Great to welcome Constanze Neumann @neumannlab.bsky.social from the MPI KoFo to our Colloq! A great talk on catalysis at the interface of homogeneous and heterogeneous systems, with Bernhard Breit, @werzlab.bsky.social, @pappasgroup.bsky.social & @jessenlab.bsky.social

A big thank you to Shoubhik Das (University of Bayreuth) for visiting us and giving a phenomenal talk in our colloquium. The evening ended in the best possible way with a great dinner at Freiburgs Münsterplatz together with @werzlab.bsky.social Daniel Werz and @pappasgroup.bsky.social Babis Papas.

Fantastic OC colloq with @michaljuricek.bsky.social from UZH! “Dominos in Reverse” was a brilliant story – fantastic science, beautifully clear slides, and a lively discussion afterwards. Rounded off by a lovely dinner with Ingo Krossing, @werzlab.bsky.social and @jessenlab.bsky.social.

Fantastic OC Institute Colloquium with @cathleenzeymer.bsky.social Cathleen Zeymer from TU Munich on engineering enzymes with photocatalytic activity. Great science, many questions, and a perfect Freiburg dinner finale with Claudia Jessen-Trefzer and @chemepi.bsky.social Manfred Jung.

Very happy to share the 1st research paper from our lab! We used high-throughput experimentation, quantum chemistry, AI, and ChatGPT-assisted coding to identify improved boronic acid catalysts for sustainable amidations. Thanks Hanna for your hard work! doi.org/10.26434/che...

First time at the CDT2026 in Duisburg-Essen - what a great experience! I had the chance to present our work on boronic acid–catalyzed amidations, enjoyed inspiring discussions, and met lots of colleagues. To top it off, I’m very grateful to the @gdch.de ADUC board for this wonderful surprise!

Great to have Florian Mulks @ffmulks.bsky.social from RWTH Aachen @rwth.bsky.social at our colloquium yesterday! His talk on dicarbocations was truly positive 😁. Thanks for the inspiring science and the lovely dinner afterwards! @werzlab.bsky.social

Today we had an exciting institute colloquium with John Molloy @molloylab.bsky.social from the @maxplanck.de of Colloids and Interfaces (Potsdam)! He gave a fascinating talk on the chemistry of organoboron compounds! @jessenlab.bsky.social @werzlab.bsky.social @pappasgroup.bsky.social

Last Friday we celebrated our annual Schnitzer Lab Christmas party 🎄 From a group leader’s perspective, going to bed at 2:15 a.m. after such a wonderful evening is a clear reminder of why this work matters. I am incredibly proud of this team and grateful to work with such outstanding people.

This week, Alicia Casitas @aliciacasitas.bsky.social from the University of Marburg visited our institute colloquium and shared her passion for cobalt and iron catalysis. Thank you very much for the inspiring talk and your visit! @jessenlab.bsky.social @werzlab.bsky.social @pappasgroup.bsky.social

🧪 Nachhaltige Chemie durch KI! 🥳 Wir gratulieren Dr. Tobias Schnitzer, Alumnus unseres 𝘌𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘮𝘮𝘴 𝘧ü𝘳 𝘗𝘰𝘴𝘵𝘥𝘰𝘤𝘴 zu einer Förderung von 1,5 Mio. Euro von der Vector Stiftung. ➡️ Mehr lesen: https://uni-freiburg.de/nachhaltige-chemie-mithilfe-von-kuenstlicher-intelligenz/

Congratulations to our Early Career International Advisory Board member Tobias Schnitzer @schnitzerlab.bsky.social @uni-freiburg.de, who has been awarded €1.5 million from the Vector Foundation to develop AI-driven sustainable amidation reactions! 🌿🤖 #GreenChemistry #AI #Catalysis

Ein Team um Dr. Tobias Schnitzer vom Institut für Organische Chemie nutzt #KI, um nachhaltige Amidierungsreaktionen zu entwickeln, die energieeffizient sind und Ressourcen einsparen. Gefördert wird das Projekt von der Vector Stiftung. @schnitzerlab.bsky.social ufr.link/nachhaltige-chemie

I’m incredibly happy and grateful that our group has been awarded €1.5 million from the Vector Foundation. With this support, we will use artificial intelligence to rethink how amide bonds are made in a sustainable fashion.

We are hiring! If you are looking for a postdoc position and you are interested in signaling lipids and proteomics, come join us in beautiful Switzerland! More information on www.epfl.ch/labs/gr-schu...

Open positions

GR-SCHUHMACHER

epfl.ch

We have multiple PhD and Postdoc positions open in my new group at Masaryk University. Are you an excellent and motivated candidate interested in organic and peptide synthesis and chemical biology? Get in touch! Start in January 2026. www.fialalab.com Appreciate sharing!

Beate Koksch @kokschgroup.bsky.social from @freieuniversitaet.bsky.social visited us yesterday for the institute colloquium @uni-freiburg.de and delivered a brilliant talk on fluorinated peptides. Great day with @pappasgroup.bsky.social @werzlab.bsky.social Laura Hartmann & Claudia Jessen-Trefzer

Took us only a month to finally celebrate Johannes rejoining the team as PhD student #5 🎉 of course we honored the occasion at his favorite Freiburg location 😅😤🥳

Wonderful institute colloquium yesterday with Christina Thiele from TU Darmstadt sharing elegant mechanistic insights into peptide-catalyzed acylation via NMR spectroscopy. A fantastic talk followed by a lovely dinner with Daniel Werz, Reinhard Brückner & Ingo Krossing!

🎉 Big day for our group: our first publication is out! Tom did a fantastic job highlighting current trends & opportunities in peptide catalysis — now published in Chem Catalysis (open access). Huge congrats, Tom! www.cell.com/chem-catalys...

Peptide catalysis: Trends and opportunities

Peptides are highly selective organocatalysts, with intrinsic modularity allowing precise control over structure and function. Advances in peptide synthesis, biotechnology, and cheminformatics will en...

cell.com