Welcome to the BioSpectroElectrochemistry Group located at the Clausius Institute of Physical and Theoretical Chemistry at the University of Bonn. We are part of the Transdisciplinary Research Area “Building Blocks and Fundamental Interactions of Matter” (TRA Matter).
Research Focus
We aim to explore how nature performs complicated redox reactions constituting key processes in the environment and life, like biomass degradation and or cellular respiration. At the heart of such processes are often redox biocatalytic metalloproteins which present the main inspiration for our mechanistic investigations. In our research mission, we want to understand how we can harness and further engineer the unrivaled efficiency of such natural biological systems towards developing artificial biohybrid systems applicable, for instance, in bioelectronic devices.
Methodologically, we employ the combination of experimental techniques including advanced Raman spectroscopy, electrochemistry, and protein engineering. Specifically, surface-enhanced resonance Raman spectro-electrochemistry allows us to correlate the structural information of the molecule interfaced on electrodes with its redox functionality. Check out our Research to get to know more about our current projects.
Press release about our start at the University of Bonn:
Funding
News
10.12.2025 The preprint of our work on systematic disruption of Tyr/Trp pathways leading to a 25-fold increase of ROS formation in multicopper oxidase is now on ChemRxiv
30.09.2025 Our manuscript on identifying UVRR marker bands of base pair formation in DNA complexes is published in The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters.
17.09.2025 Michelle, Carla, Hendrik and Arif participated in the BIGS Chemistry Summer School, and Michelle received a Poster Prize.
25.07.2025 Aina submitted her Master Thesis, congrats! She will continue to develop UVRR and UV SERR for investigations of nucleic acids as a PhD student.
08.07.2025 Michelle gave a talk on ‘Redox tuning of heme protein active sites’ on GDCh event ‘Young Scientists Introduce Themselves’ at Uni Bonn.
16.06.2025 The preprint of our first work on the use of UV resonance Raman spectroscopy to study nucleic acids is available on ChemRxiv: ‘UV Resonance Raman Spectroscopic Marker Bands of Base Pair Formation During Nucleic Acids Assembly‘
21.05.2025 We participated in Sustainability Day at Uni Bonn. Arif togehter with Chemistry students tutored an experiment showcasing a concept of a fuel cell.
21.03.2025 Carla submitted her Master Thesis, congrats! She will continue to investigate radical chains in SLAC laccase as a PhD student.
19.03.2025 Michelle received a poster prize at a Bunsen Tagung 2025 in Leipzig. Congratulations!
17-19.03.25. We are attending the Bunsen Tagung in Leipzig. Michelle, Hendrik and Arif are presenting posters, and Patrycja is giving a talk.
07.03.25 Kilian submitted his Bachelor Thesis, congratulations!
04.01.25 Vinh submitted his Bachelor Thesis, congratulations!
12.12.24 We are very happy to receive the DFG Individual Grant for the proposal on SERR spectro-electrochemical investigations on O2-reducing small lacccase (SLAC).
22.09.24 Michelle attends the German Biophysical Society Meeting, presenting a poster and a flash poster presentation.
25.08.24 Michelle attends the 17th European Bioinorganic Chemistry Conference in Münster, presenting a poster.
23.08.24 Annika and Annelie submitted their Bachelor Thesis, congratulations!
25.05.24 Seung submitted her Master Thesis, congratulations!
12.05.24 Wonderful collaboration on iron-catalyzed decarboxylative oygenation of caboxylic acids, led by Prof. Bunescu (Organic Chemistry, Uni Bonn) has been published in Angewandte Chemie. https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.202403292
29.03.24 Dilaza submitted her Bachelor Thesis, congratulations!
25-27.03.24 Patrycja attended Bunsen Tagung in Aachen and gave a talk.
16.11.23 Our collaborative work with the group of Barbara Kirchner (Uni Bonn) has been published in the ACS Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters: https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpclett.3c02761.
30.10.23 Patrycja gave a ‘kick-off’ lecture at the GDCh Kolloquium at Uni Bonn
27.08.23 Patrycja attended International Conference on Advanced Vibrational Spectroscopy (ICAVS12) in Krakow, Poland, and gave an invited talk.
31.07.23 Michelle and Hendrik joined EBSA Congress on Biophysics in Stockholm and presented posters with their projects. Congratulations to Michelle, who received a Travel Grant from the German Biophysics Society!
21.06.23 Our first publication from the lab is now online: ‘Cyclic voltammetry, square wave voltammetry or electrochemical impedance spectroscopy? Interrogating electrochemical approaches for the determination of electron transfer rates of immobilized redox proteins’ BBA Advances https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbadva.2023.100095
05.05.2023 We received an INNOVATION Grant funded by TRA Matter to start the collaborative project with JProf. Dr. Ala Bunescu (Uni Bonn, Organic Chemistry) and Dr. Luke Wylie (Uni Bonn, Theoretical Chemistry). We search for an interested PhD student to commence the project.
25.11.22 DAAD PROCOPE project in collaboration with Dr. Alexandre Ciaccafava for 2023-2024 has been funded.
23.11.22 Patrycja visited HITS Institute in Heidelberg and gave an invited talk in the Group of Prof. Frauke Gräter. Thank you for the invitation and great discussions!
11.11.22 Aina submitted her Bachelor Thesis!
18.10.22 Patrycja gave an invited GDCh Colloquium talk at the University of Cologne.
03.10.22 The publication on ‘Does Tyrosine Protect S. Coelicolor Laccase from Oxidative Degradation or Act as an Extended Catalytic Site’ is published online in the ACS J. Phys. Chem. B https://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/acs.jpcb.2c04835
23.09.22 The funding for Confocal Raman Spectrometer equipped with 5 laser lines is granted by the DFG Major Research Instrumentation Grant
25-28.09.22 We (Michelle, Hendrik, Patrycja) are at the German Biophysical Society Meeting in Konstanz
16.09.22 Carla submitted her Bachelor Thesis!
07-09.09.22 We (Michelle, Hendrik, Patrycja) are at the German Physical Chemistry Society (Bunsen) Meeting in Giessen
15-22.07.22 Patrycja is at the European Bioinorganic Chemistry Conference in Grenoble, France
06.06.22 Patrycja visited the Chemistry Department and School of Biophysics at the University of St. Andrews
31.05.22 Patrycja gave a Welcome Lecture Talk at the TRA Matter Colloquium
01.10.21 The journey at the Uni Bonn begins!
BioSpectroElectrochemistry 