Fenja Murken
Ph.D. student
Contact
Heidelberg University
Center for Molecular Biology of Heidelberg University (ZMBH)
Berliner Str. 45, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany
E-Mail: f.murken(at)zmbh.uni-heidelberg.de
Bluesky: @fenjamu.bsky.social
About me
I am a PhD student in the Göpfrich group, focusing on RNA origami and its structural characterization using cryo-EM. With a background in chemistry, I became fascinated by the origins of life during my bachelor’s thesis. To approach this from a synthetic perspective, I pursued a master’s in Matter to Life. Now, in my PhD, I am combining structural biology and synthetic engineering to analyze the folding, behavior, and architecture of RNA origami compartments, aiming to bridge the gap between theoretical design and experimental structures.
Short Bio
| 2025 – present | Ph.D. student, Biophysical Engineering Group Heidelberg University, Germany |
| 2022 – 2024 | Master of Science in Matter to Life, Heidelberg University Thesis: Cryo-EM on RNA origami |
| 2021 | Erasmus exchange, University Umeå, Sweden |
| 2018 – 2022 | Bachelor of Science in Chemistry focusing in Biochemistry, University Bremen Thesis: Evaporation and mass-spectrometrical analysis of small bioorganic molecules using a UHV-chamber and thermal desorption spectroscopy. Institute for applied and physical chemistry, Bremen, Germany Research stay in the Microbial Metabolisms group at the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology, Bremen, Germany |