Harm-Anton Klok

Expertise Polymer design at nanoscaleBiologically-inspired polymers Mission Research at the Laboratory of Polymer (LP) focuses on the development of novel advanced polymeric materials with potential applications in optics, electronics or medicine. The philosophy is that precise control over nanoscale structure is an important prerequisite to tailor polymer properties. To this end, a “bottom-up” approach is followed, which starts with designing a new material at the molecular level, in order to be able to predict and control its nanoscale organization. For synthesis, a broad range of methods, including both controlled / “living” polymerization methodologies as well as automated parallel synthesis are used. Finally, the nanoscale structure of the new materials is investigated, using, for example, scattering techniques or microscopy methods and correlated to macroscopic materials properties. This ""structure - property relationships"" approach should ultimately allow a priori design of new materials with predictable nanoscale structure and macroscopic properties.The main topics of research are biologically-inspired polymers, biofunctional surfaces and precision polymerization. Teaching & PhD PhD Students Nicola Carrara, Berlind Vosberg, Maja Lopandic, Sneha Cheriyamparambil, Thanh Thi Hà Lê, Suqiu Jiang, Adam William Woodhouse, Kunita Numabe Past EPFL PhD Students Stefano Tugulu, Markus Scholl, Harald Nuhn, Nadja Franz, Raphaël Barbey, Bojana Portmann, Maarten Danial, Dusko Paripovic, Sanhao Ji, Nicolas Bertrand Schüwer, Zuzana Kadlecova, Görçin Görkem Sahin Kurtuldu, Caroline Sugnaux, Solenne Desseaux, Vitaliy Kolesov, Tugba Bilgiç Tune, Ana Maria Raduta, Sorin Alexandru Ibanescu, Kemal Arda Günay, Nariye Cavusoglu Ataman, Maxime Ayer, Claudia Battistella, Piotr Mocny, Jian Wang, Tanja Thomsen, Markus Schuster, Cristiana Berti, Julian Nicolas Bleich, Lisa Patricia Elisabeth Bader, Friederike Katharina Metze, Sabrina Sant, Alice Boarino, Zhao Meng, Ghezae Tekleab, Fei Hu, Maria Malgorzata Marcinek Past EPFL PhD Students as codirector Amelia Emily-Kay Estry, Jonas De Jesus Diaz Gomez, Xingyu Wu Courses Polymer chemistry and macromolecular engineering MSE-437 Know modern methods of polymer synthesis. Understand how parameters, which determine polymer structure and properties, such as molecular weight, molecular weight distribution, topology, microstructure can be controlled by proper choice of polymerization method and optimization of reaction condition Soft matter MSE-425 The first part of the course is devoted to the self-assembly of molecules. In the second part we discuss basic physical chemical principles of polymers in solutions, at interfaces, and in bulk. Finally, we look at colloids and emulsions. Awards Talent-postdoctoral fellowship Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research 1997 Emmy Noether Fellowship Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft 1999 Thieme Journal Award 2002