finished on an honourable second place and was praised for his impressive track records. Congradulations Julien!
More informations can be found here.
|12 December2023|
Abinaya’s research is published on C2W | Mens & Molecule News!
Recently, C2W interviewed Abinaya to feature her work about sticky pesticides on their website. This article describes the uniqueness, working mechanism of the developing pesticides and their contribution to a more sustainable world.
Visit our outreach page for more such interviews and articles!
|17 October 2023|
PhD Defense of Larissa van Westerveld
Larissa successfully defended her thesis titled ‘Complex coacervate-based wet adhesives‘ showcasing her hard work, and commitment to advancing knowledge in the field of adhesion.
Many congratulations to Dr. van Westerveld for achieving this remarkable milestone.
|13 October 2023|
Article featured as Supplementary Cover
Many congratulations to Annemarie Maan and her co-authors, whose cover has been accepted as the Supplementary Cover Art in ACS Applied Polymer Materials. The cover can be found here.
|19 September 2023|
PhD Defense of Annemarie Maan
Annemarie successfully defended her thesis titled ‘Avert the Dirt: On the Design of Scalable Antifouling Polymer Coatings‘ earning her doctoral degree from the Kamperman lab.
Heartfelt congratulations for finishing your project and earning such high honors Dr. Maan!
Also, check out her scientific journey in her testimonial at the bottom of this page.
|1 September 2023|
Marleen’s speech at the opening of the academic year 2023-2024
Marleen gave a presentation at the Martini Church for the official opening of the academic year 2023-2024. She very nicely explained how our research revolves around the theme for this academic year: Imagination.
Find out more about our research in our research section.
|20 July 2023|
Abinaya’s research is featured in Science Linx News!
Recently, Science Linx interviewed Abinaya to feature her work in their website. This article highlights the uniqueness of the project in aiming to mimic nature and its consequent importance to society. Check out the article here!
Visit our outreach page for more such interviews and articles!
|25 April 2023|
Annemarie Maan wins the first prize at DPD
Annemarie bagged the first place with her plenary lecture at the 20th Dutch Polymer Days conference. She presented her research on antifouling coatings
captivating the minds of several polymer scientists present.
Congrats Annemarie!
|23 February 2023|
Marleen Kamperman wins the Vici grant!
Congratulations to Marleen who has been awarded the Vici grant of €1.5 million. This NWO grant is awarded to senior researchers for further innovative developments in their research area. More information can be found here.
|23 January 2023|
Abinaya completes RPK-B with a bang!
Abinaya passed the RPK-B module (Polymer Physics) with flying colors scoring a whopping 9.0!
The RPK-B course covers the fundamentals of polymer physics and their applications in diverse fields of soft matter.
|7 December 2022|
PhD Defense of Jianwu Sun
Jianwu Sun successfully defended his thesis titled ‘Green processing of polyelectrolyte complex fibers‘ earning his doctoral degree from the Kamperman lab.
Hearty congratulations Dr. Sun! We wish you great success for your future endeavours.
|7 November 2022|
PhD Defense of Mohammad Khoonkari
Mohammad Khoonkari successfully defended his thesis titled ‘Physics of cancer: mechanotransduction in the adaptive response of glioblastoma cells to matrix stiffness‘ becoming the first PhD candidate to earn his doctoral degree from the Kamperman lab.
Congratulations Dr. Khoonkari! We wish you all the best for your future endeavours.
|18 October 2022|
Gosia wins the ‘Laureate of Polityka’ award
Gosia was awarded the prestigious Laureate of Polityka prize in recognition of her contributions to the development of science and research in Poland. Check out her research in our group with 3D bioprinting!
Many congratulations on your achievement, Gosia!
|1 July 2022|
Guillermo gets appointed as Assistant Professor in Strasbourg
Our very own post doc, Guillermo Monreal Santiago, will soon be starting as an Assistant Professor in Systems Chemistry in the University of Strasbourg from September. He will be working on peptide reaction networks, liquid-liquid phase separation and self-assembly.
Congratulations Guille! We will miss you but we are sure that you will make us proud at France. Looking forward to some exciting collaborations!
|27 June 2022|
Annemarie Maan’s review secures its spot in the top 10 most downloaded articles
The review paper by Annemarie, Anton, and Marleen, together with Wiebe de Vos, published in Advanced Functional Materials titled ‘Recent Developments and Practical Feasibility of Polymer-Based Antifouling Coatings’ made it to the top 10 of most downloaded articles. Check it out here: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/adfm.202000936
Congratulations to all the authors for this achievement!
|14 June 2022|
Abinaya Arunachalam wins the ‘Best Oral Talk’ prize in Vlieland 2022!
The Vlieland Conference is a biennial event organised by the Zernike Institute for Advanced Materials with two days filled with talks, posters and some entertainment as well.
Talking about the effects of chemical pesticides, Abinaya gave an attention-grabbing presentation emphasizing the necessity to switch to more environmentally-friendly pest management techniques. Check out our research section on Complex Coacervates to know how we came up with a solution to this problem.
Congratulations Abinaya!
|18 May 2022|
Marleen’s interview in Noorderlab
Marleen was featured in the last episode of Noorderlab. Tune in to Spotify, Apple podcasts, or Google podcasts to listen to her interview with Amanda Brouwer and learn about biological and bio-inspired materials!
|10 May 2022|
New publications!
Two new papers have been published by Mohammad Khoonkari together with researchers from the University Medical Center Groningen. One is a review in MDPI Pharmaceutics, about the effects of extracellular matrix alterations and mechanical stress on Glioblastoma aggressiveness, and another one in MDPI International Journal of Molecular Sciences, about the effects of a variable stiff extracellular matrix on the morphology and malignant properties of Glioblastoma stem cells. Follow the links or check our publications page to read more about them.
Congratulations to Mohammad!
|3 May 2022|
Gosia receives ‘Outstanding Reviewer Award’
Gosia was recognized as an ‘Outstanding Reviewer‘ for Biofabrication in 2021 by IOP Publishing.
Congratulations Gosia!
|1 April 2022|
Launch of the Noorderlab podcast
Noorderlab, “the podcast for the curious Northeners” was just launched in Spotify, Apple and Google podcasts. A new episode of the podcast will be released every few weeks, discussing the research of a scientist from the faculty (in Dutch). Stay tuned!
|2 March 2022|
New video of Annemarie in Eye-Openers!
Annemarie was featured in the platform Eye-Openers, where she talks about her research in antifouling coatings. Check it out in the link above or in our outreach section!
|10 February 2022|
Annemarie interviewed in Omroep Houten for the international day of Women and Girls in Science
|5 January 2022|
Happy New Year with new publications!
We start the academic year with very good news! Two papers from the group got recently published: One in ACS Macro Letters, about using C3Ms to create responsive Pickering emulsions, and another one in ACS Polymers Au, about orthogonal deprotection strategies for the synthesis of polysulfonates. Follow the links or check our publications page to read more about them.
Congratulations to both Anton and Julien!
|5 January 2022|
Marleen is a member of HTRIC
HTRIC (Health Technology Research and Innovation Cluster) is a new research cluster bringing together academic research, technology, and clinical practices for healthcare applications. Marleen has joined this cluster as a researcher and frontwoman of the research side. We’re sure it will bring exciting projects and collaborations!
|5 January 2022|
Our project about natural pesticide alternatives was featured in the NWO website
The research project “Mimicking natural plant defenses” is a collaboration between our group and other universities from The Netherlands. Recently, the project was featured in the NWO website with an interview to Thomas Kodger from the university of Wageningen. Follow the link to learn more about our approach to protect crops without relying on pesticides.
|12 November 2021|
Annemarie is part of the board of Jong KNCV
Annemarie is now part of the board of Jong KNCV, an organization part of the KNCV aimed at young researchers, specially under the age of 35. Take a look at their website to find out about the activities they organize and how you can be involved with them!
|14 October 2021|
Annemarie Maan wins the spotlight prize in Avond van de Chemie!
The Avond van de Chemie is a yearly event organised by the KNCV with talks, entertainment, and a prize gala in which PhD students compete by pitching their research… in only three minutes, and without any slides or backup material!
With her wits and the help of her houseplant, Annemarie rose to the challenge in this year’s edition, and finally won the coveted Spotlight prize. Check her blog to read about her experience, and our Outreach section for more of her videos.
Congratulations Annemarie!
|14 September 2021|
Second edition of the comic book/learning package “De scarabee en de geheimzinnige ziekte”
Thanks to Samenweten (KNAW), members of our group are now involved in developing the second edition of the comic book and learning package “De scarabee en de geheimzinnige ziekte”, which aims to get Dutch children in contact with the scientific process. This edition will include additional material, such as animations or videos.
|06 September 2021|
Beginning of the academic year, wadlopen
Today is the beginning of the new academic year, and we have new master students starting their projects with us. Check the members page to see all the new faces!
To welcome everyone, and as a covid-safe group activity, we went to Pieterburen to do the typically dutch wadlopen (mudwalking). Good chance for a new group photo!
|28 January 2021|
New outreach video by Annemarie
Annemarie continues with her outreach in her Faces of science blog, this time with a vlog where she explains (and demonstrates) popular chemistry experiments that you can do at home. Find her video in our outreach section.
|7 January 2021|
Marleen featured in Eye-openers
Marleen participated on the website eye-openers.nl , in which researchers explain their projects in the short space of one-minute. Find her video in their website or in our outreach section.
|10 December 2020|
New group picture!
With the group growing more and more, we wanted to start 2021 with a new website design and a new group picture. Even if we cannot be all together, at least we can be in space! Check our members page to be updated on all the new incorporations.
|09 September 2020|
Gosia wins a NWO XS grant
Gosia was awarded a NWO XS grant of 50.000 €, for her project ‘3D Printed Human Trabecular Meshwork’. In this project, she will use her expertise in 3D bioprinting to build synthetic mimics of the Human Trabecular Meshwork, a structure involved in Glaucoma. These mimics could be used to test new drugs and treatments or as an injectable replacement for damaged ones. Congratulations Gosia!
https://www.rug.nl/fse/news/nwo-xs-grant-for-dr-gosia-wlodarczyk-biegun
|26 August 2020|
New paper from Gosia in Bioprinting
A new paper from Gosia was published in the journal Bioprinting, about the 3D printing of alginate-based scaffolds and a new protocol to image them using SEM. Check it out here! https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bprint.2020.e00098
|29 June 2020|
New article in Langmuir
A new article with contributions from the group, together with researchers from Wageningen, was published about enzyme encapsulation in coacervate core micelles (C3Ms). Read more about it in Langmuir (https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.langmuir.0c01073)
|02 June 2020|
Review from the group in Advanced Functional Materials
Annemarie, Anton, and Marleen, together with Wiebe de Vos, published a review in Advanced Functional Materials about the state of the art of polymer-based antifouling coatings.(https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/adfm.202000936)
Congratulations to all the authors! Looking forward to adding more of our research to this exciting field
|12 March 2020|
Annemarie elected as new ‘Face of Science’
One of our PhD students, Annemarie Maan, has been elected to join the ‘Faces of Science’, as was announced officially yesterday on the KNAW website. Faces of Science is a collaboration between NEMO Kennislink and the KNAW / De Jonge Akademie. As a Face of Science, Annemarie will share her experiences as a (polymer) chemistry PhD student. To do this, she will write a blog and/or film a vlog each month, in which she will tell about her adventures in the lab. All Faces of Science have their own page on the website. This way, high school students can be informed about the ins and outs of doing research, and hopefully be motivated to persue a career in science. The Faces of Science will not only go to high schools to talk about their research in person, but are also invited to talk at science festivals and other public events.
The news has also been shared on the RUG website.
|14 January 2020|
Inauguration Marleen Kamperman
Our professor, Marleen Kamperman started last year working at the University of Groningen as full professor. During the official ceremony, she gave an inaugural lecture. The lecture was called “De kunst van het afkijken”. The ceremony was very beautiful and the room was completely filled with friends, family and colleagues. To continue the celebration, our polymer chemistry department was invited to a delicious dinner in Huize Maas.
|10 December 2019|
Marleen Kamperman wins ERC Grant
Congratulations to our Professor, Marleen Kamperman, who has been awarded with a personal grant of €2 million. This grant, supported by ERC, is awarded to outstanding scientists, with the aim of stimulating ground-breaking research in Europe. More information can be found here.
|20 November 2019|
Front Cover
Congratulations to Anton Hofman, whose cover has been accepted as the front cover of the 45th Issue of the Polymer Chemistry Journal. The cover can be found here.
|30 September 2019|
New Publication
Congratulations to Anton Hofman, who published a new article in the Polymer Chemistry Journal. The article is titled A mild and quantitative route towards well-defined strong anionic/hydrophobic diblock copolymers: synthesis and aqueous self-assembly (DOI: 10.1039/C9PY01227C ).
|20 August 2019|
The University of Noorderzon
Every summer, the Noorderzon Performing Arts Festival returns to Groningen, including ‘Northern Lights: The University of Groningen’. This year, Young Academy Groningen (YAG) invited us, the Kamperman group, to introduce kids to chemistry. Via the concept ‘learn by doing’, the young scientists could try out all kinds of experiments in our Magical Molecules booth. They helped us solve the mystery on how to easily separate salt from pepper, made beautiful artworks in milk and got their hands dirty by playing with cornstarch in water. Every 20 minutes, a colourful demonstration showed the rapid decomposition of hydrogen peroxide into water, better known as foamy elephant toothpaste.
After being scientist for a day, the kids received a special University of Groningen certificate. In total, +/- 1100 kids and adults visited the University of Noorderzon this year.
|04 April 2019|
Annemarie Maan wins Strating Award
One of our own PhD students, Annemarie Maan, has won the Strating Award for best-written colloquium of 2018. Congratulations!
RuG News – Annemarie Maan wins the strating award (backer foundation)
|11 February 2019|
Research Minute YAG – Marleen Kamperman
Members of the Young Academy Groningen share their passion for research in a ‘Research Minute’, this time featuring Marleen Kamperman, Professor Polymer Sciences, ZIAM, Young Academy Groningen member 2018.
Polymer Science 