Biography

Niklas Thompson is an NIH Ruth L. Kirschstein Postdoctoral Fellow appointed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology under the mentorship of Daniel L. M. Suess. His current research aims to understand how the physiochemical properties of biological metallocofactors evolve from their underlying electronic structures. Recently, he has focused on Nature’s most ubiquitous class of metallocofactors—the iron–sulfur clusters. In addition to their biological importance, these clusters serve as the prototypical small-molecule models to study the magnetic phenomena that serve as the foundation of both cluster chemistry and condensed matter physics. Today, the complex electronic structures of iron–sulfur clusters exist at the cusp of what modern computational quantum chemistry can treat accurately, motivating a truly multidisciplinary approach to their study.

Prior to his current appointment, Niklas completed his Ph.D. at the California Institute of Technology in the Division of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering. His thesis, advised by Jonas C. Peters, elucidated aspects of the mechanism of single-site iron- and cobalt-based nitrogen fixation catalysts, using a combination of synthetic, spectroscopic, and theoretical approaches. In addition, he also developed collaborations with the laboratories of Harry B. Gray and Theodor Agapie using ⁵⁷Fe Mössbauer spectroscopy to characterize novel iron-based molecules and materials. Niklas completed a B.Sc. in both Chemistry and Mathematics at the University of Chicago, where he worked in the laboratory of the late Gregory L. Hillhouse and first developed an interest in electronic-structure aspects of transition metal chemistry.