Research

Biological tissues and cells are composed of diverse functional units such as organelle membranes, protein complexes, and carbohydrate assemblies. These units not only expose a huge surface area to their aqueous surrounding, but are often also densely packed, so that their surfaces mutually interact.

In our Emmy-Noether research group, supported by the German Research Foundation (DFG), we study the physical mechanisms that govern the interaction of biological interfaces with their aqueous environment and also their mutual interaction in the aqueous milieu, with a specific focus on interactions involving biological membranes. One of our main goals is to understand the relation between membrane interactions and the molecular composition of membrane surfaces. In this context we are also interested in Nature’s strategies to control the interactions by adjusting membrane composition.

To investigate interactions at biological interfaces we carry out experiments with model systems of well-defined biomolecular composition. Our primary tools are various x-ray and neutron scattering techniques, however we also employ complementary methods, such as ellipsometry, calorimetry, and spectroscopy techniques. Computer simulations provide a means to interpret the experimental results on a mechanistic level.

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