Today, Jeppe successfully defended his part A report marking the halfway point of his PhD. Thanks to Luca Laraia (DTU) for helping with evaluating the report. After the defense, there was no time for celebration, as Jeppe had to catch a train to Roskilde Festival, the biggest festival in Denmark. Huge congratulations to Jeppe! We hope he will enjoy the next days of his well-deserved time off and we look forward to working with him for the second part of his PhD.

An enormous congratulations to Søren, who last week was presented with the award for the best PhD dissertation within organic chemistry by the Danish Chemical Society. Søren gave a talk on his work focusing on the total synthesis of lasalocid acid at the Society’s annual meeting in Odense.

Yesterday, we had another Master’s defence; this time it was Daniel’s. As expected he did well and obtained his degree with flying colors. Thanks to Christian Adam Olsen (KU) for participating in the defence and for his questions. To Daniel: Good luck in the future, we will miss you!

Last Friday, Sharujan and Jonas both defended their Master’s theses with great success. We celebrated with “smørrebrød”, samosas, snacks and drinks. A special thank you to Luca Laraia (DTU) for helping evaluate their work. We wish both Jonas and Sharu the best in the next step of their career.

Yesterday, tropical beach vibes were flowing as the group joined the traditional organic chemistry canoe trip. Or well… The sun only came out towards the end of the trip, but we kept our spirits high and had a wonderful time the entire day. We are already looking forward to next year!

This week, the entire group went out to a nice dinner in Aarhus followed by a few rounds of darts. It quickly became clear that there are no Luke Littlers in the group, but we had a lot of fun regardless.

Yesterday, we had the pleasure of seeing Anders defend his PhD with overwhelming success. Thanks to Matthias Gehringer (Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen) and Luca Laraia (DTU) for the great discussion. Following the defense we enjoyed great fish tapas and sparkling wine. We are delighted that Anders is staying in the Chemical Biology Lab as a postdoc.

Today, Olivia successfully defended her Master’s thesis. Once again a huge thanks to Luca Laraia (DTU) for taking time to read and discuss Olivia’s work. The defense was followed by a celebration with plenty of wonderful cake. The group wishes Olivia all the best in the future!

Huge congratulations to Søren, who defended his PhD thesis yesterday with great success! A special thanks to Darren Dixon (University of Oxford) and Søren Kramer (DTU) for assessing and discussing his work. The impressive defense was followed by wonderful food and drinks. We are happy to share that Søren will stay in our group continuing his great work as a postdoc.

We are happy to share, that Ahmad and Frederik both obtained obtained new titles after their successful Master’s defences yesterday. A special thanks to Jesper Kristensen (University of Copenhagen) for reading both theses and engaging in interesting discussion. The entire group wishes Ahmad and Frederik all the best in their future lives.

Today, Michal defended his Master’s thesis with flying colours. A great thanks to Luca Laraia (Technical University of Denmark) for reading Michal’s thesis and providing valuable input. We are delighted to announce that Michal will be staying in the group as a Research Assistant continuing his work from the last year.

Friday, the TBP group joined the annual canoe trip for the organic groups at the department. It was a great day of socializing with the other groups on the water, and where the Danish nature showed its best sides, albeit with a small amount of rain this year. But of course we soldiered on with big smiles on our faces.

This Friday, we said goodbye to three valued members of the lab; Michelle, Esben and Florian, as they arranged a farewell party. Their contributions to the lab, both scientific and social, will be remembered for a long time to come and they will be sorely missed. We wish them all the best in their future lives and careers.

Yesterday, the group went out to play minigolf and have dinner together. After a hard fought battle, the shared winners of the minigolf tournament were Sarah and Frederik, both with an amazing score of 9 under par.

This weekend a large part of the group attended the annual TOKS meeting, this time held at the Technical University of Denmark. Søren gave an exciting talk and the group had brought several posters. It was a great weekend with interesting talks and good opportunity for networking with other young organic chemists from the Danish universities.

The yearly tradition of running the DHL relay race continued in 2024 with Søren, Thomas, Anna, Michelle and Gustav representing the group. Well done to all five, who finished the race in a very respectable time of 2 hours and 8 minutes!

Today we celebrated another two successful Master's defenses in the group. This time it was Mette and Nanna, who did a wonderful job. Thanks to Christian Adam Olsen (University of Copenhagen) for reading their theses and providing input. Unfortunately, he had to catch a train before a picture could be taken and we have therefore had to be a bit creative. All the best to Nanna and Mette!

Yesterday, Thomas successfully defended his part A report. This also means that he formally has obtained his master's degree. Congratulations to Thomas on the well-executed defense and his new title. Thank you to Robert Madsen (DTU) for a nice discussion of the report and good suggestions for future work.

Yesterday, Anna and Jesper both defended their master's theses obtaining their degrees with flying colors. Thanks to Jesper Kristensen (University of Copenhagen) for good discussions about their work. We wish Jesper and Anna all the best in the future.

This Friday, Michelle defended her PhD thesis on (among other projects) the biosynthesis of polyether ionophore, lysocellin. Thank you to Andrew Truman (John Innes Centre) and Mads Clausen (DTU) for reading and assessing the thesis. Michelle's new title was celebrated with a great party. Michelle will continue her work in the group as a postdoc for the next year.

Yesterday, the group went on the annual canoe trip with the other organic chemistry groups of the department. The paddling arms were once again strong under the blazing sun.

Yesterday, Florian defended his PhD-thesis on the iterative construction of adjacent cyclic ethers. Thank you to Mariola Tortosa (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid) and Luca Laraia (DTU) for assessing his thesis and attending the defense as opponents. After the defense, Florian’s new title was celebrated with sparkling wine from his home region and a selection of cakes. As per German tradition, his family had made him a graduation hat. Florian will continue his work in the group as a postdoc for the rest of 2024.

This weekend the group participated in the Torkil Holm Symposium held in Copenhagen. It was two days filled with socializing and very interesting talks.

Last week, Ingrid defended her Master’s thesis. Huge congratulations to Ingrid! Thanks goes to Christian Adam Olsen (University of Copenhagen) for reading the thesis and giving his input on the project. The defence was followed by a reception with plenty of cake and snacks. We wish Ingrid all the best in the future!

Last Friday Magnus defended his master's thesis with great success and it was a joy to witness. Congratulations to Magnus and we wish him all the best in his future endeavors.

Last week the Chemical Biology Lab ran the annual DHL Relay Race. With the help from a few runners from Thomas Tørring’s lab, two teams could be assembled this year.

Huge congratulations to Gustav, who today received the award for the best PhD dissertation in Organic Chemistry this year from the Danish Chemical Society.

Within the past week, both Anders and Søren have successfully defended their part A exams. These exams served as their formal master’s defenses and we therefore congratulate them on their new titles. Thanks to Christian Adam Olsen (University of Copenhagen) and Søren Kramer (Technical University of Denmark) for reading the reports and inspiring Anders and Søren with their inputs.

A huge congratulations to Sofie, who yesterday defended her master’s thesis on the OxSTEF probes very successfully. The work was recently published in Bioconjugate Chemistry. We wish Sofie the best of luck in the future.

This Friday the group went on the yearly canoe trip with the other organic chemistry groups at Aarhus University. The weather could not have been better for a nice trip though the beautiful nature in the Ry area.