Kerstin Göpfrich
Full Professor
Contact
Max Planck Institute for Medical Research
Jahnstr. 29, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany
Room 161A
Tel.: +49 6221 486-443
E-Mail: kerstin.goepfrich(at)mr.mpg.de
About me
I have always been curious about fundamental questions in science and long fascinated by the idea to engineer a cell from scratch. Since 2022, I am a professor at the Center for Molecular Biology of Heidelberg University (ZMBH). I led the Max Planck Reseach Group Biophysical Engineering of Life (2019-2024). Previously, as a Skłodowska-Curie Fellow in Stuttgart, I worked on bottom-up synthetic biology and microfluidics with Joachim Spatz. In April 2017, I completed my PhD in physics as a Gates Cambridge Fellow at the University of Cambridge, UK, where I built DNA origami nanopores in the group of Ulrich Keyser.
My groups research is generously supported by the Alfried Krupp Prize (2024), the Women Interactive Materials Award (2022), the Hector Fellow Academy Award (2022), and several grants such as an ERC Starting Grant (2022), and an HFSP Grant (2023).
If I don’t do science, I like talking about it with students and the wider public, via our plattform Ring-a-Scientist, YouTube or media outlets like The Naked Scientists (BBC – Radio 5 live), ZDF neo or Spektrum der Wissenschaft.
Short Bio
| 2022 – present | Full professor (W3), Center for Molecular Biology (ZMBH), Heidelberg University |
| 2019 – present | Independent Max Planck Research Group Leader Max Planck Institute for Medical Research, Heidelberg, Germany Member of the Excellence Cluster 3D Matter Made to Order Fellow of the Max Planck School Matter to Life |
| 2017 – 2019 | Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellow Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, Stuttgart, Germany |
| 2013 – 2017 | Ph.D. in Physics Gates Cambridge Fellow, Winton Fellow Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom |
| 2012 – 2013 | M.Phil. in Physics Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom |
| 2009 – 2012 | B.Sc. in Physics and Molecular Medicine University of Erlangen, Germany |