Pincipal Investigators (PI)
RU MolSys gathers scientists whose areas of expertise revolve around the synthesis, characterization and modeling of complex molecular systems.
Prof. Christian Damblon
Christian Damblon, born in Liège, Belgium, studied chemistry at the University of Liège, Belgium, where he received his PhD in Chemistry. In 1997 he started a postdoc at the department of biochemistry of the University of Leicester, UK. In 2006 he was appointed at the Molecular Biophysic Centre (CBM), Orléans, France. In 2008, he came back to the University of Liège where he created the Structural Biological Chemistry laboratory (CBS). He is the director of the Centre for Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (CREMAN) of the University of Liège.
Prof. Lionel Delaude
Lionel Delaude was born in 1966 in Huy, Belgium. He graduated in chemistry in 1987 and received his Ph.D. in 1990 from the University of Liège, Belgium, under the supervision of Pierre Laszlo. After postdoctoral fellowships at the University of Ottawa, Canada, with Howard Alper, at Columbia University in the City of New York with Ronald Breslow, and at the University of Wales, Swansea, with Keith Smith, he returned to the University of Liège where is is presently appointed as a Professor of Organometallic Chemistry and Homogeneous Catalysis. In 2014, he was also an Invited Professor at the University of Lille 1, France, and in 2017 a Guest Lecturer at the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan, Poland. His current research interests focus on the design of new N-heterocyclic carbenes and zwitterionic adducts derived thereof for synthetic applications and catalytic studies.
Prof. Anne-Sophie Duwez
Anne-Sophie Duwez studied chemistry at the University of Namur, Belgium, where she received her PhD in chemistry in 1997. She then joined the University of Louvain as a FNRS postdoctoral researcher. From 2002 to 2003, she was visiting scientist with a NATO Advanced Science Fellowship at the Max Planck Institute in Mainz, Germany. She then returned to the University of Louvain as a senior scientist to develop single-molecule force spectroscopy by AFM. In 2006, she was appointed associate professor at the University of Liège and obtained an Incentive Grant for Scientific Research from the FNRS to create a new laboratory for advanced AFM techniques. She is currently professor in the Department of Chemistry. Her research focuses on the development of probes and technologies to interface single small functional molecules with AFM. Over the last decade, her group has developed the first examples of single-molecule force spectroscopy on small synthetic molecules to study their operation. She recently received the Triennial Prize (2015-2017) Agathon-De Potter for chemistry, awarded by the Royal Academy of Sciences, Letters and Arts of Belgium.
Prof. Gauthier Eppe
Gauthier Eppe studied civil engineer in chemistry at ULiege in Applied Science, followed by a PhD in Analytical Chemistry at the Chemistry Department, ULiege. He was awarded by AOAC international as the best thesis in the development of certified reference material for analytical applications (AOAC int, Saint-Louis, Missouri, 2004). In 2008, he started a postdoc at the National Institute of Standard and Technology (NIST, Gaithersburg, USA). In 2010, he came back to Belgium and was appointed associate professor in analytical chemistry at the Chemistry Department, confirmed in 2013 after serving a 3-year probation period and promoted professor in 2017. His current research focuses at developing analytical strategies in novel and integrated topics within MolSys research interests in the field of environmental sciences, food safety, medical and industrial applications. Integrated approaches include, for instance, miniaturized microfluidic systems for sample treatment, nanoparticles synthesis and on line-SERS probe measurement system; development of multimodal imaging by Raman Spectroscopy and Mass Spectrometry for clinical applications; synthesis of customized (bio)chemical nanoprobes for multimodal analyses by multiplex SERS and Laser Desorption Ionization Mass Spectrometry. He is currently the director of the National Reference Laboratory for dioxins (NRL, CART).
Prof. Jean-François Focant
Professor Jean-François (Jef) Focant is the Head of the Chemistry Department of the University of Liège in Belgium. He is leading the Organic and Biological Analytical Chemistry group of the mass spectrometry laboratory. Main research interests are coupling of sample preparation procedures, development of new chromatography strategies in separation science, hyphenation to various types of mass spectrometric detectors through multidimensional systems, and implementation of emerging strategies under QA/QC requirements for human biomonitoring and food control. Professor Focant has been active in the field of dioxin analyses for the last 15 years. He chaired the 31st International Symposium on Halogenated Persistent Organic Pollutants and POPs (DIOXIN2011) in Brussels in 2011. Known as a dioxin expert, he is also very active in other areas of Separation Science such as characterization of complex mixtures of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) for medical and forensic applications as well as metabolomics. Recent investigations include characterization of cadaveric decomposition odors, screening for biomarkers of cancer by breath analysis, and plant combustion studies. Working on the hyphenation of state-of-the-art analytical techniques to solve practical analytical issues is what he enjoys to do. He is the youngest recipient of the prestigious ‘GCxGC Life Achievement Award’.
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Prof. Bernard Leyh
Bernard Leyh graduated from the University of Liège (Master degree, 1982; PhD, 1987). His doctoral research was conducted in collaboration with the University of Paris-Sud in Orsay (Laboratoire de Photophysique Moléculaire and Laboratoire pour l’Utilisation du Rayonnement Electromagnétique). After a one-year postdoctoral NATO fellowship (1988) with Prof. F.W. McLafferty (Cornell University, Ithaca, NY), he came back to Liège where he was postdoctoral researcher of the F.N.R.S. before obtaining a F.N.R.S. permanent research associate position in 1991. He became part-time associate professor at the University of Liège in 1993, full-time associate professor in 2003, and professor in 2009 and teaches physical chemistry and chemistry didactics. His research interests focus on the spectroscopy of highly excited molecules and ions, and on the self-assembling of supramolecular entities using small-angle scattering techniques coupled with modeling approaches. In addition, he develops a research program in chemistry didactics.
Dr. Jean-Christophe Monbaliu
Jean-Christophe M. Monbaliu, born in Brussels, Belgium, studied chemistry at the Université catholique de Louvain, Belgium, where he received his Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry. In 2008, he started a postdoc at the Faculty of Bioscience Engineering of the Ghent University, Belgium, where he was later appointed as a postdoctoral associate of the Research Foundation-Flanders. In 2010, he was awarded a Belgian American Educational Foundation fellowship that triggered his relocation to the USA. He joined the Center for Heterocyclic Compounds at the University of Florida, Gainesville, USA. In 2012, he was appointed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA, USA. In 2013, he came back to Belgium and settled at the University of Liège. Monbaliu created the Center for Integrated Technology and Organic Synthesis (CiTOS), where he is currently developing new methods for organic synthesis using micro- and mesofluidic reactors. CiTOS is the first European Corning® Advanced-Flow™ reactor (AFR) qualified lab.
Prof. Loic Quinton
Loïc Quinton, born in Lagny-sur-Marne, France, studied chemistry at the University of Paris-Sud, and specialized in analytical and structural chemistry in the University Pierre et Marie Curie (Paris VI, Jussieu). He received a PhD from the Ecole Polytechnique in 2006, and was awarded in 2007 by the best thesis by the French Society for Mass Spectrometry (shared with Dr David Touboul). He started a two-year post-doc fellow in the Laboratory of Mass Spectrometer under the supervision of Prof. Edwin De Pauw in 2006. In 2008, he obtained a fixed-term position (4years) at the F.R.S-FNRS in 2008. After two years, Loïc Quinton applied to the Chair of Biological Chemistry, opened in the Department of Chemistry of the University. He obtained the Chair in 2010 and was confirmed by the authorities on this position in 2013. His main research area concerns the development of MS-based approaches to characterize atypical and highly-modified bioactive peptides and protein assemblies.
Dr. Françoise Remacle
Françoise Remacle is a Director of Research of FNRS since 2003 and the head of the Theoretical Physical Chemistry Lab since 2001. She graduated in chemistry at ULiege in 1986 with highest honors and got her PhD in theoretical chemistry in 1990 at ULiege as a fellow of FNRS. She was a post-doc fellow at the Fritz Haber Research Center for Molecular Dynamics at Hebrew University of Jerusalem from 1990-1991 and after a FNRS post-doc position at Uliege, she obtained a FNRS permanent research position at ULiege in 1993. She defended her habilitation thesis in 2001, also in theoretical chemistry. She is an invited professor at the Hebrew University since 2006 and was an invited Professor at College de France in May 2012. She was elected fellow of the American Physical Society in 2009 and awarded the Emmy Noether Distinction Winter 2017 for Women of the European Physical Society.
Her research focuses the theory and the modeling of the quantum molecular dynamics induced by short (atto to femtosecond) optical pulses, with applications to the control of chemical reactivity, information processing and quantum technologies. Over the years, she coordinated several EC FET projects in the field of molecular information processing, the latest being the H2020 project COPAC. She is the author or coauthor of 230 publications in international scientific journals (h-Index Google Scholar: 40) and has organized or co-organized 11 international meetings.
