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SUMMARY:Water first. It's true.
DTSTART:20170912T171500
DTSTAMP:20260408T144551Z
UID:00e5a030d999285057d2770d4670ec384cf9158bafce40ddb20053e1
CATEGORIES:Inaugural lectures - Honorary Lecture
DESCRIPTION:Prof. Sylvie Roke\, IBI and IMX\, EPFL\nWater is the most impo
 rtant liquid for life. It is intimately linked to our well-being. Without 
 water\, cell membranes cannot function. Charges and charged groups cannot 
 be dissolved\, self-assembly cannot occur\, and proteins cannot fold. Apar
 t from the intimate link with life\, water also shapes the earth and our c
 limate. Our landscape is formed by slow eroding/dissolving processes of ro
 cks in river and sea water\; aerosols and rain drops provide a means of tr
 ansport of water. Water (H2O) is a molecule with only three atoms. In liqu
 id water there is a hydrogen bonding network that originates from the inte
 ractions of H atoms with neighboring O atoms from other water molecules. T
 his network reorganizes itself on the femtosecond (10-15 s) time scale and
  leads to transient liquid structuring on the nanoscale. Because of its co
 mplexity\, the relationship between the unique properties of water and its
  structure have not been solved. Techniques that can provide femtosecond s
 tructural information over multiple length scales can help. To do so\, we 
 developed nonlinear light scattering and imaging tools to access molecular
  structural information of aqueous solutions and interfaces.\n\nWith these
  methods we have found nanoscale ordering in dilute salt solutions\, and p
 robe the structure of aqueous nanoscopic interfaces relevant for biology: 
 lipid droplets\, liposomes and water droplets. The optical properties of w
 ater can also be used to determine the electrical potential (voltage) of i
 nterfaces. This unique readout is useful for chemistry\, neurology and dev
 ice characterization. Apart from giving an overview of the field and our f
 indings\, I will also pay attention to how surprising the roads toward sci
 entific discovery can sometimes be. \n\nProgram\n\n-Introduction by Prof.
  Matthias Lutolf\, Director of the Interfaculty Institute of Bioengineerin
 g\n-Inaugural Lecture of Sylvie Roke: "Water first. It's true."\n\nRegistr
 ation required: http://go.epfl.ch/roke\n\nBio: Sylvie Roke obtained B.Sc. 
 and M.Sc. degrees with highest honors in chemistry (2000) and physics (200
 0) from Utrecht University and a Ph.D. degree in natural sciences from Lei
 den University (2004\, highest honors). In 2005 she was awarded a floating
  independent research group leader (W2) position by the Max Planck Society
 . In 2011 she moved to EPFL\, where she holds the Juli Jacobi chair in pho
 tomedicine. She received the Minerva Prize (2006)\, the Hertha Sponer Priz
 e (2008)\, an ERC Starting Grant (2009)\, and an ERC Consolidator Grant (2
 014). Her research focuses on understanding aqueous systems\, interfaces\,
  soft matter\, and biological systems by using and developing a variety of
  novel spectroscopic and imaging methods.\n\n 
LOCATION:SV 1717 https://plan.epfl.ch/?room==SV%201717
STATUS:CONFIRMED
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