The Center for Research in Biological Chemistry and Molecular Materials (CiQUS) welcomes Dr. Manuel Souto, a talented researcher from the Institute of Materials of Aveiro - CICECO (Portugal). Souto thus supports the cutting-edge, multidisciplinary research condicted at CiQUS: "I begin this new stage with great enthusiasm and a strong desire to set up the laboratory and the new team. I have been very well received at the center from the first day," comments the young researcher. "I am confident that I can contribute new lines of research, some of which complement those of other groups in the center, so I hope to collaborate with many of them and also contribute in positioning CiQUS as one of the reference centers developing science at the frontier of knowledge."
Last year, Souto received support from the European Research Council (ERC) through one of its prestigious Starting Grants (worth 1.5M euros) to design a new family of covalent organic frameworks (COFs) with applications as electrodes in rechargeable batteries: "One of the greatest current challenges in the field of batteries is to replace inorganic electrodes, based on critical elements such as cobalt, with more sustainable materials. Organic materials, being based on abundant elements, have great potential," explains the researcher. The project is part of Souto's work with electroactive polymers, which is now integrated into CiQUS's scientific activity to reinforce the area of functional materials with technological applications.
Manuel Souto is the 8th researcher at CiQUS supported by the ERC, and his ELECTROCOFS project will be the 12th project of the centre to be funded by the prestigious European organisation. In addition, CiQUS has added this year an important grant from the European Innovation Council (EIC), which further increases the centre's capacity to lead highly competitive and large-scale projects.
After a research internship at PLAPIQUI (Argentina) and a Master's at the University of Strasbourg, Manuel Souto obtained his doctorate in Materials Science in 2016 at the Institut de Ciència de Materials de Barcelona (ICMAB-CSIC) with Prof. Jaume Veciana. In 2017, he began working as a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute of Molecular Science (ICMol-UV), and in 2019, he started his independent career as an Assistant Professor at the University of Aveiro and CICECO-Institute of Materials of Aveiro, where he was promoted to Principal Investigator in 2022. Newly incorporated into USC and joined to CiQUS through the talent acquisition program Oportunius (Axencia Galega de Innovación - GAIN), Souto will continue working on the development of electroactive materials, mainly consisting of organic molecules capable of responding to electrical stimuli. The researcher declares himself "proud to have been able to develop my research career on the Iberian Peninsula, despite the challenges," and highlights the fortune of working in great research institutes with excellent researchers. CiQUS now celebrates his affiliation to the center as a Principal Investigator and foresees a promising future in this new stage ahead.