2016 Heinzel-Mondi-Sappi Award goes to Hubert Hettegger

The PhD work of Dr. Hubert Hettegger was awarded with the 2016 Heinzel-Mondi-Sappi Award, which "recognizes outstanding scientific publications (PhD theses, master theses, journal publications etc.) having a potentially significant positive effect on the future of the pulp and paper industry". His PhD thesis "Modification of biopolymers for improved wound-healing" touches the borderline region of cellulose chemistry, organic as well as analytical chemistry, the 9 SCI papers contained amounting to 41 journal impact points. The work addresses new general ways to chemically modify celluloses in the never-dried state – this way avoiding hornification effects and reactivity losses – by very clean and straightforward reactions (so-called "click chemistry"), and subsequently equip celluloses with photochemically active molecules that produce singlet oxygen. This approach is then employed in wound coverages that are able to reduce bacterial infection and wound odor, which are major medical and social challenges in modern wound treatment and hospital care. The thesis was composed within the framework of the Christian Doppler Laboratory for "Advanced Cellulose Chemistry and Analytics" at the Department of Chemistry, Division of Chemistry of Renewable Resources, and was supervised by Thomas Rosenau and Antje Potthast. The Heinzel-Mondi-Sappi Award 2016 will be presented on Wednesday, May 11th, during the Gala Dinner of the Paper & Biorefinery Conference in Graz, Austria, where the award winners briefly present their contribution to the public.