Advanced Polymers and Biomaterials
Biological interfaces with controlled properties
Biological systems are sensitive to surface properties such as chemical, geometry and topological properties. To achieve control over interactions at the interface of biological systems and their environment, the development of materials in which individual properties can be manipulated at the micro-and nanometer scale is of great importance. The department of Advanced Polymers and Biomaterials focuses on the targeted synthesis of such materials through manipulation of chemical and physical properties and the study of these materials in biological systems. To this end, we apply advanced synthesis methods, such as Chemical Vapor Deposition, Electrohydrodynamic-co-Jet Writing and controlled polymerization techniques. The optimization of the structure-property-relationship of these systems is enabled by multi-modal materials characterization. Besides widely-applied surface analysis techniques (Optical microscopy, IR-techniques, AFM, SEM,…) we focus on Spectroscopic Imaging Ellipsometry and TOF-SIMS to reveal the topological and chemical properties of the materials.
We closely cooperate with our US-sister group, the Lahann Lab at University of Michigan.
Working groups
Precision Synthesis of Biomaterials and Biointerfaces
Synthesis of organic substances (such as functionalized [2.2]Paracyclophanes and pyridinophanes, organic linkers and keteneacetale) and functionalized monomers (e.g. zwitterionic monomers and lactones), Synthesis of polymers (i.e. Controlled radical polymerization). Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) Polymerization, Surface modification by means of controlled polymerization and click chemistry, Generation of micro- and nanostructured substrates, Electrohydrodynamic co-jetting of particles and fibers.
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Congratulations to Dr. Martina Plank for receiving the European Future Faculty and Researchers Awards from the journal Polymer (Elsevier) at the 2026 Bordeaux Polymer Conference. These awards recognize exceptional young scientists under 40 who have made significant contributions to polymer science and engineering, while serving as senior postdoctoral researchers in non-permanent positions across Europe. Each awardee presented a featured talk at the conference, sharing their groundbreaking research with the international polymer community. Additionally, their work will be showcased through invited articles in a special issue of Polymer, highlighting their contributions to the field.
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Abdelrahman Elrawy, doctoral student in the department of Advanced Polymers and Biomaterials, won the second poster price at the Nano In Bio conference, taking place from May 30 to June 6 in Le Gosier, Guadeloupe, FWI. On his poster "Deep Learning Assisted Investigation Of Drug-Protein Interactions Using Drying Droplet Patterns" he presented his work on the amazing phenomenon that the patterns that are left behind after the drying of a complex fluid hold a wealth of information, e.g. about the interaction between proteins and small molecules, that can be revealed and classified using machine learning. Congratulations, Abdo!
Robin Wilhelm, doctoral student working in the department of Advances Polymers and Biomaterials, won the third poster price at the NextGenMaterials conference organized by the German Society for Materials Science (DGM) in Hamburg. His poster on “Development of Engineered Living Material fiber meshes with chemically and temporally distinct compartments” presents his efforts to create multi-compartmental fibers for the safe encapsulation and thus widespread usage of genetically modified organisms as part of a collaborative project with the Synthetic Biology-Team of Dr. S. Sankaran of the INM Saarbrücken. Congratulations, Robin!
