About Dr. Oren Scherman
Oren Scherman is a native of Norman, Oklahoma (USA). He graduated from Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, with a BA in Chemistry in 1999, he then moved to Pasadena, California, where he completed a PhD in 2004 in olefin metathesis and controlled polymerisation under the supervision of Professor Robert H. Grubbs at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). After finishing his PhD, Oren moved to the Netherlands to work on supramolecular polymers with Professors E.W. Meijer and Rint P. Sijbesma at the Eindhoven University of Technology. In 2006, he moved to the University of Cambridge to take up an academic appointment as a University Lecturer and Next Generation Fellow in the Melville Laboratory for Polymer Synthesis in the Department of Chemistry. In 2012, he was promoted to Reader in Supramolecular and Polymer Chemistry and in March 2013 he was appointed as the Director of the Melville Laboratory; Oren was promoted to Full Professor in 2015. During the 2013-2014 academic year, he was on sabbatical at Tsinghua University as the Xuetang Visiting Professor in Chemistry. Oren’s research focuses on dynamic supramolecular self-assembly at interfaces through the application of macrocyclic host-guest chemistry using cucurbit[n]urils in the development of novel supramolecular systems. The Scherman group exploits control over these molecular-level interactions to design and fabricate soft materials with integrated function, including hydrogels for local drug-delivery systems, sensing, catalysis and energy storage applications. Oren is currently leading a translational effort to the clinic for local drug delivery for glioblastoma treatments. Oren has been awarded a number of national and international prizes including the McBain medal (2013), Cram Lehn Pedersen Prize (2014), Ostwald Colloid Award (2016), and Corday-Morgan Prize (2018). He co-founded spinout company Aqdot and is on the scientific and editorial advisory boards for a number of multinational companies and scientific journals worldwide.