Research interests

– Building a new sustainable circular ecosystem for rigid polyurethane foam

Curriculum vitae and education

January 2022 – present

Postdoctoral Fellow in the CAT Catalytic Center at ITMC, RWTH-Aachen, Germany 

November 2019 – December 2021

Postdoctoral Fellow in the DWI – Leibniz Institute for Interactive Materials

September 2018 – October 2019

Postdoctoral Fellow in the Humboldt University of Berlin

September 2014 – September 2018

Ph.D. Student at The University of Manchester

Area: Design and synthesis of artificial molecular motors

Selected publications 

01) D Thomas, D J Tetlow, Y Ren, S Kassem, U Karaca and D A Leigh, Pumping between phases with a pulsed-fuel molecular ratchet, Nat Nanotechnol, 17, 701–707 (2022).

02) Karaca, U.; Kesici, M.; Ozcubukcu, S. Synthesis of Chlorotoxin by Native Chemical Ligation. Journal of the Turkish Chemical Society, Section A: Chemistry 2018, 5, 719

03) Erbas-Cakmak, S.; Fielden, S.D.P.; Karaca, U.; Leigh, D.A.; McTernan, C.T.; Tetlow, D.J.; Wilson, M.R. Rotary and Linear Molecular Motors Driven by Pulses of a Chemical Fuel. Science 2017, 358, 340

Awards + Scholarships

Humboldt Research Fellowship for Postdoctoral Researchers, 2019-2021

· Full scholarship for PhD studies in The University of Manchester, 2014-2018