Wonderful to meet many friends and colleagues, enjoy inspiring discussions, and experience Sydney’s amazing mix of science, harbour views, and ocean cliffs. Thanks to Martina Stenzel, the organisers, and everyone who made this conference so special!

Great time at ICONN 2026 in Sydney! I had the honour to give a plenary talk on Nanocapsules and Coacervates as Artificial Organelles, sharing our work on artificial cells, small peptide coacervates, and challenges for biomedical nanocapsules.

It was a pleasure to give a plenary talk at the RSC Chemical Nanoscience & Nanotechnology Symposium.
"Adaptive Nanomedicine: Designing Smart Therapeutic Systems” sparked many great questions in a truly inspiring, historic setting.
Thanks Daniela Carta for the invitation & excellent organisation!

Two inspiring days at Burg Reichenstein for our NanoBrain Retreat & SAB meeting ☀️
Many thanks to Hong Chen, Caroline Ménard, Roosmarijn Vandenbroucke, and Meltem Avci-Adali for the fantastic advice.
NanoBrain is growing — engineering mental health by nanocarriers.

Many thanks&congrats to Nantawat Kaekratoke for a fantastic year as GuestPhD @mpip-mainz.mpg.de👏
Great work on fluorine-labeled proteins to probe conformational changes at nano–bio interfaces by NMR, with the TargetProtCorona project with Prof. Daniel Crespy (VISTEC).
All the best for your PhD!

Thank you for the great talk @hellmichgroup.bsky.social 👏
Her lecture “Regulation through disorder” @mpip-mainz.mpg.de showed how IDPs are central to TRP channel regulation: example of how structural “disorder” is key to biological function. Wonderful to see Ute pushing this field forward in Jena.

Congratulations to Dr. Maria Micheva on defending her PhD thesis!
Within the CRC1450 Insight, she developed an innovative optical, minimally invasive platform for real-time sensing of temperature and oxygen in cell culture. Her methods allow for long-term, high-res sensing without cell disruption

Congratulations to Dr. Xueqing Zhang on successfully defending her PhD thesis!
She investigated protein corona formation on NPs & its cellular interactions revealing how pre-conditioning NPs can guide corona formation. The findings provide insights into designing improved NP-based delivery systems.

A department from the Ministry for Climate Protection, Environment, Energy and Mobility visited @mpip-mainz.mpg.de last week. Ulrike Schneider guided the group along the Polymer Path, and doctoral students Yannick Fröder and Timon Léon presented their research on lignin capsules and OLEDs.

Ina Tutzschky spent 3 weeks @cvrinfo.bsky.social working with our former PhD student to Iain Harley.
Ina learned about #CryoEM and tomography software tools to apply to NMs here at @mpip-mainz.mpg.de for her PhD project.
Thank you to the CVR team and Iain for the fruitful exchange.
#Cryo4NM

@fraaamazzz.bsky.social attended the #CCP4 Northern Meeting presenting our work @mpip-mainz.mpg.de on Single Particle #CryoEM of synthetic NMs, exploring the LEGO-like interactions that drive their self-assembly.
Great discussions&new ideas on how structural biology can be adapted to NMs!
#Cryo4NM

Lukas, Richard, and @fraaamazzz.bsky.social visited Prof. Nirgila Ricardo’s lab at UCF Fortaleza through a #DAAD exchange — two inspiring weeks of science, collaboration, sunshine, and great food! 🌞🔬 #ResearchExchange #MPIP

The collaboration across our international team is truly inspiring, scientists from different disciplines and countries working together toward one shared vision. Step by step, the ArTCell is growing!

Great days for the ArTCell project at the @mpip-mainz.mpg.de in Mainz!
We kicked off our meeting with a warm gathering at Eulchen in Mainz, and continued with productive discussions and exchange of results. It is wonderful to see how our artificial cell is steadily taking shape.

For two days, we had now our group leader retreat from the AK Landfester in the Gonsbergloft. Two days of effective discussions and planning of our next research steps, our group strategy, our website and many more. It was a fantastic atmosphere in a great environment.

🌍✨ Science in the city!
At the 23rd Mainz Science Market we brought research to life – from a nanocapsule role play for school classes to hands-on PET recycling and bioplastics experiments. A fantastic weekend to spark curiosity in young and old alike.

Big thanks to everyone who made it possible! 🙌

Great team spirit at the Mainz Company Run 2025! 🎉 Colleagues from @mpip-mainz.mpg.de – including the Landfester group – joined hundreds of runners through the streets of Mainz. 🏃‍♀️🏃‍♂️ #TeamMPIP #CompanyRunMainz

Exciting news from @mpip-mainz.mpg.de 🎉
Minister Clemens Hoch handed over the grant for our project CoronaProtTargeting. Together with Prof. Daniel Crespy (VISTEC, Thailand) we will develop protein-coated nanocarriers to cross the blood-brain barrier & tackle diseases like MS.

Congratulations to Dr. Iain Harley 🎉
We congratulate Iain Harley for successfully defending his PhD thesis about "Integrating Cryo-EM into Soft Material Research: Method Development and Adaptation".

Congratulations to Ute Heinz for 25 years in public service!

Unusual temperatures require unusual formats for the department seminar. That's why we simply held our seminar outside. In the shade and with a little wind, it was very bearable. What a wonderful atmosphere! Why not give it a try!

Our Polymer Path won the Dr. Ursula Grübler-Schoch Prize 2025, by Förderverein für MINT-Berufen!
Thank you very much!
The prize was awarded on Saturday in a wonderful setting at Villa Alwind in Lindau with STEM enthusiasts exchanging ideas.
Thanks to Gerald Grübler and Ursula Steiner!

Große Freude: Unser Kunststoff-Bildungspfad wurde mit dem Dr. Ursula Grübler-Schoch Preis 2025 ausgezeichnet!
Verliehen vom Förderverein für MINT-Berufe – danke!
Schöne Preisverleihung in der Villa Alwind in Lindau & toller Austausch.
Danke an Gerald Grübler & Ursula Steiner!

Nanoparticle characterisation via 2D classification using single particle averaging Characterising the size and morphology of nanoparticles (NPs), especially in complex systems like core–shell particles and nanocapsules, remains a significant challenge due to limitations in resolutio...

Check out our new work, where we show how CryoEM structural biology tools can be used for the characterization of NMs!

Iain shows how 2D classification can easily classify&quantify different populations of NPs with just a few images & little manually picking!

pubs.rsc.org/en/content/a...

🍀 Our lab has gone green! 🍀
Making real and impactful changes to decrease environmental footprint of our research with the GreenLabCertification Program.
A thorough assessment of our labs has awarded us the greenest level!
We encourage others to join this fantastic program: bit.ly/greenlabcert

We had our Kick-off Meeting of the project "Interactive Biomaterials for Neural Regeneration" (InteReg) at the Eulchen in Mainz.
It was a super inspiring meeting with great talks, new ideas and many discussions.

Preisverleihung in Berlin: Nationaler Preis - Bildung für nachhaltige Entwicklung. Der Kunststoffpfad gehört zu den Top 20 und wurde am 22. Mai von der UNESCO-Kommission und dem BMFSFJ gewürdigt. Ulrike Schneider vertrat den Lernort und freute sich sehr über die Auszeichnung.

Award ceremony in Berlin
National Award - Education for Sustainable Development. The Polymer Path is one of the top 20 and was honored by the UNESCO Commission and the BMFSFJ on 22 May. Ulrike Schneider represented the „Lernort“ and was delighted to receive the award.

Viele Familien kamen zum Science Day. Der bunte Mix aus Kinderuni, Speed Dating und Führungen sprach alle an, die mehr über Polymere wissen wollten. Auf der Bühne halfen viele Kinder beim Backen der Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte und beim Speed Dating konnten Fragen an Forscherinnen gestellt werden.

Many families came to the Science Day.
The children's university, speed dating, and guided tours appealed to everyone who wanted to know more about polymers.
On stage, many children helped bake the Black Forest gateau and at the speed dating event they were able to ask questions to researchers.