Researchers at the Center for Soft Nanoscience (SoN) prepare synthetic materials based on biological models such as addressable nanocontainers or materials that switch their function in response to an external trigger. Besides these fundamental investigations, the high-precision tools required to make and analyze these nanomaterials are developed at the SoN.
In March 2026, the current research at the SoN was literally in the spotlight. A team from WDR visited to learn firsthand about the latest approaches to researching sperm motility. Thanks to cryo-electron microscopy, cells can be visualized down to their atomic structure. This approach is used by the research group at the SoN, led by Christos Gatsogiannis, in cooperation with Timo Strünker from the Center for Reproductive Medicine and Andrology, among other things, to advance the search for new contraceptives.
The report, which aired on March 18, 2026, on the local news program "Lokalzeit Münsterland," is now also available online.
SoN PIs and students participated in the kick-off meeting of CoMBiS, a program for collaborative research and exchange on the interface of carbon-based materials and biology. The program was initiated by Prof. Kenichiro Itami at RIKEN in Tokyo and includes SoN and other international partners. CoMBiS is funded by the ASPIRE program of the Japanese Science and Technology Agency (JST) and will enable research visits of early career researchers in the next five years.
The Hector Fellow Academy has awarded Junior Professor Robert Hein (Institute of Organic Chemistry) from the Department of Chemistry and Pharmacy at the University of Münster with the Research Career Development Award. The award includes a five-year membership in the Academy. It recognizes outstanding scientific achievements and supports early-career researchers in the long-term development of their research.
For 66 years now, only women have been taking contraceptives – the "pill." There is no equivalent for men. Now, the research consortium Contraception.MS aims to investigate new approaches to non-hormonal contraceptive methods for both sexes. The Federal Ministry for Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR) is providing three million euros for this purpose. With the funding commitment, the team of experts from Münster and Hamburg explains the focus of their work.
German Research Foundation funds research networks in Reproductive Medicine and Cell and Developmental Biology
2 Research Groups at the Center for Soft Nanoscience involved
The German Research Foundation (DFG) announced on November 21st that two research consortia at the University of Münster will receive multi-million-euro funding. A new Collaborative Research Centre (CRC) focusing on human reproductive biology and the causes of male infertility is to be established, with funding of around €12 million. Additionally, the DFG is extending the CRC 1348 'Dynamic Cellular Interfaces: Formation and Function' for another four years, providing approximately €12 million in support.
Approximately two million euros from the Volkswagen Foundation for a physics-biology collaboration
How the "handedness" of molecules and electron spin influence biological electron transport
The Volkswagen Foundation is funding a collaborative biology-physics project with over two million euros for five years. The research project, "Quantum Spin Effects as the Basis of Bioenergetic Processes," investigates the influence of quantum mechanical phenomena on biological electron transport. It is led by Prof. Dr. Michael Hippler (biology) and Prof. Dr. Helmut Zacharias (physics, Center for Soft Nanoscience (SoN)).
This project is a collaboration with Prof. Dr. Yossi Paltiel of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (Israel) and Prof. Dr. Martin Bodo Plenio of the University of Ulm.
The Center for Soft Nanoscience and the Institute of Physiological Chemistry and Pathobiochemistry welcome Dr. Daniele Di Iorio as new junior research group leader.
He conducts research on Engineered Bacterial Coacervates.
Jun. Prof. Khoromskia joins us at the SoN and the Institute for Theoretical Physics (ITP) as a new group leader. Her research in theoretical physics, investigating the physical processes in biological, soft matter, is supported by the NRW returning scholars grant 2023 in the area “Materials Science”. Her group will focus on development and simulations of mechano-chemical pattern formation, transport processes and morphogenesis in biological cells and tissues, in order to understand the underlying biophysical principles of self-organisation in these complex systems. ITP news
