2026 Horizons Lectures in Chemistry
Ghislaine Vantomme
Eindhoven University of Technology, the Netherlands
Biography
Ghislaine Vantomme studied chemistry at the Ecole Normale Supérieure (Paris-Saclay, France). She received her MSc degree from Sorbonne University (Paris) in 2010 and worked with Prof. Koji Nakanishi and Prof. Nina Berova at Columbia University (New York). In 2014 she defended a PhD under the supervision of Prof. Jean-Marie Lehn (University of Strasbourg). Switching to materials chemistry, she joined Eindhoven University of Technology as a postdoctoral fellow to work with Prof. E.W. ‘Bert’ Meijer. In 2019, she was appointed Assistant Professor at TU/e and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2025. Her research interests include the understanding of the fundamentals of supramolecular chemistry and their translation into adaptive materials.
The Chemistry of Supramolecular Materials and Systems: From Responsiveness to Adaptation
Lecture - Solvay Room on 17 March at 4:00 p.m.
Supramolecular chemistry provides powerful strategies to construct materials whose properties are more than the sum of their molecular parts, emerging from dynamic, non-covalent interactions. In this lecture, I will show how molecular design and ordered supramolecular structures can be used to translate molecular events into macroscopic function. Through selected examples from our work, I will highlight systems that display stimuli-responsiveness, self-repair, and history-dependent behavior. Moving beyond passive responsive materials, I will discuss recent efforts toward materials that can learn from their environment and adapt over time. I will also present our ongoing efforts to build self-driving laboratory platforms for coatings, integrating automation and data-driven optimization to accelerate the discovery of supramolecular materials. These advances open new directions toward functional molecular systems with applications in biointerfaces, (opto)electronics, and sustainable materials.
COFFEE AND TEA WILL BE SERVED AT 3:45 P.M
Other Lectures and visits
March 31st
ULuxemburg
April 2nd
KULeuven
April 3rd
UGent