Ulrich Hennecke

Ulrich Hennecke is a Professor in the Department of Bio-engineering Sciences at Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB). His research focuses on organic chemistry, bio-engineering, and materials science, with a strong emphasis on polymer networks, peptide hydrogels, and analytical techniques like mass spectrometry and NMR spectroscopy. He leads interdisciplinary projects involving plasma etching, bio-based materials, and molecular characterization. Hennecke has supervised numerous Master's theses on topics ranging from hydrogel design to radical chemistry. His work spans academic collaborations in Belgium and Europe, with notable contributions to biopolymer production in extremophiles and enantioselective analysis methods.

Key affiliations include the Faculty of Sciences at VUB, where he contributes to research in organic chemistry and bio-engineering. His recent projects (2021–2025) focus on plasma etching applications, mass spectrometry platforms, and NMR spectroscopy development. Collaborations involve institutions like Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre and CERN for crystal structure analysis. His research combines computational modeling (DFT, stochastic searches) with experimental synthesis and characterization.

• Research Highlights:
  • Peptide hydrogel structural elucidation using crystallography
  • Development of dynamic polymer networks via computational-synthetic integration
  • Enantioselective analysis of amino acids via LC-MS/MS
  • Microbial production of polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) using thermophilic bacteria
• Grants & Projects:
  • HERC67 (2024–2028): Plasma etching for material surface engineering
  • OZR3939 (2022–2025): Mass spectrometry platform for drug lead characterization
  • OZR3584 (2020–2024): NMR spectroscopy for organic molecule analysis

Publications span 2002–2025, with over 70 peer-reviewed articles and datasets on crystal structures, peptide networks, and analytical methodologies. His work frequently bridges organic chemistry with biomedical and industrial applications.