Dr. Sergey Semenov completed an MS in chemistry with honors at Moscow State University in Russia in 2006. He earned a PhD in chemistry with honors at the University of Zurich, Switzerland in 2010. He served as a postdoctoral fellow at Radboud University of Nijmegen in the Netherlands from 2010 to 2014, and at Harvard University from 2014 through 2017. He joined the Department of Organic Chemistry at the Weizmann Institute of Science in January 2018.
Organic chemists like Dr. Semenov see living systems as an interconnected network of chemical reactions. Life depends on the ability to self-sustain these reactions, a process called autocatalysis. To understand how an autocatalytic process works, Dr. Semenov created the first experimental example of a simplified, autocatalytic network that could regulate itself, and respond to changes in its environment. His studies in autocatalysis and biological networks offer insights into catalysis and provide new clues to understand the emergence of life from simple organic precursors.
His awards and honors include a grant for talented young scientists at Moscow State University in 2006, and an award in the international Samsung “Ideas” contest in 2005. He received a Forschungskredit research grant from University of Zürich in 2008 and an Auszeichnung grant in 2010. He was awarded a Marie Curie Intra-European Fellowship in 2012 and the Sir Charles Clore Prize for Research in 2018. He was invited as the keynote speaker for the 2017 International Conference on BioNano Innovation in Brisbane, Australia. Dr. Semenov serves as a reviewer for a number of professional journals, including Nature Communications, Chemical Communications, Journal of Materials Chemistry, and Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics.