This is the first time Bridging Bonds will be held. What do you expect from this symposium?

‘I’m not quite sure yet, but what I do like is that it’s coupled with a thesis award [Van Arkel Prize, ed.]. I think it’s always excellent to recognize the PhD students, since they actually do most of the science and deserve the recognition. It’s also a cool idea that one of the final talks will be by the winner of the Van Arkel Prize.

Looking at the lineup, I believe there will be a nice chance to have some scientific discussion. It’s of course very new, so we’ll have to figure things out, you need to do it a couple of times to see what works. But that’s part of the excitement of doing something new. It’s very nice to see the Dutch science culture bridging different fields.’

What will you bring to the symposium?

‘I will deliver one of the talks, showing our work on macromolecular design of networks and polymers in general. We use them mainly for biomedical applications, but we’re also looking into the bioengineering and cellular agriculture side. Our purpose is designing and synthesizing polymers that are able to interact with living cells, and I will show mostly how we design these and how you can change their properties.’

What do you hope the symposium will bring to you?

‘We do a lot of work in our bioengineering institute MERLN and it is rare to discuss our research with chemists. These symposia are critical for opportunities to discuss our niche expertise at a high level with other scientists from different fields. Something like Bridging Bonds is where I get both the best criticism on ideas and new experiments to run and try.’