News Archive
Open PhD positions
We have two PhD positions available in our Research Training Group BEAM, with a starting date of 1st June 2025 or later.
Position 1 is for a postgraduate researcher with a strong background in theoretical chemistry, and, if possible, also mathematics. We intend to continue work on models for molecules and explore whether simulations of self-assembly can be useful for targeted synthesis.
Position 2 is for a postgraduate researcher with a strong background in chemistry, specifically in organic and metalorganic synthesis of new compounds and materials. We intend to synthesize new low molecular weight liquid crystalline materials and investigate their self-assembly by optical, calorimetric and XRD methods.
The goal is for both researchers to work together in a joint project, and in such a way that it is possible for both to obtain a PhD degree.
There are no teaching duties, but it is possible to get involved in student supervision. The Research Training Group offers plenty of opportunities for personal and professional development.
A good level of spoken and written English is required.
The positions are paid 0.65 % of E13 TV-L (if the conditions are met), for three years.
If you are interested, then please send an informal email with a CV to Rebecca Waldecker (rebecca.waldecker@mathematik.uni-halle.de) and Carsten Tschierske (carsten.tschierske@chemie.uni-halle.de) by 28th February 2025.
Open PhD Position
Dear all,
we have an open PhD position at Halle university. The project is looking at the membrane behaviour of amphiphilic block polymers / proteins and implies recombinant protein production and purification and a range of biophysical methods, such as various types of fluorescence spectroscopy, calorimetry, infrared spectroscopy, and monolayer methods.




BEAM Progress Meeting
Our progress meeting took place in the middle of December. Our doctoral researchers had the opportunity to present their posters in flash talks and prepare for the upcoming DFG review in mid February.




Good Scientfic Writing
Workshop: Good Scientific Writing
Supervisor: Imme Sakwa-Waltz
Event Date: 20.05. – 22.05.2025, 10.03.2025, time tbd
room: tbd – the event will take place in presence and not online!
the principles of good scientific writing
• cultural differences in how academic papers are written
• how to structure research articles
• how to build effective paragraphs and sentences
• communicating voice and attitude in a text
• incorporating narrative into academic texts
• abstracts and introductions
• punctuation
• editing techniques
Participants should:
• bring a paper (including its abstract) which they have written (one by
another
author will also suffice)
Registration:
Academic Poster Design
Workshop: Academic Poster Design
Supervisor: Imme Sakwa-Waltz
Event Date: 28.02.2025, 10.03.2025, time tbd
room: tbd – the event will take place in presence and not online!
Academic posters are a useful communication method to present your PhD
project, engage people in fruitful discussions and gain new input for
your research.
You will learn how to use a grid and white space, choose colors, fonts
and font sizes etc. to produce an aesthetically pleasing and effective
poster.
Between the first and the second workshopday you will have time to work
on your individual poster. With the printed posters we will conduct a
mini poster session and train how to give a concise poster presentation.
During the workshop each participant will design his / her poster about
his / her own project. You need a PC with a software to create your
poster in (Powerpoint is fine), text and figures (diagrams, charts,
schematics, photos etc.) describing your project. Poster drafts are
welcome as well. On day 2 you need to bring your poster in print.
Registration:
Muhammad’s lab rotation
Our doctoral researcher Muhammad Abu Bakar has completed his lab rotation in the past few weeks.
In the research group of PD Dr. Mohamed Alaasar he had the opportunity to immerse himself in cutting-edge research on liquid crystals. He learned and applied various chemical techniques essential for creating liquid crystalline compounds and was introduced to theoretical concepts that helped him understand the structure-property relationships in liquid crystals and their wide range of applications.
Another highlight of his stay was learning polarized light microscopy (PLM). This technique was instrumental in observing and understanding the unique optical behaviors of liquid crystals. By examining birefringence and texture patterns under polarized light, he could identify different liquid crystalline phases and transitions.

Congratulation to Dr. Eliane Roos
Last Thursday, on November 28, our former doctoral researcher Eliane Roos defended her dissertation. The topic of her dissertation was “Atomistic Modeling of the Solubility of Cellulose in Ionic Liquids”.
Congratulations on your doctorate, Eliane! We wish you all the best for your future!

Sebastian Michler at the ETH ZĂĽrich
Our doctoral researcher Sebastian Michler is currently at the ETH ZĂĽrich as part of our mobility program. He is part of Prof. Jeschke’s working group there. Among other things, this group has a state-of-the-art Q-band pulse EPR spectrometer and is conducting intensive research into the development of new pulse EPR methods.




Career Talk with Dr. Lisa Lampp
A career talk with Dr. Lisa Lampp took place on 7 November. She works at Salutas Pharma GmbH and graduated at MLU. She shared her experiences in the natural sciences, talked about her career and path into business and gave our doctoral researchers, postdocs and interested students insights into her career.
We would like to thank her for coming and for her interesting presentation.


Take a look at two new publications
In the past few months there have been two new publications with the collaboration of our beam members:

with the collaboration of Alena Winter, Jun.-Prof. Dr. Frederik Haase and Prof. Dr. Kay Saalwächter

with the collaboration of Til Kundlacz and Prof. Dr. Carla Schmidt
Congratulation to Dr. Florian Lehmann on his doctorate
On October 24, our former doctoral researcher Florian Lehmann defended his dissertation on “Biophysical and Pharmaceutical Applications of CW EPR Spectroscopy under Ultraviolet and Visible Light Irradiation”.
Congratulations on your doctorate and we wish you all the best for your future!


Career talk with Prof. Dr. James Wilton-Ely
Our BEAM colloquium and career talk took place on 7 September. Our guest was Prof. Dr. James Wilton-Ely, Professor at the Chemistry Department at the Imperial College London who works at the Molecular Sciences Research Hub on the White City Campus. He shared his experiences in the natural sciences, talked about his career and path into business and gave our doctoral researchers, postdocs and interested students insights into his career.
We would like to thank him for coming and for his interesting presentation and are already looking forward to the next career talk.


Our third scientific mini story
Go watch our second scientific mini story with and about Virgina-Marie and Christian. As it is primarily intended to appeal to and reach school pupils and young people interested in STEM subjects, the video is in German.
“Equal Opportunities” Booklet
Over the past few months, we have been working on an “equality opportunities” booklet to inspire young girls and women to study in the STEM field. To this end, our female doctoral students, student talents and principal investigators have reported on their experiences, their careers, their highs and their lows.
Take a look at their contributions:
Career talk with Dr. Sebastian Finger
A career talk with Dr Sebastian Finger took place on 11 July. He works at UPM Biochemicals and graduated at MLU. He shared his experiences in the natural sciences, talked about his career and path into business and gave our doctoral researchers, postdocs and interested students insights into his career.
We would like to thank him for coming and for his interesting presentation and are already looking forward to the next career talk.


Marah at the ALTANA Summer School
Our doctoral student Marah Alqaisi took part in the ALTANA Institute Summer School 2024. The aim of the summer school is for academic partners, doctoral students and postdocs as well as representative researchers to exchange ideas on research topics and present ongoing projects. Marah held a poster session on the topic “Polyphilic Single-Chain Nanoparticles (SCNPs)”.

Our second scientific mini story
Go watch our second scientific mini story with and about Alena. As it is primarily intended to appeal to and reach school pupils and young people interested in STEM subjects, the video is in German.
BEAM retreat in Erfurt
Our annual retreat was taking place in Erfurt this year.
On Thursday morning was the start of our event, which we use for networking and exchange at BEAM. The focus of the retreat is on the Ph.D. students, who have to present their individual research projects in short talks followed by a Q&A session. On this day it was the turn of the first half of the doctoral students to give their inputs.







In addition, ideas for the next funding period of the RTG were collected during a short workshop. Questions were asked about suggestions for improvements to tools, research training, working atmosphere and knowledge transfer activities.


The day ended with a joint dinner.

The second half of the Ph.D. students presented their research projects on Friday.








The event ended in the early afternoon and the social program began. One part of the group visited Erfurt Cathedral, the other part went on a city tour. The retreat drew to a close at around 4 p.m. and everyone made their way home.


Thank you to everyone for the wonderful two days, the stimulating discussions and exciting input. We are already looking forward to the next event.
A scientific stay abroad – by Christian Anders
From 01 November 2023 to 29 February 2024, Christian Anders completed a research stay in China. He stayed in the working group of Prof. Dr. Feng Liu at the Shannxi International Research Center for Soft Matter, State Key Laboratory for Mechanical Behaviour of Materials at the Xi’an Jiaotong University.
The following is an excerpt from his report:
“During my stay, I had the opportunity to work on my own on two very important facilities.

First, an “Anton Paar SAXS-System for laboratory use” system at the Xi’an research laboratory to provide SAXS, WAXS, and GISAX measurements for different types of samples. Here the measurement system is very different from the one usually used in Halle because the whole sample system and measurement process is performed under high vacuum to prevent signal interferences by dust, moisture, and so on.
The second facility was the “Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility”, which I could
enter due to Prof. F. Liu and his workgroup, who organized and booked measurement times there for my samples. One big advantage of this facility is the high beam energy and beam quality that allow fast and precise sample processing.
In both facilities, different types of processed samples were used, which had to be prepared before. The two main types are capillaries and spin-coated silicon wafers, which I could prepare for my samples as well as external ones on my own. This provided me with some new sample-preparing techniques for LC materials and other soft matter samples including polymers.

Interestingly, this journey did not only helped me to gain scientific experience in LC analysis
but also gave me a great chance to expand my social competence and soft skills. I got in touch with many other young and talented Ph.D. students that provide possibilities for further collaborations. Also, it was interesting to get new information about the local political system as well as the structure of the schooling and education system in China in comparison to ours in Germany.
In conclusion, I can say that the trip helped me a lot to develop myself further in my scientific
career, my social skills, and in dealing with other people and cultures. I think this trip was a good basis, which also helped me to re-evaluate my perspective for a later academic career and to consolidate it in certain points.”
Take a look at two new publications
We have two new papers with acknowledgment of BEAM members, which appeared at the beginning of this year.

Congratulations to Annika Blum
Our student talent Annika Blum took part in the 23rd Joint meeting of Biophysical Chemists and Electrochemists(https://www.biophys-electrochem.cz/) in Prague. The event is an annual event continuing a long tradition where scientists from the fields of biophysics and electrochemistry meet.
Under the supervision of Maria Hörnke, Annika won one of the three prizes for her poster flashtalk. Congratulations for this great achievement!

Our first scientific mini story
Go watch our first scientific mini story with and about Til. As it is primarily intended to appeal to and reach school pupils and young people interested in STEM subjects, the video is in German.
1. BEAM symposium
BEAM held its first symposium at the beginning of September and it was a success in every way. Speakers from Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and the UK and gave presentations on, for example, function and ordering of liquid crystals, solvation of molecules, diffusive motion of complex molecules, mathematical description of symmetry, protein engineering & directed evolution, covalent organic frameworks, supramolecular self-assembly of polymers & complex materials and polyphillic protein-membrane interactions. All of these topics were connected through the intrinsic complexity of intermolecular interactions going beyond amphiphilicity
Talks were held by Thisbe Lindhorst (CAU Kiel), Sandro Keller (KFU Graz), Bettina Keller (FU Berlin), Carla Schmidt (JGU Mainz), Michael Vogel (TU Darmstadt), Oren A. Scherman (University of Cambridge), Beate Paulus (FU Berlin), Nina Morgner (Universität Frankfurt), Yoko Yamakoshi (ETH Zürich), Christian Schwieger (MLU Halle), Maria Hoernke (MLU Halle), [D1] Martin Weissenborn (MLU Halle), PD Dr. Annette Meister (MLU Halle) and PD Dr. Mohamed Alaasar (MLU Halle).





Our PhD students were of course also part of the event. They had the opportunity to present their research in a poster session combined with a short and concise introduction to their research in the form of flash talks of two minutes. We even had three contributed scientific talks by our students and some were chairs of scientific sessions, all part of a complete scientific training!
One great benefit of a meeting with eminent scientists and doctoral researchers  was that the guests were given the opportunity to talk and exchange ideas in between scientific sessions – and we allocated ample time for this in the meeting.





One of the highlights was a joint dinner followed by an after dinner talk on the topic molecules as astrophysical tools, held by Dr. Silvia Spezzano (MPI for extraterr. Physics, Garching) . After the presentation, the other guests were able to ask questions and interesting, lively, and insightful conversations ensued.



After three long days full of exciting topics, nice people and interesting conversations, our symposium came to an end. We would like to thank all participants and look forward to the next conferences planned in spring 2025. Wait for more to come!

Children’s university
Every year, the children’s university takes place with the aim of introducing children to the university. This year, BEAM (AG Hinderberger) participated for the first time.
Our student talents Annika Blum and Vanessa Jerschabek as well as our PhD students Sebastian Michler and Florian Lehmann took part.
Photos: Franziska Roth
Congratulations to Anna Luisa Upterworth
On Wednesday, July 12 2023, our Ph.D. student Anna Luisa Upterworth won the 3MT (three minute thesis) regional competition in Halle. In three minutes, she had to present her Ph.D. thesis topic “what is mixture?” with only one slide. Congratulations on the first place!

BEAM retreat
Our second BEAM retreat took place two weeks ago in Weimar. There, our PhD students presented their work to the other members of BEAM – the PIs, PhD students, student talents and advisory board members – from 11 to 12 May.
As part of our RTG, the Institute of Mathematics was also present. In their current newsletter they reported about the retreat.
You can find the article here:
https://www.mathematik.uni-halle.de/aktuelles/05-2023_-_beam-retreat/
A warm welcome to Lisa Krahnefeld
We welcome our new student assistant Lisa Krahnefeld, who will take care of the public relations work and social media of BEAM.
A warm welcome to Simona Bassoli and Jonas LĂĽhrs
We welcome our new PhD candidates Simona Bassoli and Jonas LĂĽhrs and are glad you are joining our team.
A warm welcome to Jun.- Prof. Frederik Haase with his BEAM project A6
We welcome Jun.- Prof. Frederik Haase with his project A6 to BEAM. We are looking forward to working and doing research together.
A warm welcome to our first RTG PhD candidates!
We are looking forward to fruitful discussions, rocket science and many publications. Have fun doing research.
A warm welcome to Our RTG Coordinators!
We welcome Dr. Imme Sakwa-Waltz as scientific and Nicole Haak as administrative coordinators of BEAM. We are looking forward to working together and are certain that their enthusiasm will be an asset for BEAM for the years to come!