Jan Steinkühler

PhD in Theoretical and Computational Biophysics

📣 Job alert 📣
I am recruiting a #PhDstudent in Theoretical and Computational #Biophysics to join my new group at Eindhoven University of Technology @tue.nl for September 2026:
www.tue.nl/en/working-a...
Please apply or share with interested students!

🧪 Geometry beats chemistry: we show that self-assembly can be controlled by tuning large-scale geometric parameters rather than molecular binding energies.
PNAS: doi.org/10.1073/pnas...
Video summary: www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FS3...
#SelfAssembly #Biophysics #PhysicsOfLife

Biomembrane Days 2025 Membranes form the intricately shaped compartments of life. The Biomembrane Days are a triannual workshop that highlights recent advances in understanding the morphology and molecular organization of ...

Next week, the Biomembrane Days 2025 conference will begin. Many thanks to the organizers @dimovalab.bsky.social, Helge Ewers, and Thomas Weikl for their great effort in bringing the community together in Berlin. I look forward to seeing everyone there!
events.mpikg.mpg.de/event/15/

Interested in doing a PhD in my group? I have an opening for a PhD student to work on understanding and designing nanomedicine-membrane interactions! Apply here:
careers.universiteitleiden.nl/job/Leiden-P...

Directed evolution effectively selects for DNA based physical reservoir computing networks capable of multiple tasks DNA and other biopolymers are being investigated as new computing substrates and alternative to silicon-based digital computers. However, the established top-down design of biomolecular interaction ne...

A new twist for DNA and reservoir computing? Our new work: Directed evolution effectively selects for DNA based physical reservoir computing networks capable of multiple tasks
arxiv.org/abs/2509.04000 Led by @tanmaypandey.bsky.social

To a great group retreat, science and lab organization.

Boats on Kieler Förde

Do you like neuronal networks and maybe also programming? 🧮🕸️💻
I am looking for a research assistant to work on the general topic of neuronal network models, either theoretically or with a link to specific model organisms. Please see below for more details. ⬇️
#research #neuronalnetworks #kiel #cau

In my lab we combine semiconductor technology with synthetic cells and today we came our goal a bit closer. In addition I always thought that membrane experiments should be done in a cleanroom because ultimately it's a surface science.

Just spoke with PhD student Olga Rook.

She did a survey on public attitudes to synthetic cells, see journals.plos.org/plosone/arti...

Overall she finds great support, with only ~10% of people objecting to synthetic cell research and applications.

Our groundbreaking Dark Sectioning technique is now published in Nature Methods! 🎉 It supercharges existing imaging systems:
🔬 Widefield → Confocal
🔬 Single-photon → Multiphoton
🔬 2D-SIM → 3D-SIM
Now integrated in Airy PolarSIM and #FlexSIM!
doi.org/10.1038/s415...
#Microscopy #Fluorescence

"WE'VE ARRANGED A society based on science and technology, in which nobody understands anything about science technology. And this combustible mixture of ignorance and power, sooner or later, is going to blow up in our faces. Who is running the science and technology in a democracy if the people don't know anything about it?" "Science is more than a body of knowledge, it's a way of thinking. A way of skeptically interrogating the universe with a fine understanding of human fallibility. If we are not able to ask skeptical questions, to interrogate those who tell us that something is true, to be skeptical of those in authority, then we're up for grabs for the next charlatan, political or religious, who comes ambling along."

I think a lot about what Carl Sagan said in one of his final interviews.

Synthetic Biology meets Neuromorphic Computing: Towards a bio-inspired Olfactory Perception System In this study, we explore how the combination of synthetic biology, neuroscience modeling, and neuromorphic electronic systems offers a new approach to creating an artificial system that mimics the na...

First pre-print for my lab’s new direction: Synthetic Biology meets Neuromorphic Computing

Here we investigate the potential of synthetic cells to interface with neuromorphic circuits to mimic the sense of smell.

Thanks @volkswagenstiftung.de for funding and @uni-kiel.de

arxiv.org/abs/2504.10053

Labeling your axes and then explaining them slowly is perhaps the biggest bang for the buck you can get for making your slides more understandable.

Like my doppelganger projecting all of our surveillance fears on a vaccine app, conspiracy theorists get the facts wrong but often get the feelings right-the feeling of living in a world with Shadow Lands, the feeling that every human misery is someone else's profit, the feeling of being exhausted by predation and extraction, the feeling that important truths are being hidden.

I think about this from @naomiaklein.bsky.social a lot. "Conspiracy theorists get the facts wrong but often get the feelings right." The sense that people are gaining wealth from human suffering while concealing reality is valid, but the root problem isn't evil people but the nature of capitalism.

Press-release from Kiel University (german only)
www.uni-kiel.de/de/detailans...

Remodeling of lipid-foam prototissues by network-wide tension fluctuations induced by active particles Told from the perspective of a recent undergraduate student, this story documents the journey behind how the authors created a “lipid foam” tissue mimetic and detected network-wide tension fluctuation...

Also read the story behind the paper from first author Andre Gu, a year long collaboration across timezones and insinuations.

communities.springernature.com/posts/remode...

Our work about a dynamic tissue mimetic is finally out:
Remodeling of lipid-foam prototissues by network-wide tension fluctuations induced by active particles

@mehmetcanucar.bsky.social @uni-kiel.de

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

📢 SAVE THE DATE: Sept 29 - Oct 1, 2025
and come to Berlin to the

BIOMEMBRANE DAYS

Excellent line of speakers and slots for contributed talks.
Registration will open in Spring.

biomembrane-days-2025.mpikg.mpg.de

Organized by Helge@ewerslab.bsky.social Thomas Weikl and myself
@mpici.bsky.social

Last lecture for this semester done💯

Coiling instability in the kitchen Manipulation of viscous liquids is an essential kitchen activity - from pouring golden syrup onto a pancake to decorating a cake with whipped cream frosting, from streaming ketchup on top of French fr...

Coiling instabilities in the kitchen - a very fun paper.
www.arxiv.org/abs/2501.08307

Still looking 👀 for a suitable candidate. Please repost.

Excited to be part of the growing community on bluesky. The Bio-Inspired Computation group is growing too and I welcome Christina Hopf, @mehdi-ravandeh.bsky.social and Alena Starikova as postdocs and phd student.

📢 We are still #hiring! Interested in investigating how #membranes can control #membranecondensate formation and location?

Check out our #PhDposition 👇
www.comeincell.org/dc14-how-can...

#MSCA #PhD #LipidChemistry #MembraneBiophysics

yes please!