Laura Boetje wins Rudy Rabbinge Award for the best poster at the annual meeting of the Carbohydrate Competence Center

Laura Boetje, a PhD student of the Macromolecular Chemistry and New Polymeric Materials group of the Zernike Institute for Advanced Materials, won the Rudy Rabbinge Award for the best poster at the 2023 annual meeting of the Carbohydrate Competence Center (CCC) for her poster entitled “Fully biobased crosslinked starch oleate films”.

In her research Laura explores the use of starch esterification with unsaturated fatty acids as a promising alternative to petroleum-based plastics. She investigates various synthetic strategies and post-modification techniques to optimize the material properties of starch esters. Her research provides valuable insights into the structure-property relationship of these esters and their potential applications in packaging and mulch films. Overall, PhD thesis will contribute to the advancement of biobased materials and their practical implications.