Recent highlights:
Received seed funding from the SynGen Center to explore synthetic genomes in bottom-up synthetic biology. 🚀
The first work of my PhD is now published:
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
Huge thanks to Franziska Gießler, Tobias Abele, Stefan Maurer, and @kgoepfrich.bsky.social
Mechanically Programmable DNA Hydrogel Microparticles for 3D Cellular Systems - h/t @kgoepfrich.bsky.social
Happy to share our latest work in collaboration with IBEC. Congratulations to recent PhD graduate and lead author @towalther.bsky.social!
So excited to have James as a new colleague!
We are recruiting a tenure track professor in the broader area of molecular biology @zmbh.uni-heidelberg.de at Heidelberg University! www.nature.com/naturecareer... Please share and apply!
Is it possible to engineer new cellular life from the bottom up?
The Göpfrich group @kgoepfrich.bsky.social @mpi-mr.bsky.social have designed an RNA origami nanotube 🟡 to mimic the cytoskeleton:
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
It was a fun challenge to animate T7 RNA polymerase 🔵
#blender #b3d
Video
New to RNA design? Please try pyFuRNAce! Looking forward to your feedback 🧬
DNA hydrogel microparticles are designed to exhibit controllable viscoelasticity and stiffness across three orders of magnitude from 30Pa$30 \,\mathrm{Pa}$ to 6.5kPa$6.5 \,\mathrm{kPa}$. They are upt...
advanced.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Ribozymes enable sequence-encoded turnover of RNA droplet material, resulting in transiently active droplets that selectively segregate based on their genotype. This establishes a direct link between...
Next up, the great Kerstin Göpfrich @kgoepfrich.bsky.social @zmbh.uni-heidelberg.de on her long-term vision of synthetic cells, and very concrete approaches using RNA origami.
#gfv2026
Still time to apply until January, 19th!
Kerstin Göpfrich
Kerstin Göpfrich
Rahul K
Kerstin Göpfrich
Kerstin Göpfrich
Kerstin Göpfrich
Kerstin Göpfrich
We are recruiting a tenure track professor in the broader area of molecular biology @zmbh.uni-heidelberg.de at Heidelberg University! www.nature.com/naturecareer... Please share and apply!
The Center for Molecular Biology of Heidelberg University (ZMBH) and the Faculty of Biosciences invite applications for a Tenure Track Professors...www.nature.com
[Meet our doctoral candidates 🫧]
Dana Venkert is our DC working at the Heidelberg University under the supervision of @kgoepfrich.bsky.social.
Dana, who completed her M.Sc. in Molecular, Cellular, and Systemic Neuroscience at Tel Aviv University, will now explore the RNA design world in SigSynCell
SigSynCell MSCA DN
Thrilled to be joining the ZMBH, where my lab will continue to explore the evolution and engineering of living membranes. Farewell @bcube-tud.bsky.social...I couldn't imagine a better place to have started my lab! I'm perpetually grateful to my lab group for making this such a successful adventure!!
New paper in Advanced Materials! We present DNA hydrogel microparticles for 3D tissue engineering, showing programmable material properties and cell-material interactions! Special thanks to Eleni Dalaka
@gflaesch.bsky.social @kgoepfrich.bsky.social @xaviertrepat.bsky.social
doi.org/10.1002/adma...
PyFuRNAce is an intuitive browser-based RNA design tool.
@monari-luca.bsky.social @kgoepfrich.bsky.social @uniheidelberg.bsky.social realized the largest cotranscriptionally folded RNA nanostructures to date. #BiotechNatureComms
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
RNA nanotechnology creates structural and functional RNA architectures for biomedicine, synthetic biology and beyond. Here, the authors introduce pyFuRNAce, an intuitive browser-based RNA design tool....
The ZMBH welcomes Dr. James Sáenz @jamessaenz.bsky.social as new Professor in Molecular Biology. James previously led a research group at B CUBE - Center for Molecular Bioengineering of Dresden University of Technology.
