Lab Announcements

November 29, 2021

The research work on diabetes treatment of Professor Ali Trabolsi and our research scientist Farah Benyettou was highlighted in an article in the French press where the journalist compared their cutting-edge technology to other work developed at MIT and Yale in recent years.
Here is a link to this article.

March 3, 2021

Our paper, In Vivo Oral Insulin Delivery via Covalent Organic Frameworks, has been accepted for publication in Chemical Science.

February 25, 2021

Taming the Topology of Calix[4]arene-based 2D-Covalent Organic Frameworks: Interpenetrated vs Non-interpenetrated and Their Selective Removal of Cationic Dyes is now online in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

February 9, 2021

Click here to read about our former group member, Dr. Tina Škorjanc's "endless opportunities as a Graduate Student at NYUAD." 

February 2, 2021

Check out our latest review in Chem describing the use of organic macrocycle-based covalent organic polymers and frameworks for the removal of pollutants from water.

December 14, 2020

Our first Graduate Student, Dr. Tina Škorjanc, received the Pregl Award for outstanding doctoral thesis in 2020 from the National Institute of Chemistry. Tina defended her thesis titled Insoluble Main-Chain Organic Macrocycle-Based Covalent Organic Polymers and Frameworks, and Their Applications in Pollutant Capture and Drug Delivery in May under the supervision of Professor Ali Trabolsi.

December 1, 2020

Professor Trabolsi, gave an online talk, Task-Specific Design and Functionalization of Porous Poly-Calixarene For Water Purification, at NYU New York.

November 16, 2020

A polyrotaxanated covalent organic network based on viologen and cucurbit[7]uril was featured in Nature Research as part of their celebration of 15 years of research on covalent organic frameworks.

November 9, 2020

Professor Ali Trabolsi has joined NYUAD's  Water Research Center as Co-Principal Investigator. The Center aims to promote innovative research in water desalination, wastewater treatment, environmental policy, and social issues that will lead to water security and sustainability.

October 22, 2020

The Trabolsi Group and other NYU Abu Dhabi scientists and external collaborators have designed a nano-sized system to be used as an additional tool in the fight against cancer. The details can be found in our paper Covalent Organic Framework Embedded with Magnetic Nanoparticles for MRI and Chemo-Thermo- Therapy recently published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

August 27, 2020

Our manuscript, Rapid and Efficient Removal of Perfluorooctanoic Acid from Water with Fluorine-Rich Calixarene-Based Porous Polymers, was accepted for publication in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces

July 8, 2020

The Trabolsi Group's paper, Fast and efficient removal of paraquat in water by porous polycalix[n]arenes (n = 4, 6, and 8), was published in the Journal of Materials Chemistry A. This paper explores the removal of a herbicide called paraquat from water by means of adsorption onto novel porous polymeric materials.

June 13, 2020

Farah and Ali's paper with collaborators at UAEU, pH-Controlled Preferential Binding of Cucurbit[7]uril-Coated Iron-Oxide Nanoparticles to 6-Mercaptonicotinic Acid for Fluorescent Detection of Cadmium Ions in the Solid State, was published in Microchimica Acta.

June 8, 2020

We are delighted to announce the appointment of Professor Ali Trabolsi as Program Head, Chemistry, beginning September 2020. We wish you every success in your new role. Well done, Ali!

May 20, 2020

Congratulations Merilin and Nowshin, on the successful completion of your Capstone Projects and graduation from NYUAD's Chemistry program. We wish you continued success and look forward to seeing what lies ahead for both of you!

May 6, 2020

Thiru's collaboration with King Faisal University, KSA, has produced a paper entitled Cobalt–Carbon/Silica Nanocomposite Prepared by Pyrolysis of Cobalt 2,2′-Bipyridine Terephthalate Complex for Remediation of Cationic Dyes which was recently published in RSC Advances

April 13, 2020

Research Scientist, Farah Benyettou, gave a talk entitled Covalent Organic Frameworks for In Vivo Oral Insulin Administration as part of the NYUAD Chemistry Talks, NYU Abu Dhabi.

April 7, 2020

Our paper Aqueous Synthesis of Triphenylphosphine-Modified Gold Nanoparticles for Synergistic In Vitro and In Vivo Photo-thermal Chemotherapy, published in the journal, Chemistry-A European Journal has received widespread local and international coverage. including such outlets as  Omnia Health Magazine, EurekAlert, Science Magazine, BioEngineerPhysics.Org, Oncology News, Nano Magazine and Al Arab UK, which is one of the leading pan-Arab newspapers.

March 2, 2020

Research Associate, Gobinda Das, gave a talk entitled 2D-Covalent Organic Frameworks, as part of the NYUAD Chemistry Talks, NYU Abu Dhabi.

February 19, 2020

The Trabolsi Group's paper entitled Aqueous Synthesis of Triphenylphosphine-Modified Gold Nanoparticles for Synergistic In Vitro and In Vivo Photo-thermal Chemotherapy was accepted for publication in Chemistry-A European Journal. Congratulations Farah, Ali and all our collaborators.

January 28, 2020

Mircea Dincă, Associate Professor of Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, visited the Trabolsi Group from January 26-29. Professor Dincă gave a talk entitled Teaching sponges new tricks: Charge transport and catalysis in microporous metal-organic frameworks as part of the NYU Abu Dhabi Chemistry Seminar Series.

January 26, 2020

Capstone student, Nowshin Kabir, visited the lab of our collaborator Dr. Mourad Elhabiri of the University of Strasbourg, France. While there, Nowshin worked on the characterization of the trefoil knot as an anion sensor.

January 22, 2020

Professor Ali Trabolsi gave a talk entitled “Metal-Organic non-Trivial Structures: A New Field of Chemical Space for Pharmaceutical Design and Development” at the IV International Caparica Symposium on Nanoparticles/Nanomaterials and Applications 2020, Caparica, Portugal, January 22, 2020.

January 17, 2020

Congratulations to Professor Ali Trabolsi and his collaborators whose article entitled Augmented Polyhydrazone Formation in Water by Template-Assisted Polymerization using Dual-Purpose Supramolecular Templates was recently published in Polymer Chemistry. 

December 17, 2019

Professor Rahul Banerjee, department of chemical sciences, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Kolkata, visited the Trabolsi Group and gave a talk as part of the NYU Abu Dhabi Chemistry Seminar Series.

December 16, 2019

Graduate Student, Tina Skorjanc, gave a talk entitled “Highly efficient toxic bromate removal from water by a cationic covalent organic framework” at the bi-weekly Chemistry Talks, NYU Abu Dhabi.

December 14, 2019

Professor Ali Trabolsi was the keynote speaker at The 9th Conference on Nanomaterials (CN-BT 2019) in Bangkok, Thailand. Professor Trabolsi gave a talk entitled “Smart Porous Polycalix[n]arenes: Design Principles to Multi-Facet Applications”.

December 8, 2019

Professor Ali Trabolsi attended Malta IX, Frontiers of Science: Research and Education in the Middle East.

December 5, 2019

Research Scientist, Thiru Prakasam, gave a talk entitled “Synthesis and application of molecular knots and links”, at the bi-weekly Chemistry Talks, NYU Abu Dhabi.   

November 22, 2019

The Trabolsi Group's paper entitled Remarkably efficient removal of toxic bromate from drinking water with a porphyrin–viologen covalent organic framework was published in Chemical Science. This manuscript tackles the issue of bromate removal from water. Congratulations to Professor Trabolsi, Tina and all our collaborators.

October 31, 2019

Professor Mourad Elhabiri, Director of Research, CNRS (Centre national de la recherche scientifique) visited the Trabolsi Group as part of an ongoing collaboration between NYU Abu Dhabi and the University of Strasbourg, France.

October 27, 2019

The Trabolsi Group's manuscript entitled Azobenzene-Equipped Covalent Organic Framework: Light-Operated Reservoir was accepted for publishing in The Journal of the American Chemical Society.  Congratulations to Gobinda and Thiru and all of our collaborators for their tremendous effort.

September 12, 2019

Congratulations to Tina Skorjanc on passing her Dissertation Evaluation Exam!

September 6, 2019

The Trabolsi Group's paper entitled A polyrotaxanated covalent organic network based on viologen and cucurbit[7]uril was published in Communications Chemistry. Congratulations to Ali, Gobinda, Thiru and all of our collaborators from NYUAD and other institutions.

September 2, 2019

The Trabolsi Group received a Research Enhancement Fund Award from NYUAD to work on the application of molecular knots and links. Congratulations to Ali, Prof. Gennaro, and Prof. Mazin!

August 31, 2019

Dinesh Shetty has accepted a position as Assistant Professor of Chemistry at Khalifa University, Abu Dhabi. Congratulations Dinesh! 

August 25, 2019

Graduate student Tina Skorjanc gave a presentation entitled Highly efficient carcinogenic bromate removal from water by a cationic covalent organic framework at the ACS Fall National Meeting held in San Diego, California, August 25-29. The conference was attended by approximately 15,000 people.

July 12, 2019

Professor Ali Trabolsi is featured in the Emerging Investigators Issue 2019 in the journal Chemical Communications. Congratulations, Ali!

July 9, 2019

The Trabolsi Research Group had a manuscript published by Chemical Communications entitled: Self-assembly of Stimuli-Responsive Imine-linked Calix[4]arene Nanocapsules for Targeted Camptothecin Delivery. This manuscript reports a novel polymeric drug delivery system, which can be utilized for targeted and specific anticancer drug delivery. Congratulations to Dinesh, Tina, Ali and Dr. Olson.

July 7, 2019

Professor Ali Trabolsi is visiting the group of Professor Thomas Jung from PSI, Switzerland in July as part of an ongoing collaboration which examines the self-assembly of mechanically interlocked molecules on solid surfaces. 

July 4, 2019

Professor Ali Trabolsi gave a presentation on Synthesis and Applications of Metal-Organic Knots at the Université de Strasbourg, Strasbourg, France.

June 2, 2019

Research Associate, Gobinda Das attended ISMSC 2019, held in Lecce, Italy, June 2-6, 2019. Gobinda also attended Supramol2019 in Lecce, June 6-8 where he gave a poster presentation entitled  Redox-Triggered Buoyancy and Size Modulation of a Covalent Organic Gel.

May 22, 2019

Our manuscript entitled "Potent and selective in vitro and in vivo antiproliferative effects of metal–organic trefoil knots" was published as a Hot Article in Chemical Science. Congratulations to Farah, Thiru, Tina and Ali as well as our collaborators from NYUAD and other institutions! This paper has received local, regional and international coverage and was highlighted on the front page of The National

May 15, 2019

Research Scientist, Farah Benyettou gave 2 presentations at SupraBio 2019 held in Barcelona, Spain. The titles of Farah’s abstracts are:
1. Potent and Selective In Vitro and In Vivo Antiproliferative Effects of Metal-Organic Trefoil Knots
2. Fighting Cancer using Supramolecular Nanodevices: Toward the "Magic Bullet" Science

April 25, 2019

Our manuscript entitled Redox-Triggered Buoyancy and Size Modulation of a Dynamic Covalent Gel was published by Chemistry of Materials. Congratulations to Gobinda, Thiru, Ali and all of our collaborators!

April 24, 2019

Graduating students Sandra Emad Boutros and Anastassiya Knyazeva defended their Capstone Projects to Professor Ali Trabolsi and several other members of the NYUAD Chemistry program. Sandra presented an abstract entitled “Calix[4]arene-Crown Ether Porous Organic Polymers for Lithium Recovery”. Anastassiya’s abstract was entitled “Investigation of the Relationship Between Material Properties and Self-healing in Crystals of Boronic Esters and Disulfides”.

April 23, 2019

Professor Ali Trabolsi gave a presentation onSmart Porous Polycalix[n]arenes: Design Principles to Multi-facet Applications (Environment and Drug Delivery)” as part of the Together Everyone Achieves More (TEAM) Seminar held at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST). The seminar was attended by ~120 people and was followed by a stimulating and engaging Q&A session. 

April 16, 2019

Graduate student Tina Skorjanc was awarded second place in the category of Engineering and Physical Sciences at the UAE Graduate Student Research Conference (UAE GRSC) held at Zayed University. Tina’s paper, “Remarkably efficient removal of carcinogenic bromate from water by porphyrin-viologen covalent organic framework synthesized through the Zincke reaction” was one of 61 submissions in Engineering and Physical Sciences and  120 in all disciplines combined.

March 20, 2019

Graduate student, Tina Skorjanc’s paper entitled Remarkably Efficient Removal of Carcinogenic Bromate from Water by Porphyrin-Viologen Covalent Organic Framework Synthesized Through the Zincke Reaction was accepted for presentation at UAE GSRC 2019, April 16, 2019, Zayed University, Abu Dhabi, UAE.

March 11, 2019

The Trabolsi group's manuscript entitled "Thioether-Crown-Rich Calix[4]arene Porous Polymer for Highly Efficient Removal of Mercury from Water" was published by ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces. Congratulations to Dinesh, Ali and Sandra on her first paper!

March 4, 2019

Research Associate, Gobinda Das’ abstract entitled Redox-Triggered Buoyancy and Size Modulation of a Covalent Organic Gel was accepted for presentation at ISMSC 2019, June 2-8, 2019, Lecce, Italy. 

February 24, 2019

Graduate student Tina Skorjanc attended the International Workshop on Advanced Materials (IWAM) 2019 in Ras Al Khaimah to present a poster entitled Covalent Calix[4]arene Nanocapsules for Efficient Camptothecin Delivery. Authors of this project include research scientist Dr. Dinesh Shetty, graduate student Tina Skorjanc and Prof. Ali Trabolsi. Each year IWAM is sponsored by the Ras Al Khaimah Center for Advanced Materials and Tina received a student travel grant to attend the event. 

February 15, 2019

Graduate student Tina Skorjanc was accepted to the Global Research Initiatives 2019 Summer Dissertation Writing Workshop in Washington D.C. Congratulations Tina!

February 8, 2019

Research Scientist Dinesh Shetty received a prestigious National Academy of Science early career fellowship for his research on developing novel materials for water purification. As part of the award, he will travel to Penn State University, PA to exchange his ideas and learn about new developments in the field. 

January 22, 2019

Our manuscript entitled "Design strategies and redox-dependent applications of insoluble viologen-based covalent organic polymers" was accepted for publication by ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces. Congratulations to Global PhD Student, Tina Skorjanc and other members of the Trabolsi Research Group.

January 15, 2019

Our manuscript entitled "Metal-Organic Self-Assembled Trefoil Knots for C-Br Bond Activation" has been accepted for publication by ACS Catalysis. Congratulations to Research Scientist Thirumurugan Prakasam and Associate Professor Ali Trabolsi as well as contributors from collaborating institutions.

January 10, 2019

Research Scientist, Farah Benyettou had two abstracts accepted for presentation at SupraBio 2019 to be held in Barcelona, Spain, May 15-17, 2019. The titles of Farah’s abstracts are: Potent and Selective In Vitro and In Vivo Antiproliferative Effects of Metal-Organic Trefoil Knots & Fighting Cancer using Supramolecular Nanodevices: Toward the "Magic Bullet" Science

Lab Announcements