Daniel Reta is an Ikerbasque Research Associate at The University of the Basque Country and Donostia International Physics Centre. He obtained his PhD from The University of Barcelona in 2016 working with Prof. Francesc Illas and Prof. Iberio Moreira. He then moved to The University of Manchester as a postdoctoral research associate, first with Prof. Nikolas Kaltsoyannis and subsequently with Prof. Nicholas Chilton, where he worked on the description of spin dynamics in single-molecule magnets. His current research focuses on the magnetic and reactivity properties of organic radicals, merging computational and spectroscopic approaches.
In 2023 he obtained an ERC Starting Grant to work on the design of organic molecules as platforms for reversible charge-to-spin conversion with applications in chromophore optimisation and drug discovery, under the project RadicalProtON.
Further info in Google Scholar, Orcid and GitLab profiles.
Dr Shivaprasad A. Balahoju - PostDoc (2023 - current)
Shivaprasad Achary Balahoju completed his Ph.D. from CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Technology, Hyderabad, India (2018) under the supervision of Dr. Lingamallu Giribabu. He then moved to Poland for three years as a PostDoc in the group of Prof. Marcin Stepien at the University of Wroclaw and later took up a Guest researcher position at Dr. L. Giribabu's Lab at CSIR-IICT, India, as well as a guest lecturer as an Organic chemistry teacher at Palamuru University.
His main focus of research is Donor-Acceptor organic molecules for optoelectronic applications, and Pi-extended porphyrin/Corrole macrocycles. Currently, he is working on Donor-Acceptor organic diradical systems funded by the DIPC.
Dr Nicholus Bhattacharjee - PostDoc (2024 - current)
Nicholus earned his Ph.D. from the University of Delhi in 2012, under the guidance of Prof. Parbati Biswas. He then moved to France as a CNRS postdoctoral fellow at the Institut de Biologie Structurale in Grenoble with Dr. Martin J. Field, till 2015. He then moved to Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 with Prof. Marrie-Eve L. Perrin and, in 2016, at the Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa, under Dr. Giuseppe Brancato, until June 2018. He then served as an Assistant Professor at the University of Science & Technology Meghalaya, where he received a Startup Research Grant from DST, India, to establish his own research group. Subsequently, he transitioned to an industrial postdoctoral fellowship at Zymvol Biomodeling SL in Barcelona, Spain, under the Tecniospring Industry program, co-funded by the MSCA fellowship (July 2022–August 2024).
Nicholus has extensive research expertise in Computational Biophysics/Biochemistry, specialising in Molecular Dynamics Simulations, Enhanced Sampling, DFT calculations, and QM/MM. Currently he is working as a postdoctoral fellow as part of the ERC StG RadicalProtON project. Further info Google Scholar, LinkEdin, Orcid.
Hanae Boulehjour – PhD student (2023 - current)
Hanae Boulehjour is a PhD student at the University of the Basque Country and Donostia International Physics Centre working with Dr. Daniel Reta and Dr. Andoni Zabala-Lekuona. She obtained her Master’s degree at the University of Bordeaux (France). Her current research focuses on dilanthanide systems as potential qubits, involving computational and coordination chemistry methods, funded by the IKUR strategy.
Javier Marvizón Valera – DICP Summer Intern (current)
Javier Borja Marvizón Valera is a 2025 summer intern in the group. He is currently a fourth-year undergraduate student pursuing a double degree in Chemistry and in Materials Engineering at the University of Seville. Over the past three academic years, he has completed research internships at his home university under the supervision of Prof. Isabel González, Prof. Rocío Moriche, and Prof. Rosario Fernández, respectively. In 2024, he was awarded a CiQUS Summer Fellowship to work under the supervision of Prof. Diego Peña and Prof. Dolores Pérez at CiQUS, Santiago de Compostela.
His current research focuses on the radical formation by direct single electron transfer between nitroaromatics and anionic organo bases.
Alumni
MSc: Manuel Perez (2022), Mohammad Monir (2024)