CAS Announces the 2014 SciFinder® Future Leaders in Chemistry

COLUMBUS, Ohio, July 30, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS), the world's authority for chemical information, announced today the 2014 SciFinder Future Leaders in Chemistry program participants. The 18 participants, a diverse group of international scientists, have the exclusive opportunity this August to share their research experience and knowledge and to take part in one of the most respected scientific meetings in the world.

Well known for the scientific and cultural diversity of its employees, CAS provides an opportunity for the participants to interact within a microcosm of the global scientific community. During their visit, participants get a behind-the-scenes look at how the CAS databases are built and maintained, discuss challenges in scientific information, and tour centers of innovation and technology in Columbus, Ohio. This year's participants will also attend the 248^th ACS National Meeting & Exposition in San Francisco, a platform for scientific professionals to "present, publish, discuss and exhibit the most exciting research discoveries and technologies in chemistry and its related disciplines."

Celebrating its fifth year, the SciFinder Future Leaders in Chemistry program is a unique opportunity for young scientists to share their insights with those directly responsible for SciFinder, a tool that researchers around the world rely on daily. Through user research sessions, demonstrations with content experts and networking events, past participants have identified and developed ideas for interface and content enhancements available in SciFinder today. "It's so great to see how a tool you use every day works and to feel that you've really shaped the future of it," said Neal Fazakerley, a 2013 participant and current research scientist at AstraZeneca.

"In covering chemistry in the broadest sense, it's critical that we engage researchers from all aspects of the science," said Christine McCue, vice president of marketing at CAS. "Many of our alumni continue to offer insights long after the program has ended. Their willingness to share innovative ideas and honest opinions has been invaluable in helping us understand evolving market dynamics and the needs across many disciplines."

With four years completed and a fifth year in the works, the SciFinder Future Leaders in Chemistry program has become one of the most prestigious programs of its kind, building an impressive list of alumni from around the world. Many participants go on to present their research at major scientific conferences, publish in high-impact journals and collaborate with leaders in their field of study. "We've made lasting friendships with our participants and are excited to watch as their careers continue to develop and flourish over time," said McCue. "We look forward to celebrating graduations, research publications, promotions and other career achievements with this year's class and our alumni for many years to come."

The 2014 SciFinder Future Leaders in Chemistry and their research:

• Sambasiva Reddy Bheemireddy, Southern Illinois University Carbondale, United States
  Design and synthesis of small molecule and polymeric materials based on cyclopenta-fused polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons
• Nadine Borduas, University of Toronto, Canada
  Characterizing the fate of organo-N compounds in the atmosphere using mass spectrometry and ion chromatography
• Natalja Frueh, ETH Zurich, Switzerland
  Development and application of hypervalent iodine reagents for trifluoromethylation
• Cristiano Funari, Sao Paulo State University, Brazil
  Green chemistry applied to natural products
• Fernando Gomollon Bel, Instituto de Sintesis Quimica y Catalisis Homogenea (CSIC-UZ), Spain
  Asymmetric organic synthesis using sugars as chiral-pool starting materials for the production of fungical transglycosidase inhibitors
• Martin Hoffmann, TU Braunschweig, Germany
  Bioinorganic chemistry focusing on non-natural cofactors for heme proteins
• Xu Hou, Harvard University, United States
  Microfluidics, slippery surfaces and bio-inspired materials
• Hiroshi Inaba, Kyoto University, Japan
  Fabrication of novel bio-nanomaterials by integration of natural and synthetic molecules
• Claire Jarvis, Rutgers, United States
  Development of new reactions via asymmetric organocatalysis and C-H functionalization
• Sanghyun Je, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, South Korea
  Development of new types of porous polymers for CCS technology (CO₂ capture & storage) and molecule/polymer electrodes for lithium-ion batteries
• Elisangela Moura Linares, Technical University of Munich, Germany
  Development of advanced nanomaterials for application in medicine, biochemistry and analytical chemistry
• David Liptrot, University of Bath, United Kingdom
  Cross-metathesis reactivity at group 2 with a particular focus on dehydrocoupling, smart inorganic polymers and the introduction of single electron transfer steps to s-block catalysis
• Huimin Liu, Kansai University, Japan
  Synthesis of micro/nano scale catalysts used for C₁ chemistry and development of highly effective adsorbents for the removal of heavy metals
• Maria Matveenko, University of Vienna, Austria
  Combining organic chemistry, peptide and protein synthesis to study the effects of non-enzymatic protein modifications implicated in aging and disease
• Ben Naman, The Ohio State University, United States
  Investigation of the chemical constituents, or natural products, from various plants along with their potential to act as drug discovery lead molecules or treatments for cancer or a parasitic infectious disease, leishmaniasis
• Philip Rodenbough, Columbia University, United States
  Thermochemical cycles of nanoscale metal-oxides for solar-driven fuel production
• Sohini Sarkar, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, India
  Carrier dynamics in semiconductor nanoparticles and dynamics in biomolecules
• Xiaopeng Zou, Jiangnan University, China
  Synthesis of complex oligosaccharides and glycoconjugates for carbohydrate-based vaccine development

About CAS 
Chemical Abstracts Service (www.cas.org), a division of the American Chemical Society, is the world's authority for chemical information. CAS is the only organization in the world whose objective is to find, collect and organize all publicly disclosed chemical substance information. A team of scientists worldwide curates and controls the quality of the databases, which are recognized as the most comprehensive and authoritative by organizations around the world. By combining these databases with advanced search and analysis technologies (SciFinder^® and STN^®), CAS delivers the most current, complete, secure and interlinked digital information environment for scientific discovery. 

SOURCE Chemical Abstracts Service