Leibniz Institute for Polymer Research Dresden

2024

• 01/2024 - In our longstanding collaboration with the Collins lab, Felix et al. explored the capabilities of machine learning to identify new structural classes of antibiotic compounds, published in Nature. Read more here.

2023

• 11/2023 - Collaboration with the Collins lab we used machine learning to identify a compound-called semapimod-that inhibits dormant and persister cells, published in Cell Chemical Biology. Read more here.
• 11/2023 - Julia Maret Schmidt joins the lab as a student to work on bacterial adhesion.
• 10/2023 - Together with Rut Carballido-Lopez, we explored the role of nucleotides in the filamentation of a purified MreB using crystallography and in vitro binding assays. This work is the first report on a MreB from a Gram-positive species, which are notoriously hard to purify. Read more here.
• 07/2023 - Juliane developed a model of bacterial infections of bloodstream contacting medical device surfaces. She showed that the model can be used to explore whole blood and bacterial interactions on substrates with anchor polymer coatings. Her work is promising to reduce the need for animal models. Read more here.
• 06/2023 - In collaboration with the van Teeffelen lab at the University of Montreal, we found that the incorporation of peptidoglycans plays no role in controlling the global growth rate of the cell envelope Peptidoglycan insertion has no role in controlling the global rate of cell-envelope growth in E. coli, Salmonella, V. cholerae, nor in controlling the plastic response of cell shape to mechanical forces. Read more here. 
• 06/2023 - In work recently published by Nature, we discovered that entropic repulsion caused by interfacial orientational fluctuations of cholesterol layers multilayers restricts protein adsorption and bacterial adhesion. This effect adds another layer of protection to the springtails arsenal against biomolecular adhesion. Read more here.
• 03/2023 - Beatrise is returning to the USA, we wish her all the best in her next endeavors.
• 01/2023 - A review spearheaded by Andreas Roschger, Cécile M. Bidan, and John W. C. Dunlop highlights that curved interfaces are not merely a passive by-product of the chemical, biological, and mechanical processes but that curvature acts also as a signal that co-determines these processes. Read more here.

2022

• 02/2022 - Melissa's hard work on the evaluation and introduction of a combination of techniques to assess the efficacy of antimicrobial coatings is published in Applied and Environmental Microbiology
• 01/2022 - Our collaborative work with Chris de Graffenried on Trypanosomal dynamics where we introduce a new method to monitor Trypanosomal division in vitro, which should open avenues for other researchers studying Trypanosomal biology, was accepted by PLoS Pathogens

2021

• 08/2021 - Andre's work on a versatile amphiphilic copolymers platform to tune the properties of biofunctional surfaces published in Advanced Materials
• 07/2021 - Our collaborative work with Felix Wong, Ethan Garner and Ariel Amir on cellular lysis of E. coli in the presence of beta-lactam antibiotics at the single cell level is accepted by Frontiers in Microbiology
• 04/2021 - Collaborative work with Felix Wong and James Collins to understand the mechanistic details of antibiotic actions at the single cell level published in Nature Communication
• 03/2021 - Postdoc Beatrise Berzina joined the lab to work on the VirChip project to develop an integrated point-of-care/need to detect viral and bacterial pathogens - welcome!
• 01/2021 - Pedro Rangel successfully defended his Master Thesis on "Investigation of the single cell growth behavior of Escherichia coli expressing the GASP phenotype under various conditions" - congrats!

2020

• 06/20 - Together with Elisha Krieg we successfully applied for a two-year grant from the Else Kröner Fresenius Zentrum for developing an isothermal-based point-of-care diagnostic device (VirChip)

2019

• 09/2019 - Protein adsorption on various polymer surfaces revisited over many years was published by Biointerphases

2018

• 12/18 - A protocol to manipulate bacterial cell shape is available at Current Protocols in Chemical Biology (read the article: Engineering Bacterial Shape Using Soft Matter Microchambers)
• 03/18 - Congrats to Sandra! Her paper: 'Analyzing the antiseptic capacity of silver-functionalized poly(ethylene glycol)–heparin hydrogels after human whole blood exposure' is published in Biomaterials Science
• 02/18 - Collaborative work on MreB filaments orientation with the labs of Ethan Garner, Jan Löwe and Ariel Amir is published in eLife
• Sandra's manuscript on the antiseptic efficacy of silver-loaded PEG gels is accepted at Biomaterials Science
• 01/18 - Jenna's work on the growth of archaeal cells made the cover of Nature Microbiology
• 01/18 - Lars is invited to talk about our work at the Biochemisches Kolloquium at the Leipzig University
• 01/18 - Julia's work on a new methodology to assess the influence of the matrix effects during mass spectrometry measurements of complex urine samples was accepted by the Journal of Chromatography A
  

2017

• 12/17 - Jenna's paper: 'Archaeal cells share common size control with bacteria despite noisier growth and division' is published online with an accompanying blog entry
• 12/17 - We represented the Leibniz Institute and the bioengineering BIOPOLIS of the TU Dresden at the '3. Sächsisch-Tschechischer Innovationstag' in Prague (Verbindungsbüro der Staatskanzlei Sachsen)
• 10/17 - Collaborative work on the growth of Halobacterium salinarum with Ethan Garner's and Ariel Amir's lab was accepted by Nature Microbiology - congrats to Jenna!
  
• 09/17 - Susann defends her master thesis - congrats!
• 08/17 - Read our cover story on Nature Microbiology
• Felix wrote a summary on our work in a Behind the Paper piece
• 07/17 - Our manuscript 'Mechanical strain sensing implicated in cell shape recovery in Escherichia coli' with Felix, Sven, Gizem and Ariel was accepted by Nature Microbiology
  
• 02/17 - Final version of our manuscript on the detection of ESKAPE species is published at AEM

2016

• 12/16 - Our manuscript on a portable device for the detection of pathogens gets some press
• 12/16 - Together with Ariel Amir, Ethan Garner, Ulrich Gerland and Sven van Teeffelen, Lars receives funding from the Volkswagen Foundation through a Life? grant (Project Description)
• 11/16 - Olga joins to lab to work on bacterial cell wall
• 11/16 - Our manuscript on the detection of ESKAPE bacterial species on a portable device was accepted by Applied Environmental Microbiology
• 10/16 - Lucas Möbes is exploring microstructuring of surfaces
• 10/16 - Tina Ramberg is learning how to combine microfabrication and microbiology
• 09/16 - Susann Bobe is joining the lab to work on bacterial cell shape

2015

• 07/13/15 - graduate student Emmanouil is joining the lab
• 06/06/15 - Manuscript 'Evaluation of the Matrix Effect of Different Sample Matrices for 33 Pharmaceuticals by Postcolumn Infusion' was accepted by the Journal of Chromatography B
• 04/09/15 - Manuscript on 'A simple two-step silane-based (bio-) receptor molecule immobilization without additional binding site passivation' was accepted by RCS Advances

2014

• 10/13/14 - Lab starts at the Leibniz Institute of Polymer Research Dresden and the Max-Bergmann Center for Biomaterials as an associated Research Group in the Institute of Biofunctional Polymer Materials (Prof. Dr. Carsten Werner)