Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces

News & Events

Best Research Environment Award 2024

Best Research Environment Award 2024

Our Zia Fellow Dr. Vera Marie Titze

Our Zia Fellow Dr. Vera Marie Titze

Humboldt Fellowship for Dr. Xiaowen Wu!

Humboldt Fellowship for Dr. Xiaowen Wu!

Prof. Silvia Vignolini - Potsdam Science Park Ambassador

Prof. Silvia Vignolini - Potsdam Science Park Ambassador

Hats Off to Sanskar Bhagowati – Master’s Degree Accomplished!

Hats Off to Sanskar Bhagowati – Master’s Degree Accomplished!

Avanti / EBSA Award for Rumiana Dimova

Avanti / EBSA Award for Rumiana Dimova

Latest Videos

EXPs by Silvia Vignolini

September 16, 2025

A Journey into Nature’s Structural Colors
In video interviews, Silvia Vignolini shows how nature’s hidden architecture creates colours that never fade – and how her department is harnessing them for sustainable new materials. [video interviews]

Press Releases

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Scientist operates electron microscope, analyzing images on multiple screens in laboratory setting

A New Spin on an Old Material:Yu Ogawa’s ERC Project to Uncover How Nature Makes Cellulose –and to Recreate It in the Lab

December 09, 2025

Sustainable & Bioinspired Materials

We still don’t understand how nature spins simple sugar chains into the ultra-strong cellulose… more

Program booklet for Biomembrane Days 2025, placed on a yellow folder, featuring event details with a stylized membrane illustration and Berlin skyline.

Biomembrane Days 2025:Unveiling How Membranes Shape Life—from Cells to Synthetic Systems

October 13, 2025

Sustainable & Bioinspired Materials

An internationally renowned triennial conference, Biomembrane Days 2025 gathered over 200… more

SusMax: The First Max Planck Network for Circular Materials Science

October 09, 2025

Sustainable & Bioinspired Materials

SusMax is the first Max Planck network for circular, sustainable materials—founded through an… more

Silvia Vignolini

EXPs by Silvia Vignolini

September 16, 2025

Sustainable & Bioinspired Materials

A Journey into Nature’s Structural Colors more

collage of pictures at EBSA award, showing awardee Rumiana Dimova

Rumiana Dimova Awarded the Avanti/EBSA Award for Research on the Inner Mechanisms of Cell Membranes

July 30, 2025

Sustainable & Bioinspired Materials

A prestigious award goes to our scientist for advancing synthetic membrane research and… more

Selfie take by group from the department of sustainable and bio-inspired materials (MPICI) at the award ceremony.

Best Research Environment Award for SBM

June 17, 2025

Sustainable & Bioinspired Materials

Potsdam Science Day 2025

Potsdam Science Day 2025

May 20, 2025

Biomaterials Sustainable & Bioinspired Materials

We left the lab coat hanging for a day—but brought our lab equipment with us to meet more than… more

To stick or not to stick:<br>a new understanding of condensates-membranes interactions

To stick or not to stick:a new understanding of condensates-membranes interactions

March 24, 2025

Sustainable & Bioinspired Materials

Challenge: It's not just whether a membrane is in a "solid" or "liquid" state that matters—how… more

<span><span><span><span><span>ComeInCell Launches:<br />A European Doctoral Network to Train the Next Generation of Cell Scientists</span></span></span></span></span><br />

ComeInCell Launches:A European Doctoral Network to Train the Next Generation of Cell Scientists

November 01, 2024

Sustainable & Bioinspired Materials

Supported by the EU’s Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions and the UK Guarantee Scheme, the '… more

<span>Revealing Bacteria’s True Colors:</span><br /><span>Shimmering from Collective Patterns</span>

Revealing Bacteria’s True Colors:Shimmering from Collective Patterns

July 12, 2024

Sustainable & Bioinspired Materials

Scientists can now predict structural colors in bacteria. By sequencing a wide range of… more

<span><span><span><span><span><span><span>From Nanotubes to Disks: </span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br /><span><span><span><span><span><span><span>How Droplets Remodel Cell Membranes</span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />

From Nanotubes to Disks: How Droplets Remodel Cell Membranes

June 21, 2024

Sustainable & Bioinspired Materials

Biomolecular condensates may play a crucial but overlooked role in remodeling membrane… more

Mina Aleksanyan and Agustín Mangiarotti recording the membrane response at the confocal microscope

With the Flick of a Switch: Shaping Cells with Light

April 08, 2024

Sustainable & Bioinspired Materials

Imagine switching on a light and being able to understand and control the inner dynamics of a… more

When a membrane meets a droplet

When a membrane meets a droplet

May 22, 2023

Sustainable & Bioinspired Materials

Little is known yet about the interaction between these biomolecular condensate droplets and the… more

Silvia Vignolini appointed as new and first female Director of MPICI

Silvia Vignolini appointed as new and first female Director of MPICI

December 14, 2022

Sustainable & Bioinspired Materials

Prof Silvia Vignolini, Ph.D. is establishing the new Department "Sustainable and Bio-inspired… more