Geckos are an interesting species. They climb walls and ceilings and do not seem to have any problems with it. But how can that be? PhD Mette Heidemann Rasmussen, Associate Professor Tobias Weidner and their colleagues might have come a bit closer to an answer with their new article in Biology Letters.

H.C. Ørsted Selskabet has granted this year's research award of DKK 50,000 to Professor Dorthe Ravnsbæk from the Department of Chemistry (iNANO member) for her work on developing new sustainable materials for rechargeable batteries. Congratulations to Dorthe!

The development of new types of drugs based on DNA and RNA is happening at a rapid pace. The mRNA vaccines against COVID-19 are just one of many examples of DNA-based drugs on the market. Many are on the way, but the production of the necessary DNA is costly.

A research group at Aarhus University has now found an effective and inexpensive method for producing stable DNA sequences attached to chemical groups that e.g., ensures that the drugs are directed into the right cells.

Professor Niels Christian Nielsen and Associate Professor Tobias Weidner have each received 10,000,000 DKK from the Novo Nordisk Foundation.

The world's oceans are filling with plastic, and the global community cannot keep up with production and break down the large amount of plastic produced every year. We must find a solution, says Professor Daniel Otzen (iNANO). With DKK 57 million from the Novo Nordisk Foundation’s Challenge Programme, he can now open a centre for plastic research at Aarhus University.

Cloud formation and what actually happens inside clouds is one of the great mysteries in climate research. The solution to the mystery can be extremely important for climate research, and now a new basic research centre at Aarhus University will find answers by looking closely at clouds. The new centre is headed by Professor Merete Bilde (Dept. of Chemistry) who are iNANO associated.

On 27 January 2022, the position of center director at iNANO was advertised and could be applied for until 9 March. Acting center director Thomas Vosegaard applied for the position and is appointed new center director as of 1 June, 2022. Congratulations to center director Thomas Vosegaard!

Through hard work and team effort, one man's seminal vision twenty years ago became the first interdisciplinary research centre at Aarhus University in 2002: iNANO. Twenty years later, the centre has paved the way for a rapidly developing discipline, and interdisciplinary collaboration that has spread throughout the world.

Congratulations to iNANO researchers: Rikke Meyer, Brigitte Stadler, Jørgen Kjems, Ken Howard, Niels Christian Nielsen, Birgitta R. Knudsen, and Magnus Kjærgaard. They have each received approx. DKK 2.9 million from Independent Research Fund Denmark for research in e.g. 3D printing of soft robotic frogs, immunotherapy with albumin as a scaffold for therapeutic proteins connected via DNA arms, and the role of specific extracellular DNA in the resistance of biofilm.

Fuel from liquid hydrocarbons as we know them, but made completely without the use of fossil resources. This is the goal of a new project partnered by AU researcher, in which the Innovation Fund Denmark has just invested DKK 26.7 million.