Chemist Jonas Warneke has received a high award. In recognition of his  above-average scientific achievements, the Alexander von Humboldt  Foundation is supporting him with a Feodor Lynen research scholarship.  The scholarship is named after the German Nobel laureate for  biochemistry. Early next year, postdoc Warneke will use the scholarship  to finance his move from the University of Bremen to the renowned  “Pacific Northwest National Laboratory” (PNNL) in Richland, Washington  State, USA. In addition to financing a two-year stay in Richland, the  Feodor Lynen scholarship funds a further year during which he can  prepare his future research career.

 Research topic: Soft landing of ions
 The 28-year-old studied at the University of Bremen, where this year he  completed his doctoral dissertation as a member of the research group  led by Professor Petra Swiderek in the Faculty of Biology/Chemistry. His  research project is ion soft landing. This describes a special  technique used to prepare material surfaces, whereby gas molecules are  first prepared in a mass spectrometer and then landed intact. A major  challenge is how to precision control the molecules’ state of charge  once they are landed. The project proposal Jonas Warneke submitted to  the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation describes a new method of  controlling the ions state of charge which he now wants to test at PNNL.  The objective is to determine with precision the important physical and  chemical properties of surfaces. If it is possible that through this  technique of controlling the catalytic activity of molecules – that  means their accelerating effect on chemical reactions – the effect can  be maintained after the molecules are bound to a surface, it could open  up new applications in medicine, environmental engineering, and  materials research.

 Taking Bremen competencies with him
 Warneke’s research project builds on his earlier research with mass  spectrometry and molecule spectroscopy, and the insights gained in  surface analysis in the course of writing his PhD thesis. He will be  able to put these Bremen competences to good use while working in  cooperation with his new US-American colleagues in Richland. His hosts  at PNNL are Julia Laskin, a leading researcher in the field of ion soft  landing, and the theoretical chemist Sotiris Xantheas, holder of many  Humboldt Foundation awards.

 For more information, please contact:
 University of Bremen
 Faculty of Biology/Chemistry
 Institute for Applied and Physical Chemistry
 Dr. Jonas Warneke / Prof. Dr. Petra Swiderek
 Phone: +49 421 218-63200
 j.warneke@uni-bremen.de
 swiderek@uni-bremen.de

 For more information and news, please visit:  http://www.uni-bremen.de/en.html