Ishini Sooriyabandara joins our group
We are excited to welcome Ishini Sooriyabandara to the Tkachenko Research Group as a graduate student. Ishini will be working on the photochemistry projects, where she will contribute to modeling light-driven processes at complex interfaces. We are looking forward to the insight and energy she brings to the team!
Official launch of Tkachenko research group
On August 16, 2025, Nikolay Tkachenko officially began his appointment as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of Oklahoma. With research interests spanning quantum computing for chemistry, interfacial photochemistry, and enantioselective catalysis, the Tkachenko Research Group is now actively recruiting motivated students and looking for fruitful collaborations. We are excited to launch new projects at the intersection of theoretical chemistry and emerging quantum technologies, and look forward to contributing to the vibrant research community at OU.
Mia Pancioli joins our group
We are excited to welcome Mia Pancioli, a third-year undergraduate student majoring in Chemical Biosciences at the University of Oklahoma, to the Tkachenko Lab. Mia will be working on the computational design of chiral catalysts for enantioselective hydrogenation reactions. This is her first research experience, and we are thrilled to have her on board!
Giovanni Bartolozzi joins our group
We welcome Giovanni Bartolozzi, a senior undergraduate student at the University of Oklahoma pursuing a dual degree in Biochemistry and Philosophy, to the Tkachenko Lab. Giovanni will be working on the computational design of chiral catalysts for enantioselective hydrogenation reactions. We are excited to have him join our team!
First official publication!
We are thrilled to share that our group’s first official publication has just appeared in Chemical Science! This project began during my postdoctoral work at Berkeley with Martin Head-Gordon and Birgitta Whaley and was brought to completion here at the University of Oklahoma. It also marks my first corresponding author paper with OU affiliation! A great milestone for our newly established lab.
Another exciting news for Tkachenko Lab
Just today, we received the news that our second publication has been accepted to Inorganic Chemistry! This work is the result of a great collaboration with our wonderful colleague Prof. Songlin Xue, who synthesized a beautiful oxo-bridged porphyrin dimer. Our group contributed the computational analysis, including UV/vis spectral simulations and antiferromagnetic coupling modeling.
Our paper is on the front cover!
We got wonderful news today! Our cover art for our recent Chemical Science paper was accepted for the inside front cover! Big thanks to Anastasiia Tkachenko, who contributed greatly to this cover art.
Houyou Lei joins our group
We are happy to welcome Houyou Lei to the Tkachenko Research Group as a graduate student. He will work on computational chemistry on quantum computers. We look forward to his contributions to the team!
New collaboration paper out!
We are excited to share a manuscript, published in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces in collaboration with Hyunho Noh’s group! We show that changing the electrolyte (buffer identity + proton activity) tunes Ce-MOF-808 PCET kinetics by orders of magnitude. Our group contributed the computational analysis of MOF-buffer interactions and node acidity.
