Research Team

Dmitry Semenov is an astrochemistry expert at MPIA who is working mainly
on unraveling chemistry of planet formation. He has developed a number 
robust chemical modeling tools such as ALCHEMIC and MUSCLE to fit 
observations of molecular lines. Dmitry uses world-leading observational facilities 
such as NOEMA and ALMA to peer into rich chemistry of protoplanetary disks.
Last but not least, he is also interested in linking the astrophysical
knowledge with the origin of life studies.

Kamber Schwarz is an expert in astrochemistry and millimeter interferometry. She studies the evolution of carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen bearing gas in protoplanetary disks with the ultimate goal of determining the composition of material available to forming planets. Her research combines observations from observatories such as ALMA and NOEMA with physcial/chemical modeling in order to constrain the timescales and mechanisms of volatile reprocessing. She is interested in expanding this research to infrared wavelengths, using JWST to observe the CNO bearing molecules in the terrestrial planet forming region of disks and in ice.
 

Tushar Suhasaria is a laboratory astrochemist with an interest in studying the synthesis of complex organic molecules of prebiotic significance. He is developing an experimental setup at the origin of life laboratory where he can use different light based approaches to trigger chemical reactions from astrophysically relevant mixed ices. The reaction products will be identified in situ, at low temperature, by a series of lasers and spectroscopic techniques and also ex situ, after warming up to room temperature, by wet chemical approach.

Klaus is working together with Thomas Henning and Dmitry Semenov on understanding the formation of prebiotic molecules. By trying to understand how these molecules could have formed in outer space and on the Hadean Earth, they hope to reveal parts of the processes involved in the origin of life. Klaus developed a complex simulation coupling up-to-date thermodynamic with -chemical models to understand the formation of nucleobases and the sugar ribose, crucial ingredients of the RNA world, inside the parent body planetesimals of carbonaceous chondrites. He aims to understand the complex reaction network producing ribose and other sugars in even deeper detail by examining the process of autocatalysis in this context with mathematical and numerical methods.

Jan Eberhardt is working with Thomas Henning and Trifon Trifonov. He is interested in detecting and characterizing planetary systems. He uses combined detection methods within the WINE and CARMENES collaborations and aims to prepare data processing pipelines for a combined RV and astrometry analysis of the upcoming Gaia full data release.
 

Marten is a PhD student working with Prof. Dr. Thomas Henning and Dr. Roy van Boekel on observations and modelling of protoplanetary disks (PPDs). He uses mid-Infrared interferometry for detailed observational characterisation of these objects on spatial scales corresponding to the inner solar system. By modelling the observational data from the Multi-AperTure mid-Infrared SpectroScopic Experiment (MATISSE) he investigates the general makeup of PPDs, focusing on the gap/cavity structures that are present in many PPDs, that possibly result from the interaction of currently forming giant planets with the disk material.