The projects within the IMPRS-FMD are proposed and supervised by a selected group of Faculty members. We distinguish in Teaching Faculty and Associate Faculty.
The Teaching Faculty members hold a professorship at one of the associated Universities. They act, in general, as first supervisors of the IMPRS doctoral students. The Associate Faculty members can also co-supervise and propose projects. Wherever possible, the Executive Committee will promote Associate Faculty members to become Teaching Faculty. Moreover, the number and composition of the IMPRS Faculty will change over time, in response to new colleagues and to the expansion and evolution of the thematic areas.
Teaching Faculty
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Alexander Böker
Director Fraunhofer IAP and Professor for Polymer Materials & Polymer Technology, University of Potsdam. Research interests focus on the production and self-assembly of functional (bio)nanoparticles and polymers. External fields like surface or interfacial fields as well as electric fields are employed to direct the self-assembly of these functional building blocks in 2D and 3D. Contact…
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Beate Koksch
Freie Universität Berlin, University Professor, C3/W2, Organic Chemistry / Natural Product Chemistry. Peptide, protein and cell engineering by incorporation of non-natural amino acids, in particular fluorinated amino acids; new synthesis routes to fluorinated amino acids, fluorinated biopolymers, phage display screening, proteolytic studies; peptide and protein misfolding and aggregation studies; peptide therapeutics. Contact information: https://www.bcp.fu-berlin.de/en/chemie/chemie/forschung/OrgChem/koksch/Members/Group_Head/koksch.html beate.koksch@fu-berlin.de
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Hans G. Börner
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin; Department of Chemistry Head of Laboratory for Organic Synthesis of Functional Systems. The Börner group focuses on bioinspired polymer science, using peptides and peptide-polymer conjugates for material science applications. As polymer chemists, they explore information-rich segments to program precise molecular interactions. Understanding the driving forces in these systems offers surprising opportunities to…
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Helmut Schlaad
Professor (W2), Polymer Chemistry, University of Potsdam. Development of novel bio-based polymer materials through “living”/controlled polymerization techniques and post-polymerization modification (click chemistry, etc.). Synthesis of stimuli-responsive or smart polymers, aggregates/colloids, hierarchically structured materials and composite materials for potential use in biomedical applications and in materials science. Contact information: https://www.chem.uni-potsdam.de/groups/polymer schlaad@uni-potsdam.de
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Ilko Bald
Professor (W2) for Hybrid Nanostructures, University of Potsdam. I am heading the group of Hybrid Nanostructures and our research is focused on hybrid DNA and metal nanostructures to be used for optical spectroscopy and plasmonic catalysis. We are designing nanostructures for single-molecule surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS), fluorescence-based sensing and for fundamental spectroscopic studies. Furthermore, we…
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Martina Delbianco
Research Group leader with tenure, Max-Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces. The Delbianco group focuses on the design and synthesis of carbohydrate materials. We prepare well-defined oligo- and polysaccharides as probes to study their fundamental properties with computational methods, NMR spectroscopy, and microscopy techniques. Based on these insights, we design oligosaccharides that fold into defined…
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Myfanwy Evans
Vice-Speaker of the IMPRS-FMD. W2 Professor of Applied Geometry and Topology, University of Potsdam. I am a researcher working at the interface of geometry and topology with the natural science, in particular soft and biological materials. I investigate the characterization and function of complicated, embedded three-dimensional geometric structures, including surfaces, networks, weavings and tangling. Contact…
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Peter H. Seeberger
Director, Department for Biomolecular Systems Max-Planck Institute for Colloids and Interfaces, Professor Seeberger’s research on the chemistry and biology of carbohydrates, carbohydrate vaccine development and continuous flow synthesis of drug substances spans a broad range of topics from engineering to immunology. Contact information: https://www.mpikg.mpg.de/biomolecular-systems/director/peter-seeberger Peter.Seeberger@mpikg.mpg.de
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Rainer Haag
Full Professor (W3) of Organic and Macromolecular Chemistry, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany. The goal of the research group is to design functional macromolecular architectures to understand biological principles. The research areas cover: Supramolecular polymers, Biomacromolecular systems, Functional polymers for biointerfaces, Biomass-based functional materials. Contact information: https://www.bcp.fu-berlin.de/en/chemie/chemie/forschung/OrgChem/haag/index.html haag@zedat.fu-berlin.de
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Roland Netz
Full Professor, Department of Physics, Free University Berlin. The research group of Prof. Dr. Roland Netz investigates the dynamics and structure of biological and liquid matter, with wide applications to medical, biological and nano sciences. The group uses a wide arsenal of theoretical methods, ranging from ab initio and classical force-field based molecular dynamics simulations…
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Silvia Vignolini
Speaker of the IMPRS-FMD, Director of the Sustainable and Bio-inspired Materials Department at the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces. Silvias Vignolini’s research groups focus on interdisciplinary problems at the interface of chemistry, soft matter physics, optics and biology. Their work focuses on understanding how natural materials are assembled into complex architectures in living…
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Svetlana Santer
Head of Smart Soft Matter in the Institute of Physics and Astronomy, University of Potsdam. Photo-responsive polymers, surfactants, microgels, active colloids, interactions of particles with surfaces, functional polymer films, adaptive diffractive optical elements. Contact information: https://www.uni-potsdam.de/de/iwm/index santer@uni-potsdam.de
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Vera Meyer
Professor at Technische Universität Berlin, Institute of Biotechnology, Department Applied and Molecular Microbiology. The focus is on researching and optimizing fungal cell factories, with the aim of making more effective use of fungal metabolic potentials for the production of medicines, platform chemicals, enzymes and biomaterials in the sense of a sustainable bioeconomy and circular economy.…
Associate Faculty
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Angelo Valleriani
Angelo Valleriani is the coordinator of the IMPRS-FMD. He is group leader of the group Stochastic Processes in Complex and Biological Systems. Angelo Valleriani’s research is focused on population dynamics of malaria transmitting mosquitos and parasites, cancer cell and seed dormancy, methods for statistical analysis of experimental data. Contact information: https://www.mpikg.mpg.de/valleriani angelo.valleriani@mpikg.mpg.de
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Antonio Carone
Group Leader Dr. Antonio Carone is a group leader in the Department of Sustainable and Bio-inspired Materials, headed by Prof. Silvia Vignolini, at the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces. Dr. Antonio Carone graduated with a degree in Chemistry from the University of Padova (Italy) in 2019. He later defended his Ph.D. in Nanomaterial…
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Carsten Freidank-Pohl
Postdoctoral Researcher, Department of Applied and Molecular Microbiology, Technische Universität Berlin. Description of research interests… Contact information: carsten.pohl@tu-berlin.de
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Charlotte Teschers
Group Leader Biomolecular Systems Organofluorine Chemistry and Innovative Catalysis Paradigms at the MPIKG. We want to understand how much fluorination is needed to alter a molecule’s conformation, reactivity, and behaviour, and figure out where we can dial it back. This knowledge will guide the design of safer and more sustainable functional molecules. Contact information: https://www.mpikg.mpg.de/6897238/organofluorine-chemistry-and-innovative-catalysis-paradigms…
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Chuanxiong Nie
Researcher, Institute of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Free University Berlin Research interests…. Contact information: chuanxnie@zedat.fu-berlin.de
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Francesco Palmieri
Postdoctoral Researcher @ MPI of Colloids and Interfaces, Department of Biomolecular Systems Francesco Palmieri is a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Biomolecular Systems at the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces. His postdoctoral research focuses on enzymatic ligation of oligo and polysaccharides, with a particular interest in enzymatic polymerization of building mono and…
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Hanne Antila
Postdoc Group of Roland Netz Research interests Contact information: hanne.antila@fu-berlin.de
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Hossein Batebi
Postdoc group of Roland Netz Research interests Contact information: hbat@zedat.fu-berlin.de
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Johannes Gurke
Group Leader, Applied Photochemistry and 3D Bioelectronics, University of Potsdam I explore new approaches for the fabrication of complex device architectures to monitor biological processes, using among others lithographic 3D printing techniques. Here is one challenge, to process highly conductive polymeric materials with light. Further, we explore techniques to modulate cellular processes in vivo using…
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José Angél Danglad-Flores
Group Leader in the department of Biomolecular Systems, Automated Chemistry at the MPIKG. Our goal is to strike a balance between the flexibility essential for scientific discovery and the reliability offered by standardized automated processes. By approaching machine-driven research from physical, chemical, and engineering perspectives, we aim to design a platform that democratizes access to…
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Mathias Hartlieb
Group Leader, Polymeric Biomaterials at the University of Potsdam. Our current research is focused on implementing new features into antimicrobial polymers to increase their activity without compromising their selectivity for bacterial cells. Here, we probe different polymeric architectures such as multiblock copolymers or bottle brush copolymers to study the influence of parameters like multivalence and…
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Richard Weinkamer
Group Leader of the Mechanobiology group in the Biomaterials Department at the MPIKG. The aim of our research group is to provide a quantitative description of how mechanical forces influence structural adaptation in biological materials. Our main focus is on bone. Different processes acting on very different length and time scales result in changes of…
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Rumiana Dimova
Group leader at the Membrane Biophysics Lab in the Department of Sustainable Bio-Materials. Research interests: Vesicles, especially the giant ones. Contact information: https://dimova.mpikg.mpg.de/ rumiana.dimova@mpikg.mpg.de
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Sascha Jung
Group Leader at Technische Universität Berlin. His research focuses on the biotechnological production and interdisciplinary investigation of structure–function relationships in bioactive peptides and proteins. By elucidating precise antimicrobial mechanisms of action and employing rational protein design, he aims to enable their medical application to combat multidrug-resistant fungi and bacteria. Contact information: s.jung@tu-berlin.de
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Thomas Parton
Group Leader Dr. Parton completed his undergraduate studies in Natural Sciences (Physics and Physical Chemistry) at University College London (UCL) and the California Institute of Technology, winning the MAPS Faculty Medal (2015). He obtained a PhD in Chemistry from the University of Cambridge, funded through the NanoDTC MRes+PhD program. He was awarded the ACS CELL…
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Thomas Weikl
Group Leader, Computational Biophysics, Department of Biomolecular Systems at the MPIKG. The Computational Biophysics group explores the interactions, conformations, and function of biomolecules with simulations and modelling. We investigate how conformational changes of proteins are coupled to binding and function, and how membrane proteins cooperate in the shaping and adhesion of biomembranes. Contact information: https://www.mpikg.mpg.de/en/proteins-and-membranes…
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Timothy Cairns
Postdoc TU Berlin Description of research focus Contact information: timothy.c.cairns@tu-berlin.de
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Uli Glebe
Group Leader Biohybrid Materials, University of Potsdam Our research is located at the interface between chemistry and biology. We address various aspects related to the synthesis, the characterization, and the application of peptide/protein-polymer conjugates. Our topics have two main foci: biomedical research and bioeconomy. Typical research work includes synthesis, assembly and characterization of polymers, protein-polymer…
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Vera Titze
Group Leader Dr. Vera Titze is a group leader in the Department of Sustainable and Bio-inspired Materials, headed by Prof. Silvia Vignolini, at the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces. Vera received her BSc in Physics from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and her PhD in Physics from the University of St Andrews. During her undergraduate…
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Xiaowen Wu
Postdoctoral Researcher Xiaowen is a postdoctoral scientist in the Department of Sustainable and Bio-inspired Materials, headed by Prof. Silvia Vignolini, at the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces. Xiaowen received his PhD degree in 2023 from ETH Zurich under supervision of Prof. Laura Nyström, where he mainly worked on the biopolymers (e.g. polysaccharide and…
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Yu Ogawa
Group Leader Soft Matter Electron Microscopy in the Department of Sustainable and Bio-Inspired Materials My research centers on the development of EM-based characterization methods for such radiation-sensitive materials, with a focus on cellulose and other carbohydrates. By utilizing cryogenic and low-dose electron microscopy, I aim to reveal the molecular and supramolecular structural details of this…