FROMM Katharina, Universität Freiburg, Switzerland
Direct and indirect contributions of amino acids to metal ion binding
Biography:
Katharina M. Fromm was born in Germany and grew up in France, Germany and the USA. She studied chemistry at the University of Karlsruhe and at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes des Industries Chimiques (now ECPM) in Strasbourg, France. She received her PhD for work on organometallic compounds at the University of Karlsruhe, where – after her Habilitation at the University of Geneva in 2002 – she established a research group. Soon after, she accepted an SNSF (Swiss National Science Foundation) research professorship at the University of Basel. In October 2006, she commenced work as a full professor (Chair of Inorganic Chemistry) at the University of Fribourg.
The work of her research group is centred on the bioinorganic chemistry of silver, silver compounds and nanoparticles, for example on their antimicrobial effect. A further research area is that of new compounds and nanomaterials for batteries. In the NCCR (National Centre of Competence in Research) « Bioinspired Materials », the group is investigating polymers with new mechanophores.