Principal Investigators

Prof. Nico Bruns

Nico Bruns has been Professor of Macromolecular Chemistry at the University of Strathclyde since October 2018. Before taking up this position, he was Associate Professor of Macromolecular Chemistry at the Adolphe Merkle Institute, University of Fribourg. His research encompasses an interdisciplinary, bio-inspired approach that combines polymer chemistry and protein engineering to create new opportunities for the sustainable synthesis of polymers.

Prof. Beverley Glover

Beverley Glover joined the University of Cambridge in 1996 following a PhD at the John Innes Centre in Norwich. Her main area of interest is the evolution and development of floral features which attract pollinating animals. She is keen to approach questions of floral evolution in an integrative way, combining molecular genetic approaches to understand floral development with functional analyses using bumblebees and other pollinators.

Prof. Günter Reiter

Günter Reiter is Professor at the Institute of Physics of the University of Freiburg. His research focuses on the behaviour and properties of polymers at interfaces and surfaces, growth processes (crystallization) of complex systems, and molecular self-assembly and formation of functional structures on surfaces.

Prof. Jürgen Rühe

Jürgen Rühe is Head of the Institute for Microsystems Technology, Freiburg. His research interests include the development of new methods for the modification of surfaces and interfaces, light-induced attachment of molecules to surfaces, generation of ultrathin surface-attached networks, and surface functionalization especially for biomedical applications.

Prof. Thomas Speck

Thomas Speck is Professor of Botany: Functional Morphology and Bionics, and Head of the Freiburg Botanical Gardens at Albert-Ludwigs-University Freiburg. His research interests include biomimetics (particularly bio-inspired materials and surfaces, biomechanics and functional morphology of plants, evolution of growth forms and other functional parameters in plants, and early evolution of land-plants.

Prof. Ullrich Steiner

Ullrich Steiner is the Chair of Soft Matter Physics at the Adolphe Merkle Institute, University of Fribourg. His areas of research include the physics of pattern formation on surfaces and in thin films, the properties of polymer in confinement, the synthesis of inorganic materials in self-assembled organic templates and the control of the nanometer morphologies in organic and dyes sensitised solar cells.

Prof. Silvia Vignolini

Silvia Vignolini is currently a Professor at the University of Cambridge in Chemistry and Bio-inspired materials. Her research interest lies at the interface of chemistry, soft-matter physics, optics, and biology. In particular, her research focuses on the study of how natural materials are assembled into complex architectures within living organisms and how such materials can be exploited to fabricate a novel class of photonic pigments.

Prof. Christoph Weder

Christoph Weder is Professor of Polymer Chemistry and Materials at the Adolphe Merkle Institute (AMI) of the University of Fribourg, serves as AMI’s director, and also leads the Swiss National Center of Competence in Research Bio-Inspired Materials. His main research interests are the design, synthesis and investigation of novel functional polymers, in particular stimuli-responsive polymers, bio-inspired materials, supramolecular systems, and polymer nanocomposites.