Welcome to the homepage of the Molecular-Transport group. We are an interdisciplinary research group at the Max-Planck-Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics in Dresden, Germany.

Our lab is interested in the development and the application of novel optical techniques to investigate molecular transport in cell biology and nanotechnology. Building on our experience in single molecule biophysics and in the in vitro reconstruction of subcellular mechano-systems we study cooperative effects in motor transport and cell motility. Moreover we aim to apply biomolecular motor systems in a synthetic, engineered environment for the generation and manipulation of nanostructures. Thereby, our main emphasis is on the development of methods to control the nano-transport sytems by external signals in a spatio-temporal manner. Towards this end we investigate novel biotemplate-based nanostructuring techniques and fabricate smart composite surfaces, where active enzymes are embedded in stimuli-responsive polymer layers (see projects for more information).

Our research is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, the VolkswagenStiftung, the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, the Gottlieb Daimler and Karl Benz Foundation, the Minna and James Heineman Foundation and the Max Planck Society.