Faculty at the Max Planck School Matter to Life
In the Matter to Life Program, you will receive first-class training, highly interdisciplinary teaching and research opportunities from outstanding experts across Germany. Our faculty is currently constituted of 50 Fellows and 11 Adjunct Fellows.
Below you will find a list of all MPS MtL Fellows, i.e. your potential PhD supervisors. Please visit the websites of the respective partner institutions to learn more about the research work of a specific Fellow.
Karen Alim
MtL research focus:
Biological Physics: Self-Organization of Shape and Function
Biological Physics: Self-Organization of Shape and Function
Philippe Bastiaens
MtL research focus:
Out-of-equilibrium biochemical 'life-like' systems
Out-of-equilibrium biochemical 'life-like' systems
Andreas Bausch
Timo Betz
Eberhard Bodenschatz
MtL research focus:
Fluid Physics, Pattern Formation and Biocomplexity
Fluid Physics, Pattern Formation and Biocomplexity
Heike Böhm
MtL research focus:
Glycans in Synthetic Biology
Glycans in Synthetic Biology
Michael Boutros
MtL research focus:
Engineering of genomes and tissues
Engineering of genomes and tissues
Dieter Braun
MtL research focus:
We are performing physico-chemical experiments to recreate Darwinian evolution from scratch. Our goal is to provide a working model of how life could have originated from a few RNA nucleotides in the volcanic environments of the early Earth. This will also reveal novel biotechnological applications, an example from the past is NanoTemper Technologies.
We are performing physico-chemical experiments to recreate Darwinian evolution from scratch. Our goal is to provide a working model of how life could have originated from a few RNA nucleotides in the volcanic environments of the early Earth. This will also reveal novel biotechnological applications, an example from the past is NanoTemper Technologies.
E. Ada Cavalcanti-Adam
MtL research focus:
Molecular and Cellular Mechanobiology
Molecular and Cellular Mechanobiology
Laura De Laporte
MtL research focus:
Advanced Materials for Biomedicine
Advanced Materials for Biomedicine
Hendrik Dietz
MtL research focus:
Biomolecular Self-Assembly & Controlling Molecular Motions
Biomolecular Self-Assembly & Controlling Molecular Motions
Tobias Erb
MtL reseach focus:
Synthetic Biochemistry: New-to-nature Enzymes, Synthetic Pathways & Articifial Cells for CO2 fixation
Synthetic Biochemistry: New-to-nature Enzymes, Synthetic Pathways & Articifial Cells for CO2 fixation
Erwin Frey
MtL research focus:
Theoretical Physics of Living Systems: Self-organisation, Fluctuations, and Pattern Formation
Theoretical Physics of Living Systems: Self-organisation, Fluctuations, and Pattern Formation
Kerstin Göpfrich
MtL research focus:
Biophysical Engineering of Synthetic Cells with DNA Nanotechnology and 3D Printing
Biophysical Engineering of Synthetic Cells with DNA Nanotechnology and 3D Printing
Ramin Golestanian
MtL research focus:
Living Matter Physics
Living Matter Physics
Frauke Gräter
MtL research focus:
Molecular Mechanisms of Mechano-Sensing
Molecular Mechanisms of Mechano-Sensing
Stephan Grill
MtL research focus:
Physics of life - Self-organization of living matter
Physics of life - Self-organization of living matter
Helmut Grubmüller
MtL research focus:
Biomolecular mechanism and function by theoretical biophysics and computer simulations
Biomolecular mechanism and function by theoretical biophysics and computer simulations
Michael Grunze
MtL research focus:
Biointerface Science
Biointerface Science
Jochen Guck
MtL research focus:
Biological optomechanics
Biological optomechanics
Stefan Hell
Andreas Herrmann
MtL research focus:
Macromolecular Materials and Systems – Sonopharmacology and Sonogenetics
Macromolecular Materials and Systems – Sonopharmacology and Sonogenetics
Anthony Hyman
MtL research focus:
Biomolecular Condensates
Copyright picture: Sven Döring
Biomolecular Condensates
Copyright picture: Sven Döring
Karin Jacobs
MtL research focus:
Experimental soft matter and biophysics: Adhesion of biomolecules and bacteria and parasites
Experimental soft matter and biophysics: Adhesion of biomolecules and bacteria and parasites
Kai Johnsson
MtL research focus:
Chemical Biology
Chemical Biology
Stefan Klumpp
MtL research focus:
Theoretical Biophysics - Physical basis of biological function
Theoretical Biophysics - Physical basis of biological function
Sarah Köster
MtL research focus:
Cellular Biophysics - Mechanics and Dynamics of the Cytoskeleton
Cellular Biophysics - Mechanics and Dynamics of the Cytoskeleton
Hans-Georg Kräusslich
Katharina Landfester
MtL research focus:
Nanoparticle protein interaction & Nanocarriers for drug delivery
Nanoparticle protein interaction & Nanocarriers for drug delivery
Reinhard Lipowsky
MtL research focus:
Hidden dimensions of self-organization
Hidden dimensions of self-organization
Martin Möller
MtL research focus:
Oligomer and Polymer building blocks for medicine and biological application
Oligomer and Polymer building blocks for medicine and biological application
Thorsten Moos
MtL research focus:
Bioethics
Copyright picture: Universität Heidelberg, Kommunikation und Marketing
Bioethics
Copyright picture: Universität Heidelberg, Kommunikation und Marketing
Marcus Müller
MtL research focus:
Statistical Physics and Simulation of Biological and Soft Matter
Statistical Physics and Simulation of Biological and Soft Matter
Andrea Musacchio
MtL research focus:
In vitro reconstitution of cell division
In vitro reconstitution of cell division
Andrij Pich
MtL research focus:
Functional & interactive polymers for biomedical and sustainable materials
Copyright picture: Fabio Sentek, DWI – Leibniz-Institut für Interaktive Materialien
Functional & interactive polymers for biomedical and sustainable materials
Copyright picture: Fabio Sentek, DWI – Leibniz-Institut für Interaktive Materialien
Joachim Rädler
MtL research focus:
Soft Matter Physics and Lipid Nanoscience in Living Systems
Soft Matter Physics and Lipid Nanoscience in Living Systems
Matthias Rief
MtL research focus:
Molecular Biophysics - Function and Folding processes of proteins
Molecular Biophysics - Function and Folding processes of proteins
Tim Salditt
Franziska Schoenebeck
MtL research focus:
Origins of chemical phenomena at a molecular level. Synthesis and homogeneous catalysis
Origins of chemical phenomena at a molecular level. Synthesis and homogeneous catalysis
Ulrich Schwarz
MtL research focus:
Soft Matter and biological physics - Forces and elasticity in cell adhesion
Soft Matter and biological physics - Forces and elasticity in cell adhesion
Petra Schwille
MtL research focus:
Cell and Membrane Biophysics & Synthetic Biology
Cell and Membrane Biophysics & Synthetic Biology
Christine Selhuber-Unkel
MtL research focus:
Molecular Systems Engineering - Materials and Bioenvironments
Copyright picture: Universität Heidelberg, Kommunikation und Marketing
Molecular Systems Engineering - Materials and Bioenvironments
Copyright picture: Universität Heidelberg, Kommunikation und Marketing
Joachim Spatz
MtL research focus:
Cellular Biophysics - Engineering of Synthetic Cells
Cellular Biophysics - Engineering of Synthetic Cells
Jörg Stülke
MtL research focus:
Our research focuses on the holistic understanding of a simple organism, the model bacterium Bacillus subtilis. We try to achieve this goal by a combination of different approaches:
- Reduction of the genome to the possible minimum
- Investigation of unknown proteins and functions
- Identification and characterization of protein-protein interactions at a global scale
- Development of genome annotation tools and databases
Kai Sundmacher
MtL research focus:
Biosystems engineering and artificial life-like systems
Biosystems engineering and artificial life-like systems
Franziska Thomas
MtL research focus:
Functional Materials, Miniproteins and Protein Aggregation
Functional Materials, Miniproteins and Protein Aggregation
Hans-Robert Volpp
MtL research focus:
Analysis of homogeneous and heterogeneous chemical reaction systems
Analysis of homogeneous and heterogeneous chemical reaction systems
Andreas Walther
Tanja Weil
MtL research focus:
Supramolecular Biomaterials to Control Cellular Functions
Supramolecular Biomaterials to Control Cellular Functions
Richard Wombacher
MtL research focus:
Selective Protein Labeling & Bioorthogonal Chemistry
Copyright picture: Marie Staggat
Selective Protein Labeling & Bioorthogonal Chemistry
Copyright picture: Marie Staggat
Martin Zacharias
Wolfram-Hubertus Zimmermann
MtL research focus:
Engineering of Organotypic Tissue Models from Pluripotent Stem Cells
Engineering of Organotypic Tissue Models from Pluripotent Stem Cells
David Zwicker
MtL research focus:
Theoretical Biophysics: Self-Organization and Pattern Formation of Soft Matter
Theoretical Biophysics: Self-Organization and Pattern Formation of Soft Matter