The group member Xihui Bian attended the annual Dutch chemistry conference: Chemistry As Innovating Science (CHAINS 2019) on December 10-11, 2019.

There are 5 plenary lectures, 8 keynote speakers, more than 100 oral presentations and 460 posters in 4 fields including Chemistry of Life, Chemistry of Materials, Chemical Conversion, Fundamentals and Methods of Chemistry.

Frances Arnold, the Linus Pauling Professor of Chemical Engineering, Bioengineering and Biochemistry at the California Institute of Technology, awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2018, gave a plenary lecture titled “Innovation by Evolution: Bringing New Chemistry to Life”.

Lee Cronin, the Regius Chair of Chemistry in the School of Chemistry at the University of Glasgow, UK, gave a plenary lecture titled “Discovering the Origin of Life and Aliens using Complex Molecules”.

Craig J. Hawker, professor in chemistry and facilities director of the Materials Research Lab at the University of California Santa Barbara, gave a plenary lecture titled “The Power of Organic Chemistry in Functional Polymer Synthesis’.

Ilja Voets, heads the Laboratory of Self-organizing Soft Matter at the Department of Chemical Engineering and Chemistry and the Institute for Complex Molecular Systems at Eindhoven University of Technology, gave a plenary lecture titled “Soft Matter in focus”.

Marcel Wubbolts, Chief Technology Officer at Corbion, gave a plenary lecture titled “ Lactic Acid''''s versatility, not far off from Duct Tape”.

Ali Alavi from University of Cambridge (England), Alexander B?ker from University of Potsdam (Germany), Ineke Braakman from Utrecht University (Netherlands), Marjolein Dijkstra from Utrecht University (Netherlands), Sophia Haussener from Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL, Switzerland), Marc Koper from Leiden University (Netherlands), Robert Tampé from Goethe University Frankfurt (Germany), Helma Wennemers from ETH Zürich (Switzerland), all gave keynote speakers, respectively.

Seven poster prize winners selected by a jury, and one selected by the audience won a prize worth 250 euros spronsored by @ACS Publications, on behalf of three of its publications: @ACS_Sensors, @ACSCentSci and @ACS_Omega. The poster prize winners are Dania Martinez Alarcon- Utrecht University, Gabriele Conti - University of Basel, Rianne van Outersterp – Radboud University, Sjors Bakels – Radboud University, Riccardo Wehr - University of Basel, Alyssa van den Boom – Wageningen University, Eric Schuler – University of Amsterdam, Tiemei Lu - Radboud University.

The conference also provide special child-care, all the children looked after well and their parents can attend the conference wholeheartedly. More information can be found on the website https://www.nwochains.nl/.