Esteban Valencia Grajales, PhD student under Prof. Pau Ballester and Dr. Gemma Aragay’s supervision, has successfully defended his thesis entitled “Molecular containers with polar cavities and versatile functionality, based on aryl-extended, super aryl-extended and [n]-phenylextended calix[4]pyrroles”.
The members of the evaluation committee have been: Dr. Laura Rodríguez Raurell (Universitat de Barcelona, Spain); Dr. Luis Escobar (Institut Català d’Investigació Química, Spain) and Dr. Karen de la Vega Hernández (Université de Toulouse, France).
First, we will know more about yourself: where are you from, where and what you studied, your hobbies, and any other information you would like to include.
I was born in Colombia, but I grew up in a small town in Castellon (Xilxes). I studied chemistry at the University Jaume I where I developed my interest in performing a PhD.
Have you received any special external funding? If so, which one?
My main source of funding was an FPI predoctoral fellowship from the Spanish Minister of Science, which supported my PhD research. In addition, I participated in the ENRICH program an international training initiative, and I also received funding through La Canonja in the project “La Canonja Green Educational and Scientific Project”.
Why did you become a scientist?
During my chemistry degree, I realized that research was what I enjoyed the most. I liked asking questions, designing experiments, and learning something new every day.
What is your thesis about?
My thesis is about designing synthetic receptors based on calix[4]pyrrole systems and using them to study molecular recognition and investigate relevant non-covalent interactions that govern these processes in water.
The thing that I like most about my thesis is….
How we build large molecular receptors from small molecules and use them as simplified models to better understand biological interactions.
From the lessons learnt (or skills developed) at ICIQ, which one do you value the most?
How to approach a scientific problem and how to solve it. During my PhD at ICIQ, I learned to think critically, analyzed unexpected results and design experiments to answers scientific questions.
What ICIQ moment you’ll never forget?
First PhD day, which I met really nice people who accompanied me through all these years.
What will you miss the most from ICIQ?
People.
What advice do you have for someone who’s starting their PhD now?
Be confident, stay positive and work hard and don’t forget to have fun.
Chemistry is fun because…
Every experiment teaches you something new, even when the results are unexpected.
If you were a piece of lab equipment, what would you be?
I would be a Hamilton syringe because precision is essential when studying molecular recognition. Small differences in an experiment can reveal important insights into molecular interactions.
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