’Sometimes you have to be bold and seize the moment’

Build big with the smallest parts. Scientists move molecules towards life. But what motivates them? In this episode of A Spark of Life: Ghislaine Vantomme

/ Michelle Wijma

Spring 2009, near Paris. Ghislaine Vantomme is sitting on the bed in her student dorm room, scrolling through websites about master’s programs in chemistry. The choice is overwhelming. I like all kinds of chemistry, the frustrated Frenchwoman thinks. There’s a knock at her door. Her good friend Sylvain pokes his head in.

"Come on, we’re going to the Collège de France," he says. "Jean-Marie Lehn is giving a talk. A rare opportunity-you don’t see a Nobel Prize winner every day!"

Talk by a Nobel laureate

That afternoon, in a packed lecture hall, Lehn speaks passionately about his field of research: supramolecular chemistry. This branch of science explores how small building blocks can come together to form large, well-organized structures.

Lehn explains how chemistry builds a bridge between physics and biology. He shows stunning structures that his team has synthesized over the years and describes how molecules can "recognize" one another and interact-like magnets attracting and repelling, puzzle pieces clicking together, or, more poetically, words forming a sentence that carries meaning. Except all’of it happens on the tiniest of scales. You could call it the architecture of chemistry. The field draws on all kinds of chemical disciplines: from synthesizing and analyzing molecules to physical chemistry, materials science, and interactions that go beyond individual molecules.

Chemistry’s wonder can be revealed to kids through the simplest things.

Gislaine Vantomme

It’s there, in the lecture hall of the Paris university, that everything suddenly clicks for Ghislaine: supramolecular chemistry brings all’areas of chemistry together: I don’t have to choose at all! That very evening, she sends Lehn an email: "I’m fascinated by your work. I would love to become a PhD candidate in your group. Which master’s program would give me the best chance?"

Goosebumps

"I still get goosebumps when I talk about that day," Vantomme says, wrapping up her story. It’s now fifteen years later, and the supramolecular chemist lives and works in Eindhoven. "Going to that lecture was one of the best decisions I ever made. Lehn’s reply to my email was surprisingly simple: "Oh, just pick your favorite master’s program and then you can come here." And that was that."

Though, as Vantomme admits, it wasn’t quite as easy as it sounds. She had a few strong cards to play: a top-notch education and a personal PhD fellowship. In the end, it was enough to secure her place in Lehn’s lab in Strasbourg, where she began her doctoral research. "There are moments in life when you have to be bold and seize your chance. I was scared, but I was deeply motivated and eager to learn. I embraced the experience-and those years turned out to be some of the best of my life."

Sometimes you have to be bold and seize the moment Ghislaine Vantomme

In 2014, Vantomme came to the Netherlands for the first time to begin her postdoc at our university, working with Professor Bert Meijer. "Once again, it was Jean-Marie who inspired me," she says. "One Saturday afternoon, I was working in his lab when he walked in. Jean-Marie said, ’Hey, you know, what they’re doing in Eindhoven with supramolecular biomaterials is fantastic. You should go there.’"

Self-healing supramolecular materials

The materials Lehn refers to aren’t alive, but they have properties found in living things. They can, for example, sense, communicate, or move.

"Or repair themselves, just like our skin does," says Vantomme, who develops supramolecular materials. "Imagine how useful it would be if your phone were made from a material that could heal itself after cracking." Self-healing plastics do exist, but for now, they’re too expensive to become common in everyday life.

In this Eyeopeners video, Vantomme explains the concept of living plastics. Click on the photo to On a smaller scale and for very specific applications, supramolecular materials are actually in the spotlight-especially in nanotechnology. Vantomme is currently working on materials that can program themselves.
"Imagine a material that can store memory and use it to train itself to improve its performance. Take it a step further, and you could have materials that learn and make decisions without any external monitoring or control." Developments like these offer promising new solutions for computer hardware.

Eindhoven

Since 2019, Vantomme has been an assistant professor, still based in Eindhoven. Sticking to France and the Netherlands wasn’t always part of her plan.
"After my PhD, I wanted to return to the United States. I once did an internship in New York and loved it. But when Eindhoven came into the picture, I decided I could always go back to the US later."

That ’later’ never came, as Vantomme never returned to America-and for now, she has no plans to.
"I’m very happy here. I have everything I need: my family, my French relatives just two hours away, ideal working conditions, and a beautiful home."

Kitchen robot

And a kitchen robot-one that makes her incredibly happy. "You really have to hear about this, it’s amazing," says Vantomme. "I have a Thermomix, and it helps with chopping, mixing, and cooking. The device can handle an entire recipe, from cocktails and ice cream to potatoes with veggies and sauce. I use it every day to whip up French dishes in no time. It’s how I never get homesick!"

Vantomme’s enthusiasm for cooking goes back to her childhood. Back then, she especially loved baking cakes and cookies.
"Baking was my first introduction to chemistry. How does a liquid batter turn into a solid, fluffy cake in the oven? I was a curious kid and wanted to learn everything about it."

About A Spark of Life

A Spark of Life is a series of stories from NEMO Kennislink. Without the ability of molecules to organize themselves, we wouldn’t exist. Scientists are working to replicate how molecules function. They study what drives molecules, but what drives them? We’re publishing the interviews Michelle Wijma conducted with TU/e scientists Patricia Dankers, Luc Brunsveld, and Ghislaine Vantomme.

Build big with the smallest parts. Scientists move molecules towards life. But what motivates them? In this episode of A Spark of Life: Ghislaine Vantomme

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