"Young Chemists", first prize to Ca' Foscari student Marta Da Pian

"If someone had not studied the resonance of a proton, we would not have MRI machines today. Without basic research no application would be possible in any field." Marta Da Pian explains, a PhD Chemistry student at Ca’ Foscari and recent winner of the Reaxys SCI Young Researcher Award 2016, all because of a passion for chemistry. "As a child, I always asked why. I am curious, I like to understand the reason of phenomena, and then in junior high and high school I had talented teachers who were passionate about chemistry”.

Her study at Ca' Foscari is entirely focused on a new type of synthetic molecule, discovered in Japan in 2008, that is able to accelerate chemical processes and therefore is more profitable. The study of these molecules is still in its infancy and Ca’ Foscari is one of the first universities to have taken it on.

"These molecules are called pillarareni - explains Marta Da Pian - and they have the characteristic of having an internal cavity which can accommodate smaller molecules. This combination is very useful in the field of pharmacology because it speeds up the transportation of drugs to the body. In a purely chemical sense, this new molecule makes some reactions faster and therefore more efficient and economical”.

Marta Da Pian, PhD student at Ca’ Foscari since 2014, is about to begin the third year of her programme under the guidance of professors Fabrizio Fabris and Alessandro Scarso. Recently she also spent some time studying at the Freie Universität in Berlin.

Marta Da Pian won the Young Chemists first prize organised by Elsevier for the innovation, clarity of display and degree of novelty of her research.

The last part of her study at Ca’ Foscari University will cover the field of catalysis: "Basic research is crucial and never ending in opening the door to new discoveries. All this is fascinating but also very tiring - concludes Marta – you study a molecule for twelve months, and for nine months nothing happens, then suddenly, in one moment, everything can change. You live for that moment in which you helped to discover something in greater depth."