Polymer Chemistry and Bioengineering
Our group deals with engineered biomacromolecules or bioorganic hybrid structures for various medical and technological applications. These materials are fabricated by integrating tools from Organic- and Polymer Chemistry as well as from Molecular Biology. For evolving complex functions the accurate assembly of different building blocks into well-defined nanoscopic aggregates is an important requirement. For their characterization various nanotechnology tools like scanning force microscopy, transmission electron microscopy and fluorescence-based techniques are utilized. Finally, the interactions of the assemblies with living matter are explored, e.g. in the context of advanced drug delivery vehicles. Other applications are diagnostic and nano-electronic devices or the bottom-up construction of proto-cells.