Isranalytica 2019

Chair of Analytical Chemistry and Water Chemistry
Institute of Hydrochemistry, TU Munich, Germany

Lecture title: Compound-Specific Isotope Analysis: Perspectives to Study Reaction Mechanisms in Complex Systems

Martin Elsner (*1972 in Hamburg) studied chemistry at the University of Freiburg and ETH Zürich, and earned his doctorate in environmental sciences at ETH Zürich (2003). After postdoctoral stays at EAWAG and at the University of Toronto he moved to Helmholtz Zentrum München, Institute of Groundwater Ecology, where he headed a Helmholtz Young Investigator Group (2006-13) and, in the course of an ERC Consolidator Grant, his own research unit (2014-17). In 2011 he earned his venia legendi at the University of Tübingen in Analytical Chemistry und Environmental Chemistry. Since 2017 Martin Elsner is Full Professor of Analytical Chemistry and Water Chemistry, and director of the Institute of Hydrochemistry at TUM.
His research targets analytical method development to investigate the fate of chemicals and microorganisms in complex systems, with a particular focus on characterizing underlying (bio)chemical reaction mechanisms. Besides laser-, particle- and bioanalytics, research at the Institute of Hydrochemistry focuses on compound-specific isotope analysis to analyze isotope effects at natural abundance. Through analytical innovation the Institute contributes to a better management of chemicals in the environment, to characterizing natural attenuation and to optimizing turnover in technical systems.
Martin Elsner was awarded a Helmholtz Young Investigator Grant in 2006 and an ERC Consolidator Grant in 2013. He was selected for the “Helmholtz Academy for Executives” in 2011, received the Water Chemistry Price of the GDCh in 2013 and became Member of the Young Academy of Europe in 2015. He is author of over 80 publications, for a full list see http://www.researcherid.com/rid/J-4637-2012