Richard Kelly talks to Stefan Matile about painting, fake tongues and flamenco. 

Stefan Matile is a professor of organic chemistry at the University of Geneva, Switzerland. His research is at the interface of organic, biological and supramolecular materials chemistry, allowing him to explore applications such as porous biosensors and artificial photosynthesis.

 

What inspired you to become a scientist?

Science was actually my second choice. After school and college, I wanted to become an artist so I went to art school. It was a disaster. I had no talent, but somehow I developed an interest in chemistry, particularly through the materials. I saw the pigments and etchings and wondered 'why is yellow yellow?' and 'why is blue blue?' Failing at art school was the start of my chemistry career.

Was it easy for you to change from art to chemistry?

I had very little scientific experience so at first it was very tough. However, I didn't really see this as a disadvantage. Of course I had to work, but I was at an age where I was much more able to learn new things. Later on, I felt I benefited from the underlying similarities. After all, making new discoveries requires the same skills whatever the subject. Artists are probably more knowledgeable about using their intuition than chemists.

What motivated you to study in your particular area?

At the heart of it is the creativity of the chemistry. I am very interested in the ability to make new architecture that can do something interesting. This drove me to organic chemistry, where the construction of molecules is a strong theme. I branched into biological chemistry because I wanted to work with very large molecules and very big questions, ending up with very useful functions.

What are you working on at the moment?

We are building large molecules that can do interesting operations. For example, we are developing an artificial tongue which we use as a multifunctional sensor device that can analyse a variety of substances. For example, we can sense citrate in orange juice, lactate in milk and monosodium glutamate in soy sauce. We hope to develop this commercially for use in diagnostics, drug discovery and simply to detect enzymes, as many of these are difficult to detect using existing techniques, or need radio labelling which is expensive and wasteful.

You are also interested in artificial photosynthesis. Can you give a brief overview of what this is?

The definition of photosynthesis is the conversion of photonic energy into chemical energy. The classical reaction is the splitting of water. However, there is also a parallel approach, which is not photosynthesis, but converts photonic energy into electrical current. From an energy point of view, it doesn't really matter which solution is found, but from the scientific point of view, it is probably easier to make current.

There are many biological applications that you can study. How do you decide which areas you target?

Collaborations play a large role in what I investigate. For example, from the literature I was aware of controversy concerning arginine-rich cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs), which did not seem to really penetrate cells! In our research, we have observed that counterions have an enormous influence on the function of the arginine-rich pores. At a conference, I presented our idea to use counterions to make CPPs really enter cells and, as a result, we started a collaboration with Shiroh Futaki, one of the leading names in the CPP field.

You started your academic career in the US. Are there many cultural differences working in the US compared to Europe?

Yes, there are many differences. What I like most about the US is the passion and the optimistic attitude. In Europe, I find that people treat science more as a profession than a passion. However, I think that science is structured better here.

What can be done to encourage young people to study the chemical sciences?

This is a big problem and a very important point. The biggest problems that society faces, for example energy, will need to be solved by chemists, together with physicists and other scientists. We need to attract the most creative and talented young people to solve these problems. This needs to start with the teaching. 

Also it is very important for scientists to be in the news, letting the general public know how important science is to today's problems. Unfortunately, many scientists do not enjoy being in the spotlight.

If there was one chemical problem that you could solve what would it be?

The energy problem. Of course, there are other important areas such as drug discovery. I can see enormous potential at the interface with immunology, for example. Analytical tools from genomics and proteomics can lead to targets being identified much more easily. However, if you look at the world as a whole, the energy problem is just so much more important. It is almost like a holy grail!

What do you do in your spare time?

Unfortunately, part of being a scientist is that you don't have much spare time! However, science does give me the opportunity to visit many other countries and meet friends who have the same passion, which is fantastic. I used to enjoy flamenco dancing. I was never good but I loved it. The rhythm is very difficult and the style is very powerful.