The Alma Mater hosts Mach-5: an international meeting on molecular machines will take place at the Rocca di Bertinoro

Molecular machines and motors of nanometric dimensions, from which extraordinary innovations in technology and medicine may arise. From 1 to 4 September, the University of Bologna will be home for this research field with revolutionary potential, with the international conference Mach-5 - Molecular Machinery: Making Measuring Modeling.

Hosted at the University Residential Center of Bertinoro, Mach-5 will bring together the greatest experts in this highly significant field of nanoscience for a discussion that will be primarily focused on younger researchers.

The event – itinerant and biennial – has reached its second edition and now arrives in Italy, promoted by Alberto Credi, professor of Chemistry and Vice-Rector for Research at the University of Bologna, and Rainer Herges, professor at the University of Kiel (Germany).

"Young researchers are at the center of the program of the Mach-5 conference: their contributions are at the forefront of this field of science, and define the horizon we are moving toward," Professor Alberto Credi explains. "It is now clear that molecular devices and machines could offer radically innovative solutions to significant problems in many areas of technology and medicine."

The opening will feature two Nobel Prize winners in Chemistry: Jean-Marie Lehn, who received the award in 1987, and Jean-Pierre Sauvage, who shared the 2016 Nobel Prize with Fraser Stoddart and Ben Feringa.

Precisely to Sauvage, Stoddart and Feringa – who were the stars of a major event on molecular machines in the Aula Magna of the University of Bologna in 2018 – is entitled the SSF Prize (Sauvage-Stoddart-Feringa Prize). This is a double award: a Senior version dedicated to established scholars and a Junior version for young researchers who are standing out in the field of molecular machines.

The 2024 SSF Senior Prize will be awarded to Nathalie Katsonis, professor of Chemistry at the University of Groningen (Netherlands), where she leads a research group on Active Molecular Systems and Materials. The 2024 SSF Junior Prize will go to Yunyan Qiu, professor at the National University of Singapore, where he coordinates the Dynamic Materials Laboratory.