Chair of Biomaterials

Bio inspired high performance materials

The research activities of the Chair of Biomaterials focus on the characterization, functionalization, and biotechnological production of structural proteins as well as the development of processing methods for technical and medical applications. Natural protein materials often exhibit optimized properties, which makes them highly attractive as inspiration for the development of innovative bio inspired polymer materials.

The chair investigates various model systems, including spider and insect silks as well as collagen rich byssus threads from mussels. In addition, the research addresses the analysis and production of peptides and hybrid materials. The starting point is always the understanding of molecular interactions and assembly mechanisms of the underlying peptides and proteins and their impact on structure function relationships and material properties. The biomimetic recombinantly produced proteins are characterized with regard to their physicochemical properties and processed into different material forms using variable processing methods.

An interdisciplinary team contributes expertise in six working areas:

• Protein analytics
• Protein design
• Recombinant protein production white biotechnology
• Functionalization and modification of proteins
• Process engineering including spinning casting coating processes and microfluidics
• Cell biology

Due to their morphological variability, outstanding mechanical properties, biocompatibility, biodegradability, and functionalizability, biopolymers such as spider silk or mussel collagen have great application potential. As a link between industry and university research, the chair develops novel high performance materials and enables new technical and medical applications. Fields of application include filter materials for fine dust filtration, special textiles, cosmetics, wound care, implant coatings, and drug delivery systems.