Group Leader
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Dr. Sander J. Wezenberg |
| Sander studied Chemistry at the University of Nijmegen where he carried out his Master's research in the group of Prof. Roeland Nolte. He pursued his PhD studies in the field of supramolecular chemistry and catalysis with Prof. Arjan Kleij at the Institute of Chemical Research of Catalonia. During this period, he spent time as a visiting researcher in the group of Prof. Joseph Hupp at Northwestern University. After receiving his PhD degree in 2011, he joined the group of Prof. rançois Diederich at ETH Zurich as a postdoctoral fellow. Two years later, he moved to the University of Groningen to work with Prof. Ben Feringa, where he was appointed Assistant Professor in 2017. He established his independent research group at Leiden University in 2019, and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2022. His main research interests are in the areas of molecular switches, ion recognition and transport, and dynamic supramolecular systems. Sander is recipient of several prestigious grants, including a Starting Grant (2018) from the European Research Council (ERC), and young investigator grants (Veni-2014, Vidi-2018) from the Dutch Research Council (NWO). In 2020, he was elected as member of the Young Academy of Europe. |
PhD Students
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Sofiia Emashova |
| Sofiia was born in Russia in 1998 and obtained her Specialist Degree in Fundamental and Applied Chemistry at Lomonosov Moscow State University in 2022. During her specialist research, she worked in Prof. Elena S. Shubina's group at the Nesmeyanov Institute of Organoelement Compounds of the Russian Academy of Sciences under the supervision of Dr. Alexey Titiov studying light-emissive macrocyclic pyrazolate complexes of coinage metals. In September 2022, Sofiia joined the Wezenberg group to work on light-switchable ion-pair hosts for cesium extraction. |
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Lin Xu |
| Lin grew up in Jinan (China) and obtained her BSc degree in Pharmaceutical Engineering at Qufu Normal University in 2019. Afterwards, she completed her MSc degree in Physical Chemistry at Shandong University in 2022, where she studied the self-assembly behavior of bolaamphiphles and their applications in flexible electronics in the group of Prof. Yaqing Liu. In November 2022 she joined the Wezenberg group as a PhD student to study phototunable conductivity in polymer hydrogels. |
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Dimitris Piperoudis |
| Dimitris was born and raised in Athens and studied Chemistry at the University of Ioannina, where he graduated in 2019. In the same year he started his Master's studies at the Radboud University, where he worked in the group of Prof. Roeland Nolte on the epoxidation of alkenes by porphyrin cages. After graduating in 2021, he started a position at the same University as Junior Researcher under the supervision of Dr. Paul White, focusing on NMR binding assays with photoswitches that act as enzyme inhibitors in addition to studies on the mechanism of the glucosylation reaction. In January 2023, he joined the Wezenberg group as a PhD candidate. |
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Josien de Graaf |
| Josien was born in Dieren, the Netherlands, in 1999. She obtained both her Bachelor's and Master's degree in Chemistry at the Radboud University in Nijmegen. For her first Master's internship she worked on photoswitchable enzyme inhibitors to use in flow for reservoir computing in the Huck group. Her second internship was on photoswitchable metal-organic cages in the Nitschke group at Cambridge University. In 2025 she joined the Wezenberg group as a PhD student to develop photoswitchable transmembrane symporters to be used in cells. |
Former Postdocs (and destination)
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Dr. Xiaoyao Chen October 2025 - March 2026 |
Dr. Julia Villalva June 2022 - February 2026 |
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Dr. Abhishek Mondal July 2023 - June 2026 Postdoc w/ Prof. I. Huc, LMU Munich |
Dr. Stefan Mommer January 2021 - June 2022 Ambizione Fellow, ETH Zurich |
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Dr. David Lozano October 2022 - September 2023 Product Development Scientist, Synthomer |
Dr. Suchismita Saha September 2020 - February 2022 Postdoc w/ Prof. M. von Delius, University of Ulm |
Former PhD Students (and destination)
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Sabine Langens August 2021 - July 2025 Environment Manager, BGM Engineering |
Dr. Jasper Bos December 2019 - April 2024 Product Developer, Cimcool DuBois |
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Dr. Nol Duindam March 2021 - August 2025 Chemistry Researcher, Netherlands Forensic Institute |
Dr. Jorn de Jong November 2019 - August 2024 QC Coordinator, Vreugdenhil Dairy Foods |
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Dr. Indigo Bekaert March 2020 - October 2024 Postdoc w/ Prof. J.N.H. Reek, University of Amsterdam |
Dr. David Villarón April 2019 - March 2023 Postdoc w/ Dr. D.L.J. Broere, Utrecht University |
Internship Students and Visitors
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Richard Kaib September - November 2026 Visiting MSc Student, LMU Munich |
Felix van Nifterik April - July 2023 BSc Student Internship, Leiden University |
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Dennis van den Broeke April - July 2026 BSc Student Internship, Leiden University |
Youri van Baarle April - July 2023 BSc Student Internship, Leiden University |
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Laura Adriaens September 2025 - April 2026 MSc Student Internship, Leiden University |
Thierry van der Wielen February - June 2023 MSc Student Internship, Leiden University |
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Chrysanthi Kolovou September 2025 - February 2026 MSc Student Internship, Leiden University |
Jorge Lopez June - September 2022 Visiting PhD Student, University of Murcia |
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Irene Boya del Teso September - November 2025 Visiting PhD Student, University of Salamanca |
Robin van Damme April 2022 - February 2023 MSc Student Internship, Leiden University |
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Luke Jansen April - July 2025 BSc Student Internship, Leiden University |
Leonardo Andreoni April - July 2022 Visiting PhD Student, University of Bologna |
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Colin van der Slot April - July 2025 BSc Student Internship, Leiden University |
Michelle van Dongen January - February 2022 HRSMC Short Rotation, University of Amsterdam |
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Luka Reinders February - June 2025 MSc Student Internship, Leiden University |
Marouscha Puister April - July 2021 BSc Student Internship, Leiden University |
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Mark Tadema September - December 2024 BSc Student Internship, Leiden University |
Guido Brugman September 2020 - July 2021 MSc Student Internship, Leiden University |
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Martine van Rijn February - September 2024 MSc Student Internship, Leiden University |
Esteban Matador March - May 2020 Visiting PhD Student, University of Seville |
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Fay van Belkum August - December 2023 MSc Student Internship, Leiden University |
Fabien Kohl September - November 2019 Visiting MSc Student, LMU Munich |
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Bente Reus June - July 2023 HRSMC Short Rotation, University of Amsterdam |
Jasper Bos May - July 2019 Visiting MSc Student, University of Groningen |