Postdoctoral Fellows
Lenin Verdhi was born and raised in the southern part of India. He earned his M.Sc. degree in organic chemistry from VIT University, Vellore, India. His Master’s thesis research was conducted on Nickel-catalyzed ethylene oligomerization reactions. In 2017, he moved to Israel for his Ph.D. with Prof. Alex M. Szpilman at Ariel University. His Ph.D. research was focused on the development of a novel class of chiral α-hydrogen substituted nitroxide radicals for enantioselective oxidations. After graduating in 2021, he remained in the same group as a postdoctoral fellow and investigated light-induced C-H oxygenation reactions. In November 2022, Lenin joined the LCSA as a postdoctoral researcher where he is currently working on the development of new CpCobalt catalysts. In his leisure time, he enjoys watching movies and listening to music.
Sripati Jana was born and raised in West Bengal, India. He studied chemistry at the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur and undertook his master’s thesis research in the group of Prof. Modhu S. Maji, working on Cobalt catalyzed C-H functionalization reaction. In 2018, he pursued his doctoral studies at the RWTH Aachen with Prof. Koenig. His PhD thesis focused on the development of new synthetic strategies for the formation of new C-C and C-X (X = heteroatom) bonds. After graduating in August 2022, he joined the LCSA at the EPFL, Switzerland for his post-doctoral research. Currently, he is investigating the development of new chiral carbene ligands and their applications in asymmetric catalysis. Outside the lab, Sripati likes travelling, listening to music and playing cricket.
PhD Students
Bram Van Den Bossche is from the Flemish town of Oosterzele, Belgium, and graduated as a Bioscience Engineer from Ghent University in July 2020. The subject of his Masterâs thesis concerned the multi-step synthesis of novel bicyclic beta-lactams, which he carried out at the SynBioC group, under the supervision of Prof. Matthias Dâhooghe. During his studies, Bram spent a semester abroad in Trondheim (Norway) within the context of an Erasmus exchange at NTNU. In December 2020, he commenced his Ph.D. at the Cramer group, where he works on C-H activation by means of asymmetric cobalt catalysis. When not in the lab, Bram enjoys above all spending time with friends, whether it be adventurous hikes, atmospheric parties, or simply a pleasant conversation over a glass of red wine.
Seongmin Jeon is from Seoul, Korea and received her Bachelorâs degree from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) in August 2021. After an internship in Prof. Sunkyu Hanâs group working on total synthesis of Securinega alkaloids and an internship in Samsung Electro-Mechanics, she spent a year in Lausanne as an exchange student at EPFL. During her exchange year, she investigated the annulation of aminocyclopropane and thiophenol under the supervision of Prof. Jerome Waser. Back in Korea, she focused on direct 19F NMR analysis of asymmetric fluorination reactions for her Bachelorâs thesis, under the supervision of Prof. Hyunwoo Kim. In September 2021, Seongmin returned to Lausanne and joined the LCSA. While not in lab, Seongmin likes to hike, swim, sing, draw and dream about her future cat (and to find a perfect name for it).
Anastasiia Vorobei received her Bachelor’s diploma in Organic Chemistry in Kyiv (Ukraine). During her Master’s studies at the UniversitĂ© Grenoble Alpes, she conducted an internship at LCSA working on the application of new chiral phosphines. From January to July 2022 she worked in the group of Pawel Dydio at the University of Strasbourg (France) where she investigated Ruthenium dual-catalytic systems. In August 2022, Anastasiia joined the LCSA to study diazaphospholenes catalyzed transformations. During her free time, she enjoys travelling and baking.
Jason Denizot received both an engineering degree in organic chemistry and a masterâs degree in biomolecules from the National Graduate School of Montpellier (ENSCM), France. After his Master’s thesis at Selvita, in KrakĂłw, he took a gap year working in Medicinal Chemistry at Roche, in Basel, where his research was focused on the synthesis of asymmetric ureas and zwitterionic active ingredients. In October 2022, he joined the LCSA as a PhD student where he is currently working on the development and applications of planar-only chiral cyclopentadienyl ligands for asymmetric catalysis. In his spare time, he enjoys watching movies and visiting museums or new places.
Wilfrido E. Almaraz Ortiz was born in Oaxaca, Mexico. He obtained his B. Sc. in Chemistry from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). Afterwards, he earned his M. Sc. degree from the Institute of Chemistry, UNAM in Prof. RubĂ©n O. Torres-Ochoaâs Lab working on the copper-catalyzed synthesis of heterocycles from O-acyloximes. In February 2023, he joined the LCSA as a PhD student. During his spare time, Wilfrido likes cycling or playing long chess games.
Patrick Langrzyk obtained his M. Sc. in Chemistry from Ludwig-Maximilians University (LMU) in Munich, specializing in both Organic and Computational Chemistry. During this period, he conducted research in the group of Prof. P. Knochel, exploring a lactamization reaction achieved through the deprotonation of formamides. Subsequently, he investigated the redox properties of modified DNA bases in the research group led by Prof. H. Zipse. After working as a research assistant in a collaborative project between LMU and Arxada AG (Visp, CH) on the electrochemical fluorination of acetone in anhydrous HF, Patrick joined the LCSA in March 2023. There, he investigated the asymmetric hydrogenation of pyridines for his Master’s thesis before rejoining the group as a PhD student in November 2023.
Navadheer Yalamanchili grew up in Vijayawada, India. He pursued his academic journey in chemistry at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay, where he completed his masterâs thesis under the guidance of Prof. Chandra M. R. Volla. His research at IIT-B focused on the Acceptorless Dehydrogenation of N-Heterocycles enabled by Cerium photoredox/Cobalt Dual Catalysis. During the summer of 2022, Navadheer expanded his research experience through an internship at the University of Virginia, USA, under the mentorship of Prof. Brent T. Gunnoe. There, he synthesized and characterized Ni(II) and Ni(0) complexes bearing capping arene ligands, investigating their catalytic applications and serendipitously discovered a Ni(0) cyclic tetramer as part of an independent research project. In January 2024, Navadheer joined the LCSA lab at the EPFL, where he is contributing to the Ambizione project under the supervision of Dr. Giuseppe Zuccarello. Outside the lab, Navadheer enjoys traveling, gathering ideas for his startup which provide a balance to his scientific pursuits.
Andrea Brugnetti received both his Bachelorâs and Masterâs degree in Chemistry at the Eidgenossiche Technische Hochschule (ETH) in Zurich, Switzerland. During his Masterâs studies he conducted works in the Morandi Lab on shuttle HAT reactions and in CopĂ©ret Group on NMR studies of group 6 metal oxides to elucidate the reactivity of active sites in silica supported catalysts. From November 2023 to April 2024 he carried out his Masterâs thesis in the Hartwig Group at UC Berkeley (California), working on the nickel-catalyzed N-arylation between aryl chlorides and amides. In April 2025, he joined the LCSA as a PhD student, where he is currently working on the synthesis of chiral anilines. In his spare time, he enjoys doing and watching all kind of sports, cooking and hiking, discovering new places.
Maxime Decourt received both an engineering degree and a masterâs degree in organic chemistry from the Ecole SupĂ©rieure CPE Lyon (France). During his studies, he did a one-year placement at The Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard in Boston (USA), where he worked on early-stage drug discovery projects. After his masterâs thesis in medicinal chemistry at Boehringer Ingelheim (Germany), he worked for 6 months at Syngenta (Switzerland) on applying nickel-photoredox catalysis to the context of PFAS replacement. In September 2025, Maxime joined the LCSA lab at EPFL as a PhD student. When not in the lab, he enjoys playing music, going to various concerts, climbing and hiking.
Administrative Assistant
Fabienne Rudin is the administrative assistant of the laboratory of Professor Nicolai Cramer. She has been working in the lab LCSA since 2012. She joined the EPFL in 2009 after several jobs in marketing. In her spare time, Fabienne likes to play tennis and enjoys skiing in Winter. A nice wine and a good meal also contribute to her happiness!