Alma Krpuljevic-Hanic was born in Podgorica, Montenegro, where she completed her primary education and gymnasium. She continued her studies at the Faculty of Law in Sarajevo, while simultaneously beginning a career in international and non-governmental organizations, focusing on human rights and the fight against corruption. Her journey then took an unexpected turn when she moved to Vienna with her family. There, she completed her education as a legal assistant and also specialized in business administration. After gaining brief experience in the legal sector and at a law firm, Alma joined the Bonifazi Group in 2022 as an administrative assistant.

Polina studied Biology at the University of Patras, Greece and she then moved to the Netherlands to obtain an MSc in Medical Biology from Radboud University, Nijmegen.

Pursuing her passion for research, Polina obtained her PhD in Life Sciences from the University of Dundee. In Scotland she focused on characterizing the function of a novel gene in embryonic development.

She moved to Vienna for a postdoc in the Children’s Cancer Research Institute where she worked on identifying new targets and drugs for childhood cancer.

After spending over a decade in research in different labs, she decided to take on a new challenge and transitioned to a new role as a project manager. She joined the Bonifazi group in February 2023, where she is responsible for managing EU-funded projects.

Laura Maggini was born in La Spezia (Italy) in 1984. She obtained her Master Degree in Organic Chemistry at the University of Rome – Sapienza (Italy) in 2006 investigating the reactivity of sulfoxide radical cations. She then moved to the University of Namur (Belgium) as a Marie Sklodowska Curie ITN ESR PhD candidate (Finelumen project N°215399), to pioneer the exploitation of the supramolecular functionalisation of CNTs with purposefully designed molecular modules to gain new functions, direct the assembly and enhance the activity of the resulting hybrid systems. During her PhD she was also a visiting scientist in the group of Prof. Aida at the Riken Institute in Tokyo (Japan), where she investigated the directed embedding of the functional hybrids developed into hydrogel matrices. Funded by two consecutive Marie Sklodowska Curie Individual Fellowships she first joined the group of Prof. De Cola at the Institut de Science et d’Ingénierie Supramoléculaires (I.S.I.S.), University of Strasbourg (France), to develop the synthesis of “breakable” functional mesoporous silica NPs for drug delivery formulations (Pop-silica project N° 627788). And later the group of Dr. De Volder at the Institute for Manufacturing (IfM), University of Cambridge (UK), to study the controlled assembly of hybrid nanomaterials exploiting additive manufacturing technologies in the pursuit of multi-scale engineered advanced materials (Supra-CNTs project N° 702435).

Since 2020 she joined the Institute for Organic Chemistry at the University of Vienna (Austria) as Senior Researcher associated to Prof. Bonifazi’s group, leading the research effort aimed at developing novel manufacturing platforms and scale up production processes for the functional organic supramolecular materials produced in the laboratory.

Igor was born in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain in 1994. He studied chemistry and a master in advanced chemistry in the University of Burgos (UBU). Subsequently he completed a PhD in synthesis and characterization of organometallic complexes with Ir, Ru and Rh for their use in photocatalysis and photodynamic therapy (PDT) in the University of Burgos under the supervision of the Prof. Gustavo Espino and the prof. Roberto Quesada (2022). After that he moved to Vienna for a postdoc in the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA) for working in the preparation and characterization of Prussian Blue Analogues (PBAs) for their use in energy storage.

In November of 2024 he joined the group of Prof. Davide Bonifazi to work as a Technical Assistant.

Josue Ayuso-Carrillo is a native from the Yucatán Península, México. He obtained his first degree in Chemical Engineering from the Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán (Mérida, México) and his Master degree in Inorganic Chemistry from the Universidad de Alcalá and the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (Madrid, Spain).

He earned his PhD in Chemistry (2016) from the University of Manchester (Manchester, United Kingdom) under the supervision of Prof. M. Ingleson and Prof. M. Turner, where he developed novel synthetic approaches for conjugated polymers.

Postdoctoral positions followed at Chalmers University of Technology (Gothenburg, Sweden) as a MSCA-ITN fellow (Osniro project No. 607585), and then at Carnegie Mellon University (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States) with Prof. K. Noonan developing methodologies for chain-growth catalyst-transfer polymerizations. He joined the group of Prof. D. Bonifazi at the Universität Wien (Vienna, Austria) in November 2020 as a University Assistant (postdoc), where he develops novel synthetic methodologies for optoelectronic materials and devices.

Dr. Davide Zanetti’s research is focused on developing new synthetic methods in organic chemistry, with a particular emphasis on photocatalysis and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon synthesis. His Master’s research, conducted jointly at the University of Torino (Italy) and the Institute of Materials Science in Barcelona (Spain), explored the creation of carborane-BODIPY dyes with enhanced fluorescence using efficient, single-step coupling reactions. In 2020, he joined Professor Bonifazi’s group, where he expanded his work to metal-free, radical-based approaches for PAH synthesis, aiming to improve functional group tolerance and reactivity. His current research involves advanced photoelectrocatalytic systems and radical-mediated methods for constructing three-dimensional molecular architectures.

Francisco Garnes Portolés studied Chemistry and a Master in Organic Chemistry at the University of Valencia (UV), doing his final work in Asymmetric Organocatalysis, under the supervision of Prof. Santos Fustero (2018). Subsequently, he completed a PhD (2023) in Sustainable Chemistry at the Polytechnic University of Valencia (ITQ, UPV-CSIC) on heterogeneous catalysis, under the supervision of Dr. Antonio Leyva-Pérez. He continued working in the same research group for an additional year, focusing on organic reactions with industrial applications.
In September 2024 he moved to Vienna, where he is conducting postdoctoral research at the University of Vienna on Photocatalysis and Electrophotocatalysis, under the supervision of Prof. Davide Bonifazi.

Gourab Das was born in Kolkata, India (1991). He completed his Ph.D. (2021) at CSIR-NIIST, Thiruvananthapuram, India under the supervision of Prof. Dr. A. Ajayaghosh on the topic “Self-Assembly and Optical Properties of Phenyleneethynylene and BODIPY Based p-Systems”. Thereafter, he carried out his 1^st postdoctoral research at Universität Würzburg, Germany with Prof. Dr. Frank Würthner on the topic “Ru-bda Based Mononuclear Systems for Water Oxidation Catalysis”. He joined the group of Prof. Dr. Davide Bonifazi at Universität Wien in April 2024, where he is currently working as a postdoctoral researcher to develop hetero-atom doped polyaromatic hydrocarbon systems and chromophore-based macrocycles.

Ruben was born in Portugal, in 1993.

Rúben has a degree in Applied Chemistry and an MSc in Bioorganic Chemistry from the NOVA University of Lisbon. During his studies, Rúben worked in several projects with the Photochemistry and Supramolecular Chemistry Group.

After completing his master, Ruben joining the company Ynvisible, in Lisbon, as a Researcher working on the development and characterization of electrochromic displays. During his work at the company, Rúben worked in several European projects and collaborated with several companies, research institutes and universities. Later on, he moved to Germany were we helped to setup the company new R&D lab.

In April of 2020, Rúben joined the Bonifazi group as a PhD student, his work will be focused in the development of multi-functional electrochromic materials and devices.

Cristian De Luca did his bachelor thesis entitled “New organocatalyzer with point chirality” in 2018 under the supervision of Prof. Armando Carlone at the Università degli Studi Dell’Aquila.

He enrolled in a master degree in the same university and he did 4 months internship in the University of Vienna under supervision of Prof. Davide Bonifazi and Prof. Armando Carlone (Università degli Studi Dell’Aquila) in the framework of his master thesis “Design and synthesis of porous organic frameworks for photocatalysis”. Cristian achieved his master degree in chemistry in October 2020 with a final score of 110/110 cum laude.

In February 2021 he moved to Vienna, where he started his Ph.D. in chemistry under the supervision of Prof. Davide Bonifazi, working on the synthesis of Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons oligomers doped with O-atoms for applications in photocatalysis and in optoelectronic devices.

Terézia Morávková was born in Slovakia, 1994. She achieved her bachelor’s degree in Medicinal Chemistry (2018) and her master’s degree in Organic Chemistry (2020) at Charles University in Prague. Her bachelor’s and master’s thesis projects were focused on the enantioselective formal synthesis of natural compounds with the special focus on enantioselective allylation under the supervision of prof. M. Kotora.

Previously, during her high-school studies, she did one year of a study exchange in the USA, Michigan and during her bachelor studies, she did an Erasmus exchange in Finland (University of Helsinki).

Terézia joined Bonifazi group as a Ph.D. student in November 2020 and her work is focused on the supramolecular assembly of optically active pheromones on the surface of yeast cells.

Liubov Rubicheva was born in Arkhangelsk, Russia, in 1997.

She obtained bachelor’s degree in chemistry at Saint Petersburg State University in 2019, followed by master’s degree there in 2021. Her thesis were devoted to the synthesis of variously substituted porphyrin-fullerene dyads.

After that, she joined the Electrochemical Department of Saint Petersburg University, where she worked on the synthesis of TEMPO-substituted monomers for electroactive polymers.

In August 2022 she joined Prof. Bonifazi group to work on the synthesis of boron-nitrogen doped graphenic structures.

Nils was born in Linz, Austria in 1998.

After graduating from a technical high school for chemical engineering (HTL Wels) in 2017, he moved to Vienna to study chemistry. He received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Vienna in September 2020 and subsequently started his master studies, focusing on the synthesis and characterization of organic molecules and coordination compounds. During his studies, Nils completed several internships in the chemical and pharmaceutical industry (e.g. at Thermo-Fisher Scientific and GE Healthcare).

In March 2022 he joined the group of Prof. Bonifazi for his master’s thesis, where he was working on the synthesis and characterization of BN-doped helicenes. After defending his master thesis and earning his degree in February 2023, he re-joined the Bonifazi group to carry out his PhD studies. He is currently working on the development of novel BN-doped polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) architectures.

From May to November 2023 Nils completed a research stay with Prof. Timothy M. Swager at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), supported by a MSCA staff exchange grant through the VIT-project. His work at MIT was revolving around the synthesis of microporous polymers, bearing BN-doped PAH-chromophores.

Chiara was born in Lucca, Italy, in 1997. She completed her Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Chemistry at the University of Pisa, where she optimized the synthesis of zinc oxide nanoparticles doped with aluminium and cobalt.

In November 2022, Chiara moved to Vienna joining BrightComSol GmbH, a company that develops and produces perovskite-based materials and nanomaterials to be used in X-rays scintillators.

In September 2023, she joined the Melomanes project as a PhD student in Bonifazi group. Her work will be focused on synthesis and characterization of iron carbide nanoparticles with a graphitic carbon coating for magnetic and optical hyperthermia.

El Czar Galleposo was born in Dapitan City, Philippines in 1996. He earned his bachelor’s degree in chemistry at the University of the Philippines Diliman (UP Diliman) in 2017. Then, he joined the Institute of Chemistry at UP Diliman as an instructor from 2017 to 2021. He received his master’s in chemistry from the same university in 2020, working on metal-organic framework synthesis for proton conduction applications. In 2021, he was awarded the Erasmus Mundus Scholarship to attend the Master in Materials Science for Energy & Use of Large-Scale Facilities (MaMaSELF+) program, spending his first year at the University of Turin and the second year at Ludwig-Maximilian University of Munich. Then, he joined Empa, St Gallen, Switzerland, to work on his master’s thesis, which focused on probiotic-derived membrane vesicles for wound healing applications. In 2023, he started his doctoral studies in chemistry under the supervision of Prof. Davide Bonifazi, working on materials for applications in optoelectronic and light-harvesting systems.

Lorenzo was born in Florence, Italy, in 1999. He completed his Bachelor in Chemistry at the University of Florence, with a thesis on the synthesis of graphene quantum dots doped with nitrogen.

Then he decided to continue the university career still in Florence and he completed his Master in Chemical Sciences with a thesis on the preparation of liposome-gold nanoparticles hybrids for SERS imaging.

In October 2023, he joined the Melomanes project as a PhD student in the Bonifazi group. His work will be about the synthesis and characterization of iron carbide nanoparticles coated with polydopamine and boron-carbon-nitrogen for magnetic and optical hyperthermia.

Leon Karner completed his Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree in Chemistry at the University of Vienna.

In 2024 he started his PhD in the Bonifazi group where he will work on the synthesis of PXX derivatives that are suitable for the introduction of a novel, light-controlled autocatalytic methodology (auto-photocatalysis) and on the synthesis of chromophores with tailored photophysical properties, to be utilized as antennas within a liquid crystal matrix for light harvesting.

Rahul Halanuru Sreedhara was born in Karnataka, India.

Tim was born in Deggendorf, Germany, in 2000.

He moved to Vienna in 2019 to study chemistry at the University of Vienna, where he completed his bachelor’s thesis on CO2 reduction using copper electrodes. He continued his studies at the university, aiming to earn a master’s degree. Currently, he is working on his master’s thesis, which focuses on the synthesis and characterization of BN-doped nanographenes under the supervision of Liubov Rubicheva and Nils Pellinger.

Milorad Stokic was born in Vienna, Austria, in 2000.

After graduating from a high school for chemical engineering (HBLVA Rosensteingasse), with a focus on biochemistry, he completed his bachelor thesis working on Olefination Reactions via Dihydrodiazete Intermediates at the University of Vienna. He is currently working on the interdisciplinary topic “Towards Cubic Graphite: photocatalyzed C-C bond formation for tetraphenylenes synthesis” as his master thesis. Here he conducts his practical research in the Group of Prof. Davde Bonifazi, followed by theoretical chemistry in the Group of Prof. Leticia González Herrero.

Ramo Mehmedovic was born in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1998 and moved to Austria in 2007.
In 2018, he enrolled at the University of Vienna to study chemistry. Ramo obtained his bachelor’s degree working on “Peripheral O-annulation of Porphyrins” in the Bonifazi group and subsequently continued his studies, pursuing a master’s degree. He rejoined the Bonifazi group for his master’s thesis and his work focuses on electrophotocatalytic C-heteroatom coupling under the supervision of Francisco Garnes Portolés.

Vincent completed his bachelor’s degree 2023 in Cologne, Germany, with the topic of his bachelor’s thesis being “Encapsulation of hydrophobic drugs into micelles and mesoporous silica nanoparticles”. Subsequently he moved to Vienna in 2023 to pursue his master’s degree. In 2025 Vincent joined the Bonifazi Group as part of his master’s thesis working on developing organic colours through rational mixing of molecular electrochromic hues.

Alexander Smutny was born in 1998 in Vienna, Austria.
He completed his Bachelor’s degree at the University of Vienna in 2023 working on the synthesis of natural products and has started his master studies at the University of Vienna. He is currently working on the synthesis of novel BNB- and NBN-doped graphenoids under supervision of Liubov Rubicheva and Nils Pellinger.