Dr. Sc. Bahar Karadeniz

Research Associate

e-mail: bahar.karadeniz@irb.hr
Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.hr/citations?user=5qf5RM4AAAAJ&hl=en
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9629-6322
CRORIS: https://www.croris.hr/osobe/profil/34243?lang=en

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bahar-karadeniz-55743588/

Research Associate, RBI RBI, 2020-present
Postdoctoral Researcher, RBI LASC, 2017-2020
Postdoctoral Researcher, Fujian Institute of Research on the Structure of Matter, 2015-2017

Ph.D., The University of Nottingham, 2015
M.S., Çukurova University, 2010
B.S., Çukurova University, 2007

Bahar received her Bachelor's (2007) and Master of Science degree (2010) from Çukurova University, Chemistry Department in Turkey. Following this, she started her Ph.D. study at the University of Nottingham, School of Chemistry, under the supervision of Prof Martin Schröder and Prof Jonathan McMaster (2011-2015). From 2015 to 2017, she worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the Fujian Institute of Research on the Structure of Matter at the Chinese Academy of Sciences (FJIRSM), China. In 2017, she joined the Ruđer Bošković Institute (RBI) as a Postdoctoral Researcher and was promoted to Research Associate in 2020. Her research focuses on the mechanochemical synthesis of porous materials, mainly MOFs and COFs.

Dr. Sc. Ivana Brekalo

Research Associate

e-mail: ibrekalo@irb.hr

Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=GbHBcoUAAAAJ&hl=en
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0309-5610
CRORIS: https://www.croris.hr/osobe/profil/37062?lang=en

Research Associate, RBI LASC, 2024-present

Postdoctoral Fellow, RBI LASC, 2020-2024

Ph.D., Georgetown University, 2019
M.S., University of Zagreb, 2012
B.S., University of Zagreb, 2010

Ivana hails from Croatia, where she finished her Bachelor's and Master's studies. After a short stint in the pharmaceutical industry, she went on to do her PhD at Georgetown University in Washington, DC, USA, under the supervision of Dr. K. Travis Holman (Georgetown Univ.) and Dr. Tomislav Friscic (McGill University, Montreal, Canada). Her focus is on the mechanochemistry of porous materials, including MOFs, porous molecular solids, and supramolecular porous solids. Ivana is passionate about science communication and outreach, baking, ballroom dancing, and board games.

Dr. Sc. Trpimir Ivšić

Research Associate

e-mail: tivsic1@irb.hr

Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=I1crYqwAAAAJ&view_op=list_works

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9985-9461

CRORIS: https://www.croris.hr/osobe/profil/27929?lang=en

Research Associate, RBI LASC, 2024-present

Postdoctoral Researcher, Technische Universität Wien, 2021-2023

Postdoctoral Researcher, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, 2018-2021

Postdoctoral Researcher, Lund University, 2017-2018 

Senior Research Assistant, RBI LSSB 2013-2017

Research Assistant, RBI LSSB 2008-2013

Associate, RBI GOOC 2007-2008

Ph.D., University of Zagreb,2013
M.S., University of Zagreb, 2007

Trpimir is an interdisciplinary chemist whose research bridges organic synthesis and inorganic functional materials. He gained his PhD in 2013, focusing on asymmetric organocatalytic systems at RBI and University of Zagreb, where he developed expertise in stereoselective synthesis, catalysis, chiral analysis, and DFT calculations. He then carried out postdoctoral research at the Ruđer Bošković Institute, Lund University (Sweden), EPFL (Switzerland), and TU Wien (Austria), expanding his focus to liquid crystals, organometallic catalysis, and inorganic functional materials, including high-temperature synthesis and crystal growth in the research of superconductors, photovoltaics, magnetic materials and others. Combining synthetic chemistry with advanced analytical and computational methods, his work spans from studying organic reactions in advanced reactors to designing and developing functional materials, including inorganic crystals, superconductors, and metal-organic frameworks (MOFs). Outside the laboratory, Trpimir enjoys music, chess, board games, and puzzles. 

Dr. Sc. Lidija Posavec

Postdoctoral Fellow

e-mail:  liposavec@irb.hr

Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=9d1nBq8AAAAJ&hl=hr 

ORCID:https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8555-3354 

CRORIS:https://www.croris.hr/osobe/profil/40224

Postdoctoral Fellow, RBI LASC, 2026-present

Ph.D., University of Zagreb, 2025
M.S., University of Zagreb, 2020
B.S., University of Zagreb, 2017

Lidija grew up in Varaždinske Toplice, Croatia. She obtained her B.S. and M.S. degrees in Chemistry from the Faculty of Science, University of Zagreb. After completing her M.S., she worked at the Faculty of Science on a collaborative research project with a pharmaceutical industry partner, focused on the discovery and characterization of new crystal forms of pharmaceutically active ingredients. She then pursued her PhD at the University of Zagreb under the supervision of Dr. Dominik Cinčić, where her research focused on halogen-bonded cocrystals. Her research focuses on crystal engineering, supramolecular chemistry, and the design and characterization of molecular crystals. Outside the lab, Lidija enjoys cooking, building LEGO sets, and watching Formula 1.

Dr. Sc. Valentina Martinez

Postdoctoral Fellow

e-mail: vmartin@irb.hr

Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.hr/citations?user=xt0wbz0AAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao
ORCID:https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7918-9843
CRORIS: https://www.croris.hr/osobe/profil/36096

Postdoctoral Fellow, RBI LASC, 2024-present

Research Assistant, RBI LASC, 2019-2023

Ph.D., University of Zagreb, 2024
M.S., University of Zagreb, 2019
B.S., University of Zagreb, 2017

Valentina grew up in Varaždin, Croatia. She obtained her B.S. and M.S. in chemistry from the Faculty of Science, University of Zagreb. She joined the LASC group in 2019 when she started her Ph.D. studies under the supervision of Dr Krunoslav Užarević, which she completed in 2024. Her research focuses on the synthesis of non-conventional phases of metal-organic frameworks. In her spare time, she enjoys reading, biking, hiking, and occasional bird-watching.

Emilija Petrović Hađar, mag. chem. 

PhD student

e-mail: epetrov@irb.hr

Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=TGJRGJ8AAAAJ&hl=hr&oi=ao
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0008-3788-8791
CRORIS: https://www.croris.hr/osobe/profil/51152?lang=en

Research Assistant, RBI LASC, 2025-present

M.S., University of Zagreb, 2024
B.S., University of Zagreb, 2022

Emilija obtained her B.S. and M.S. in chemistry from the Faculty of Science, University of Zagreb. She joined the LASC group in 2025 when she started her Ph.D. studies under the shared supervision of Dr Krunoslav Užarević and Dr Nikola Biliškov. Her research focuses on the mechanochemical synthesis and solid state interface reactions. Emilija is acrobatic rock'n'roll dancer and in her spare time she enjoys cooking and travelling.

Dr. Sc. Katarina Lisac

Alumni

e-mail: klisac@irb.hr
Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=v5tH7toAAAAJ&hl=hr&oi=ao
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6497-5937
CRORIS: https://www.croris.hr/osobe/profil/33319

Postdoctoral Fellow, RBI LASC, 2024-2026

Expert Associate, RBI LMAB, 2023-2024

Postdoctoral Fellow, RBI LASC, 2022-2023

Ph.D., University of Zagreb, 2020
M.S., University of Zagreb, 2015
B.S., University of Zagreb, 2012

Katarina obtained her B.S. and M.S. in chemistry from the Faculty of Science, University of Zagreb. She gained her PhD at the same university under the supervision of Dr. Dominik Cinčić, working on the metal-organic halogen-bonded cocrystals. Her research focused on the field of crystal engineering and mechanochemical synthesis of metal-organic frameworks. 

Dr. Sc. Yizhi Xu

Alumni

e-mail: yizhi.xu@irb.hr

Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=UhrXxQwAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7499-507X
CRORIS: https://www.croris.hr/osobe/profil/50683?lang=en

Postdoctoral Researcher, RBI LASC, 2025-2026

Ph.D., University of Warsaw, 2024
M.S., University of Manchester, 2019
 

Yizhi grew up in Shanghai, China. She completed her integrated Master's in Chemistry at the Department of Chemistry at the University of Manchester. During her studies in Manchester, Yizhi also gained one year of industrial experience working as an analytical chemist at M&I Materials. In 2020, Yizhi started her Ph.D. studies at the University of Warsaw under the supervision of Dr. Mihails Arhangelskis and completed her doctoral studies in 2024. She joined the LASC group in 2025 as a postdoctoral researcher. Her research spans the computational prediction of crystal structures and properties of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) and the mechanochemical synthesis of MOFs. She enjoys travelling, running and hiking in her spare time.

Dr. Sc. Natalija Pantalon Juraj

Alumni

Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=f23pzKkAAAAJ&hl=en
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0357-5817
CRORIS: https://www.croris.hr/osobe/profil/33810?lang=en

Postdoctoral Fellow, RBI LASC, 2022-2024

Research Assistant, RBI LSSCCC, 2016-2021

Ph.D., University of Zagreb, 2021
M.S., University of Zagreb, 2016
B.S., University of Zagreb, 2014

Natalija was part of the group from 2022 to 2024. Before joining the LASC group, she completed her PhD in 2021 under the supervision of Dr Srećko Kirin, working on coordination chemistry and stereochemistry of metal complexes. Her research in LASC focused on mechanochemical reactions inspired by prebiotic chemistry and the preparation of relevant HOF and MOF materials.

Dr. Sc. Tomislav Stolar

Alumni

Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.hr/citations?user=2SBPx7sAAAAJ&hl=hr
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9824-4462
CRORIS: https://www.croris.hr/osobe/profil/34411?lang=en

Twitter: https://twitter.com/stolartomislav
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomislav-stolar-41b4299b/

Research Assistant, RBI LASC, 2018-2023

Ph.D., University of Zagreb, 2022
M.S., University of Zagreb, 2016
B.S., University of Zagreb, 2014

Tomislav was part of the group from 2013 to 2023. He started as an undergraduate volunteer and became a Research Assistant in 2018. He completed his PhD in 2022 under the supervision of Dr. Krunoslav Užarević. From 2023 to 2025, he held an Adolf Martens Postdoctoral Fellowship at BAM (Berlin, Germany), and he currently holds the Add-on Fellowship for Interdisciplinary Science and Transfer of the Joachim Herz Foundation.