Speakers

This year, JMJC is delighted to welcome 4 renowned speakers.

Chemistry of Materials: Prof. Eric Drockenmuller

Bioorganic Chemistry: Dr. Laura Iannazzo

Organic Chemistry: Prof. Jieping Zhu

Coordination Chemistry: Dr. Jalila Simaan

Prof. Eric Drockenmuller

Professor Eric Drockenmuller earned his PhD in 2002 from the University of Strasbourg, where he conducted research on nitroxide-mediated radical polymerization. He subsequently joined the research groups of Professor C. J. Hawker at the IBM Almaden Research Center (California, USA) and Professor T. P. Russell at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst (USA), as a postdoctoral fellow, focusing on the synthesis and functionalization of nanostructured materials. In 2004, he was appointed Assistant Professor at the University of Lyon 1, where he was promoted to Full Professor in 2011. His research primarily focuses on the synthesis of tailored functional materials, polymers for energy applications, and ion-conducting and dynamic polymer materials.

 Dr. Laura Iannazzo

Dr. Laura Iannazzo is a CNRS research fellow at the Laboratoire de Chimie et Biochimie Pharmacologiques et Toxicologiques.

She obtained her PhD in 2010 under the supervision of Prof. Corinne Aubert and Prof. Max Malacria at the Université Pierre Marie Curie. Her thesis focused on the reactivity of novel unsaturated partners in [2+2+2] cycloaddition reactions catalyzed by cobalt complexes. After a one-year postdoctoral experience in the team of Pr Gary A. Molander (UPenn, USA), she completed two ATERs and a one-year postdoctoral stay at Université Paris Descartes in the teams of Pr Mélanie Ethève Quelquejeu and then Dr Laurent Micouin. In 2016, she obtained a position as CNRS research fellow, and obtained her habilitation to direct research in 2021.

Her main research interests lie at the interface between chemistry and biology, and focus on the synthesis and modification of nucleosides, nucleotides and RNA, as well as the synthesis of carbapenems for anti-bacterial applications. 

Prof. Jieping Zhu

Professor Jieping Zhu has been Professor of Chemistry at EPFL (École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne) since 2010, where he is also head of the Synthesis and Natural Products Laboratory.

He defended his Ph.D. in 1991 at the University of Paris XI under the supervision of Professors H.-P. Husson and J.-C. Quirion. His research focused on the asymmetric synthesis of histrionicotoxin derivatives and related spiropiperidines. He then continued his career with a one-year postdoctoral fellowship in the group of Prof. Sir D. H. R. Barton at Texas A&M University. In 1992, he joined the CNRS Institut de Chimie des Substances Naturelles (ICSN) as a research fellow, and was promoted to Research Director in 2000.

His research focuses on the development of new synthetic methods, with particular emphasis on multicomponent reactions, enantioselective catalytic transformations, and domino reactions catalyzed by transition metals. The total synthesis of natural products and bioactive molecules is also one of his main research interests.

Dr. Jalila Simaan

Ariane Jalila Simaan is a CNRS research director in Aix-Marseille University at the Institut des Sciences Moleculaires de Marseille (iSm2) in Aix-Marseille Université.

She developed her thesis in bioinorganic chemistry at the ICMMO in the Université Paris-Sud (Orsay) with Prof. Jean Jacques GIRERD and Prof. Frédéric BANSE. She then joined the group of Prof. Peter Hildebrandt at the Max-Planck Institute in Mülheim-Ruhr, Gemany and also at ITQB institute in Lisbon, Portugal as postdoctoral fellow. Her research career then took her back to France, to work in CNRS (iSm2) at Aix-Marseille University carrying on her own research as ‘Chargée de Recherches’ (2002), later obtaining her HDR title (2009) and finally becoming ‘Directrice de Recherches’ (2016), her current position.

Her research is centered on metal ions in biology with different approaches such as bioinspired catalysis, enzymatic studies, hybrid catalysts and spectroscopic studies.