Takafumi Kitazawa received the 1997 Young Chemist Award (Japan Society of Coordination Chemistry) for his work on “Silica-Mimetic Polymorphism of the Cd(CN)2 Host Lattice Depending on the Guest G in Cd(CN)2·xG Clathrates”. In 1996, Kitazawa, along with his co-workers, published the first Hofmann-like spin crossover (SCO) coordination polymer {Fe(py)2[Ni(CN)4]}n (py = pyridine). Kitazawa has also served as Editorial Board Member of the Journal of Nuclear and Radiochemical Sciences in 1999–2002 and as a Project Leader of the JSPS-PAN (Poland) Research Project “High Pressure Synthesis for Mineralomimetic Metal Coordination Compounds” in 2000 and 2001. Kitazawa is also recipient of the JSPS-CISC (Spain) Fellowship, CSIC en Arag´on, Zaragoza University. Kitazawa has published over 100 scientific papers. His current research interests include spin crossover materials related to Hofmann-like coordination polymers, and highly organized and selfassembled materials with cadmium cyanide and polycyanopolycadmate systems. His research interests also encompass radiochemistry and nuclear chemistry, including Mössbauer spectroscopy and actinide coordination chemistry

Dr. Daniel Maspoch is an ICREA Research Professor and Leader of the Supramolecular NanoChemistry & Materials Group at ICN2. He is a chemist who has always maintained a rewarding balance between fundamental and applied research, with pioneering developments in the field of porous metal-organic frameworks and delivery systems. He is author of over 200 manuscripts. In 2021 and 2022, he got the prestigious ERC Advanced Grant and a second ERC Proof-of-Concept Grant, respectively. In 2021 and 2022, he got the prestigious ERC Advanced Grant and a second ERC Proof-of-Concept Grant, respectively. In addition, he was awarded an ERC Consolidator Grant in 2014, and his first ERC Proof-of-Concept Grant in 2019.
Recently, in 2023 he has received the prestigious Rei Jaume I Award 2023 in New Technologies. In 2022, he was appointed new Corresponding Academician of the Physical and Chemical Sciences Section, in the specialty of Materials Science by the Royal Spanish Academy of Science (RAC). In 2020, he was rewarded with the Research Excellence Award from the Spanish Royal Society of Chemistry, and in 2015 he was awarded the Premio Marcial Moreno Mañas Lectureship.
From the technology transfer side, several technologies and materials developed by his group have been transferred –through licensing patents or signing technology transfer contracts– to various companies. More specifically, Daniel has signed more than 23 research contracts with private companies and has filed 12 patents, from which 4 have been licensed. Moreover, he has been able to signed 4 technology transfer contracts. Interestingly, these technologies have given rise to families of products that are now on the market, as for example LuctaCaps® and Fungipol@CP. He is also co-founder of the spin-off company Ahead Therapeutics.

Harshita Kumari obtained her PhD in supramolecular chemistry from the University of Missouri in 2011, under the mentorship of Prof. Jerry L. Atwood. Following this, she pursued a postdoctoral fellowship focusing on computational chemistry of supramolecular complexes with Prof. Carol Deakyne and Prof. Jerry L. Atwood. In 2014, she joined the James L. Winkle College of Pharmacy at the University of Cincinnati as an Assistant Professor. Her exceptional contributions to research led to her tenure and promotion to Associate Professor in 2020. In 2023, she was selected for Americal Leadership Fellows Program by AACP and served as a special consultant to Vice Provost of Graduate Education. In 2023, she was also sent out by the Office of Provost for the High Potential Leadership Program at Harvard Business School. In 2024, she was honored with the Faculty Excellence Award in Research from the Office of Provost and Office of Research at the University of Cincinnati. Over the past decade, her research has centered on developing innovative methods for constructing nanometric delivery vehicles, utilizing principles of self-assembly and molecular recognition. Her current research endeavors involve integrating modern biophysics principles into material and soft matter to establish structure-function correlations. This work has significant implications for applications in 3D printing, imaging, sensing, and catalysis. Her expertise extends to surfactant chemistry, polymers, and formulation science. She has contributed to numerous book chapters, patents and peer-reviewed journal articles, highlighting her impactful research contributions. Her primary areas of expertise lie in neutron scattering, reflectometry, spectroscopy, and in-situ methodologies (HP-SANS, Rheo-SANS).

Kathi Edkins completed her PhD at the University of Innsbruck, Austria, in pharmaceutical solid state under the supervision of Prof. Ulrich J. Griesser. She then joined the group of Prof. Jon Steed at the University of Durham as a postdoctoral research associate co-supervised by Prof. Judith A. K. Howard FRS, followed by a short impact acceleration fellowship. After working in the group of Prof. Todd B. Marder at the University of Wuerzburg, Germany, as a senior research officer, she returned to the UK to take up a lecturship in pharmaceutics at Durham University in 2014. She was appointed Senior Lecturer at Queen’s University Belfast in 2017, Reader at the University of Manchester in 2020, and Professor in Molecular Pharmaceutics at the University of Strathclyde in 2023.
Kathi’s research interests are in molecular interactions and dynamics in pharmaceutical materials, connecting the structure of solutions and amorphous phases with crystallisation outcome, and tailoring diffusion of drug molecules in supramolecular gels for drug delivery. She has been awarded the BTM Willis Prize in neutron scattering in 2016 and holds an ERC Consolidator Grant.

 

Following the completion of her PhD, dedicated to the pioneering synthesis of highly robust azolate-based metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), Professor Colombo's research pursuits shifted towards the detailed structural characterization of these materials. Her particular focus lies in understanding their crystal structure and reactivity, achieved through a comprehensive approach that juxtaposes in situ (and operando) X-ray diffraction techniques with spectroscopic methods and theoretical calculations, in collaboration with several international research groups.
Since 2019, Professor Colombo coordinates the research activities of the Functional Porous Materials Group within the Department of Chemistry at the Università degli Studi di Milano. This team comprises 1 Researcher (RTD-A), 4 PhD students, 2 post-doctoral researchers, and 1 master's thesis student (as of Feb. 2024). In her role, she has significantly contributed to the rationalization of advanced materials' functional properties, elucidating phase transitions, framework flexibility, sorption-desorption processes, and identifying primary adsorption sites while unveiling host-guest interactions. With research funding raised for ~ 700.000 € in the last 5 years, she has more recently focused her group's efforts on cutting edge applications like direct carbon capture from air and the sequestration of emerging pollutants from water.
She authored and co-authored 47 articles in internationally recognized journals, including Science, Nature Materials, JACS, Chemical Science, Advanced Materials and Angewandte Chemie. These contributions have garnered over 2500 citations throughout her 15-year career. Beyond her research output, she has supervised 17 Bachelor’s or Master’s Theses and mentored 5 Ph.D. students.
Driven by her passion for solid-state chemistry, crystallochemistry, and structure solution methods, Professor Colombo also leads the commissioning and development of research programs aimed at understanding polymorphism and crystal forms in the pharmaceutical industry. Her expertise has led to collaborations with SMEs in the Lombardy and Piedmont regions, resulting in contracts valued at over 50.000 euros annually.
Professor Colombo is member of the International Scientific Committee of the EuroMOF congress series and promoter and co-director of the MOFschool (International School on Porous Materials), an internationally recognized event held biennially on Lake Como, which serves as a premier platform for the global MOF community to exchange knowledge and foster collaborations.
Outside of her academic and professional endeavors, Professor Colombo loves spending time in her garden, observing nature growing. She is also a proud mother to Anna (10 y.o.), Marta (8 y.o.), and Pietro (1 y.o.).