Uppsala chemist appointed as distinguished professor
Sebastian Westenhoff is to receive funding for his project “Resolving chemical and biochemical reactions with atomic resolution”. Photo: Mikael Wallerstedt
Professor of Biochemistry Sebastian Westenhoff has been awarded a Distinguished professor grant by the Swedish Research Council, totaling SEK 31 million for the years 2025–2032. “Receiving the prestigious professorship was very unexpected and surprising. It is an important recognition of my group's work over the years,” says Sebastian Westenhoff.
Out of 83 applications for the Distinguished professor grant within natural and engineering sciences 2024, 4 researchers have been awarded funding. The Swedish Research Council's grants totaling almost SEK 123 million for 8 years will go to 4 different universities, including Uppsala University.
Sebastian Westenhoff is to receive funding for his project “Resolving chemical and biochemical reactions with atomic resolution”. In the project, he will ‘film’ chemical reactions in proteins and small molecules when electrons are transferred.
“Using very new methods based on ultrashort bursts of X-ray I wish to map out how chemical and protein structures react to charge transfer. This will generate fundamental knowledge on electron transfer reactions, which has relevance for understanding of photosynthesis and for the next generations of solar light conversion devices.”
Instrumental in bridging research gaps
The project grant will be used to build and sustain a research group in at the crossroads of physical chemistry and biochemistry. The funding will be instrumental in bridging the gap between the two fields, according to Sebastian Westenhoff.
“A century ago, protein biochemistry emerged from the field of physical chemistry, influenced in part by groundbreaking contributions from Uppsala University. Now that we start to be able to measure with atomic precision and on the shortest time scales how chemical reactions proceed in proteins, it is highly relevant to bring these two research areas closer together again.”
Receiving the grant will be a driving force for the multidisciplinary research group he leads.
“I feel that the grant will be an extra motivation to become even better in what we do, as to generate as much relevant knowledge as possible from the project.“
Anneli Björkman
The Swedish Research Council´s Distinguished Professor Grant
The purpose of the Council Professorship Programme is to create the conditions for the most outstanding researchers to conduct long-term, innovative research with great potential to achieve scientific breakthroughs. The grant will also enable the establishment and development of a larger research environment of the highest quality around a leading researcher. The grant period is 8 years.