Kerstin Göpfrich
@kgoepfrich.bsky.social
Excited to engineer a synthetic cell from scratch with lipid vesicles and DNA/RNA origami-based molecular hardware. Professor @ZMBHh @UniHeidelberg
Pinned
RNA droplets that grow and segregate by ribozyme catalysis. Check out our latest preprint www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.08.29.673008v1
Welcome, Dana!
[Meet our doctoral candidates 🫧]
Dana Venkert is our DC working at the Heidelberg University under the supervision of @kgoepfrich.bsky.social.
Dana, who completed her M.Sc. in Molecular, Cellular, and Systemic Neuroscience at Tel Aviv University, will now explore the RNA design world in SigSynCell
Dana Venkert is our DC working at the Heidelberg University under the supervision of @kgoepfrich.bsky.social.
Dana, who completed her M.Sc. in Molecular, Cellular, and Systemic Neuroscience at Tel Aviv University, will now explore the RNA design world in SigSynCell
October 17, 2025 at 10:28 AM
Welcome, Dana!
Curious about RNA, aptamers, lipid membranes, molecular dynamics simulations, synthetic cells - and how these topics come together? Join @floppleton.bsky.social's talk in the unano webinar blogs.ed.ac.uk/unanowebinars
September 8, 2025 at 2:59 PM
Curious about RNA, aptamers, lipid membranes, molecular dynamics simulations, synthetic cells - and how these topics come together? Join @floppleton.bsky.social's talk in the unano webinar blogs.ed.ac.uk/unanowebinars
RNA droplets that grow and segregate by ribozyme catalysis. Check out our latest preprint www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.08.29.673008v1
September 2, 2025 at 7:03 AM
RNA droplets that grow and segregate by ribozyme catalysis. Check out our latest preprint www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.08.29.673008v1
@tranmai.bsky.social handed in her PhD thesis! Celebrating in style with egg coffee from Hanoi, Mai's place of birth. P.S.: Mai is looking for a PostDoc position! Check out her latest RNA nanostructures for synthetic cells @natnano.nature.com doi.org/10.1038/s415...
August 1, 2025 at 10:48 AM
@tranmai.bsky.social handed in her PhD thesis! Celebrating in style with egg coffee from Hanoi, Mai's place of birth. P.S.: Mai is looking for a PostDoc position! Check out her latest RNA nanostructures for synthetic cells @natnano.nature.com doi.org/10.1038/s415...
Reposted by Kerstin Göpfrich
DNA hydrogels as mechanical sensors in cell-culture systems by @towalther.bsky.social 🧬🧬🧬
If you catch him at a conference bar, ask him the story, it’s an adventure and a half!
If you catch him at a conference bar, ask him the story, it’s an adventure and a half!
Preprint by @towalther.bsky.social at al! We design DNA hydrogel microparticles with sequence-controlled stiffness from 30 Pa to 6.5 kPa. They are remodelled in fibroblast spheroids www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... Thanks @ibecbarcelona.eu @xaviertrepat.bsky.social @pcusachs.bsky.social
July 28, 2025 at 3:30 PM
DNA hydrogels as mechanical sensors in cell-culture systems by @towalther.bsky.social 🧬🧬🧬
If you catch him at a conference bar, ask him the story, it’s an adventure and a half!
If you catch him at a conference bar, ask him the story, it’s an adventure and a half!
Reposted by Kerstin Göpfrich
EMBL Cell Biology and Biophysics department is searching for a new director. A major position to lead this field in Europe and beyond.
embl.wd103.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/EMBL/j...
embl.wd103.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/EMBL/j...
Head of the Cell Biology and Biophysics Unit
The European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) is Europe’s flagship life sciences organisation, and one of the world’s leading research institutions. An intergovernmental organisation of 29 Member S...
embl.wd103.myworkdayjobs.com
July 29, 2025 at 7:50 AM
EMBL Cell Biology and Biophysics department is searching for a new director. A major position to lead this field in Europe and beyond.
embl.wd103.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/EMBL/j...
embl.wd103.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/EMBL/j...
Reposted by Kerstin Göpfrich
So excited to finally be able to share this manuscript!! Thanks to all collaborators for making this possible! Special thanks to @kgoepfrich.bsky.social and @xaviertrepat.bsky.social for their guidance and supervision in this!
Preprint by @towalther.bsky.social at al! We design DNA hydrogel microparticles with sequence-controlled stiffness from 30 Pa to 6.5 kPa. They are remodelled in fibroblast spheroids www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... Thanks @ibecbarcelona.eu @xaviertrepat.bsky.social @pcusachs.bsky.social
July 28, 2025 at 8:14 AM
So excited to finally be able to share this manuscript!! Thanks to all collaborators for making this possible! Special thanks to @kgoepfrich.bsky.social and @xaviertrepat.bsky.social for their guidance and supervision in this!
Preprint by @towalther.bsky.social at al! We design DNA hydrogel microparticles with sequence-controlled stiffness from 30 Pa to 6.5 kPa. They are remodelled in fibroblast spheroids www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... Thanks @ibecbarcelona.eu @xaviertrepat.bsky.social @pcusachs.bsky.social
July 28, 2025 at 7:35 AM
Preprint by @towalther.bsky.social at al! We design DNA hydrogel microparticles with sequence-controlled stiffness from 30 Pa to 6.5 kPa. They are remodelled in fibroblast spheroids www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... Thanks @ibecbarcelona.eu @xaviertrepat.bsky.social @pcusachs.bsky.social
Reposted by Kerstin Göpfrich
Leben aus toter Materie zu erschaffen ist ein zentrales Thema der Synthetischen Biologie. @kgoepfrich.bsky.social et al. liefern dazu RNA-Origami-Strukturen, die sich selbst organisieren und eine cytoskelettartige Architektur aufbauen. Holger Dill berichtet mehr: www.laborjournal.de/rubric/journ...
July 14, 2025 at 9:03 AM
Leben aus toter Materie zu erschaffen ist ein zentrales Thema der Synthetischen Biologie. @kgoepfrich.bsky.social et al. liefern dazu RNA-Origami-Strukturen, die sich selbst organisieren und eine cytoskelettartige Architektur aufbauen. Holger Dill berichtet mehr: www.laborjournal.de/rubric/journ...
Reposted by Kerstin Göpfrich
📢Conference alert📢
Only one week left to register for the Engineering Life 2025 Symposium at Dresden September 1-3. This year's edition focuses on the function of mechanical forces in biology.
engineering-life-dresden.de
Only one week left to register for the Engineering Life 2025 Symposium at Dresden September 1-3. This year's edition focuses on the function of mechanical forces in biology.
engineering-life-dresden.de
Engineering Life 2025: ORIGIN AND FUNCTION OF MECHANICAL FORCES IN BIOLOGY
Engineering Life 2025, biological forces, force spectroscopy, measuring forces, developmental forces, molecular motors, forces in morphogenesis, cytoskeleton, DNA mechanics, bionanotechnology
engineering-life-dresden.de
June 22, 2025 at 9:12 AM
📢Conference alert📢
Only one week left to register for the Engineering Life 2025 Symposium at Dresden September 1-3. This year's edition focuses on the function of mechanical forces in biology.
engineering-life-dresden.de
Only one week left to register for the Engineering Life 2025 Symposium at Dresden September 1-3. This year's edition focuses on the function of mechanical forces in biology.
engineering-life-dresden.de
#SCNAC2025 we are looking forward to hear about your thoughts on our RNA design tool #PyFuRNAce pyfurnace.streamlit.app developed by @monari-luca.bsky.social
pyFuRNAce
Alt Text
pyfurnace.streamlit.app
June 11, 2025 at 10:36 AM
#SCNAC2025 we are looking forward to hear about your thoughts on our RNA design tool #PyFuRNAce pyfurnace.streamlit.app developed by @monari-luca.bsky.social
I am excited to be talking to @neildegrassetyson.com soon! What should I tell him from his German fan community?
June 3, 2025 at 5:57 PM
I am excited to be talking to @neildegrassetyson.com soon! What should I tell him from his German fan community?
Reposted by Kerstin Göpfrich
News on clusters of excellence in Germany. The DFG has announced the continuation of 45 projects already funded and 25 new clusters
Congrats to the SynCellEU community members - Kerstin Gopfrich, Tobias Erb and more - whose applications have been successful and who will receive funding for 7 years
Congrats to the SynCellEU community members - Kerstin Gopfrich, Tobias Erb and more - whose applications have been successful and who will receive funding for 7 years
#SynthImmune is getting real! Super excited that our excellence cluster got funded today @dfg.de Thanks to everyone involved @uniheidelberg.bsky.social, especially @dimichelelab1.bsky.social and Oliver Fackler!
May 26, 2025 at 11:35 AM
News on clusters of excellence in Germany. The DFG has announced the continuation of 45 projects already funded and 25 new clusters
Congrats to the SynCellEU community members - Kerstin Gopfrich, Tobias Erb and more - whose applications have been successful and who will receive funding for 7 years
Congrats to the SynCellEU community members - Kerstin Gopfrich, Tobias Erb and more - whose applications have been successful and who will receive funding for 7 years
A nice thread on our recent paper in Nature Nanotechnology by the first author and PhD student from the group @tranmai.bsky.social 👇
🧬 Thrilled to share that our work is featured on the cover of @natnano.nature.com (May issue)!
We genetically encoded RNA origami that self-assembles into cytoskeletal nanotubes inside synthetic cells.
📄 Paper: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
🧵👇
We genetically encoded RNA origami that self-assembles into cytoskeletal nanotubes inside synthetic cells.
📄 Paper: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
🧵👇
May 26, 2025 at 11:35 AM
A nice thread on our recent paper in Nature Nanotechnology by the first author and PhD student from the group @tranmai.bsky.social 👇
#SynthImmune is getting real! Super excited that our excellence cluster got funded today @dfg.de Thanks to everyone involved @uniheidelberg.bsky.social, especially @dimichelelab1.bsky.social and Oliver Fackler!
May 22, 2025 at 9:10 PM
#SynthImmune is getting real! Super excited that our excellence cluster got funded today @dfg.de Thanks to everyone involved @uniheidelberg.bsky.social, especially @dimichelelab1.bsky.social and Oliver Fackler!
Reposted by Kerstin Göpfrich
New technology challenges communication inside and outside the classroom, as my recent paper explains. Fingers crossed we get to explore this question soon for emerging synthetic biotechnology within SynthImmune
www.tandfonline.com/doi/epdf/10....
www.tandfonline.com/doi/epdf/10....
Moral education and the psychology of moral discourse: Journal of Moral Education: Vol 0, No 0 - Get Access
www.tandfonline.com
May 20, 2025 at 4:08 PM
New technology challenges communication inside and outside the classroom, as my recent paper explains. Fingers crossed we get to explore this question soon for emerging synthetic biotechnology within SynthImmune
www.tandfonline.com/doi/epdf/10....
www.tandfonline.com/doi/epdf/10....
Reposted by Kerstin Göpfrich
Our PIs Kerstin (@kgoepfrich.bsky.social) and Michael (@meineckelab.bsky.social) joined Wolfgang Heim to talk about scientific CVs, engaging in public outreach and the wonders of cellular membrane remodelling. Don’t miss the SFB1638 edition of Überlebensstrategien — now streaming!
SFB 1638 Umbau von zellulären Membranen – wie veränderte Form Funktion schafft
YouTube video by UniHeidelberg
www.youtube.com
May 19, 2025 at 5:26 AM
Our PIs Kerstin (@kgoepfrich.bsky.social) and Michael (@meineckelab.bsky.social) joined Wolfgang Heim to talk about scientific CVs, engaging in public outreach and the wonders of cellular membrane remodelling. Don’t miss the SFB1638 edition of Überlebensstrategien — now streaming!
On the show, we also talk about the potential of bottom up synthetic biology approaches for immunology - the aim of our excellence cluster SynthImmune (in German). We hope to get funded!
Our SFB1638 PI Kerstin Göpfrich (@kgoepfrich.bsky.social) joined Gert #Scobel and Tobias Erb to explore the future of synthetic biology—its promise, challenges, and big ideas. Catch the super interesting discussion on @3sat (@3sat.bluesky.com.de)
www.3sat.de/wissen/scobe...
www.3sat.de/wissen/scobe...
Biologie aus dem Baukasten
Ingenieure, Informatiker, Chemiker und Biologen kreieren künstliche biologische Systeme. Die synthetische Biologie verändert die Zukunft und definiert die Grenzen der Wissenschaft neu.
www.3sat.de
May 14, 2025 at 8:13 AM
On the show, we also talk about the potential of bottom up synthetic biology approaches for immunology - the aim of our excellence cluster SynthImmune (in German). We hope to get funded!
Awesome, congrats! Looking forward to take this further together, hopefully within our excellence cluster SynthImmune - fingers crossed for 22nd May!
How to do differential expression with scRNAseq data? State of the art is "pseudo-bulk" analysis with RNA-seq methods like edgeR or DESeq2, where "cell type" is encoded as discrete categories. Biologically, discrete categories are not always the most appropriate concept.(1/3)
doi.org/10.1038/s415...
doi.org/10.1038/s415...
Analysis of multi-condition single-cell data with latent embedding multivariate regression - Nature Genetics
Latent embedding multivariate regression models multi-condition single-cell RNA-seq using a continuous latent space, enabling data integration, per-cell gene expression prediction and clustering-free ...
doi.org
May 14, 2025 at 7:49 AM
Awesome, congrats! Looking forward to take this further together, hopefully within our excellence cluster SynthImmune - fingers crossed for 22nd May!
Reposted by Kerstin Göpfrich
The SynthImmune project by Heidelberg University& partner institutes advances a "bottom-up" synthetic biology approach to immunotherapies.
Hoping they do well in the German government's Excellence Strategy—anticipating the announcement on 22 May.
Perspective article: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Hoping they do well in the German government's Excellence Strategy—anticipating the announcement on 22 May.
Perspective article: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Bottom-up synthetic immunology - Nature Nanotechnology
This Perspective highlights bottom-up molecular engineering and modular nanobiotechnological approaches for developing effective immunotherapeutics and their potential in personalized medicine.
www.nature.com
May 14, 2025 at 7:38 AM
The SynthImmune project by Heidelberg University& partner institutes advances a "bottom-up" synthetic biology approach to immunotherapies.
Hoping they do well in the German government's Excellence Strategy—anticipating the announcement on 22 May.
Perspective article: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Hoping they do well in the German government's Excellence Strategy—anticipating the announcement on 22 May.
Perspective article: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Kerstin Göpfrich
An exciting new approach in single-cell metabolomics from two SFB1638 groups! Carsten Hopf’s group from CeMOS with support from the Göpfrich lab (@kgoepfrich.bsky.social) unveil tech that tracks brain cell changes linked to neurodegeneration.
advanced.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
advanced.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
Mass‐Guided Single‐Cell MALDI Imaging of Low‐Mass Metabolites Reveals Cellular Activation Markers
The PRISM-MS workflow transforms single-cell mass spectrometry imaging by allowing detailed analysis of low-mass metabolites in large cell populations without metabolite degradation. By introducing n...
advanced.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
April 28, 2025 at 5:42 AM
An exciting new approach in single-cell metabolomics from two SFB1638 groups! Carsten Hopf’s group from CeMOS with support from the Göpfrich lab (@kgoepfrich.bsky.social) unveil tech that tracks brain cell changes linked to neurodegeneration.
advanced.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
advanced.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
Reposted by Kerstin Göpfrich
Boosting to the 🧬Molecular Programming🧬 feed! Check out our new design tool at PyFuRNAce.de! I particularly like the “make simple origami” button, which makes it so easy to get a base structure which you can functionalize!
April 26, 2025 at 11:57 PM
Boosting to the 🧬Molecular Programming🧬 feed! Check out our new design tool at PyFuRNAce.de! I particularly like the “make simple origami” button, which makes it so easy to get a base structure which you can functionalize!
Reposted by Kerstin Göpfrich
There is a German language video of a TV discussion on "Biology From the Building Block" in which ZMBH's Kerstin Goepfrich @kgoepfrich.bsky.social was one of the two invided experts: www.3sat.de/wissen/scobe...
Biologie aus dem Baukasten
Ingenieure, Informatiker, Chemiker und Biologen kreieren künstliche biologische Systeme. Die synthetische Biologie verändert die Zukunft und definiert die Grenzen der Wissenschaft neu.
www.3sat.de
April 24, 2025 at 11:21 AM
There is a German language video of a TV discussion on "Biology From the Building Block" in which ZMBH's Kerstin Goepfrich @kgoepfrich.bsky.social was one of the two invided experts: www.3sat.de/wissen/scobe...
Reposted by Kerstin Göpfrich
Excited to announce the Molecular Biology of Archaea (MBoA) 2026!
Join us in Cambridge, UK, from 6–10 July 2026 for the only international meeting dedicated to Archaea.
Join us in Cambridge, UK, from 6–10 July 2026 for the only international meeting dedicated to Archaea.
April 18, 2025 at 1:56 PM
Excited to announce the Molecular Biology of Archaea (MBoA) 2026!
Join us in Cambridge, UK, from 6–10 July 2026 for the only international meeting dedicated to Archaea.
Join us in Cambridge, UK, from 6–10 July 2026 for the only international meeting dedicated to Archaea.
Hey #RNA world, we are excited to share our RNA design engine #pyFuRNAce - an integrated tool for RNA origami experts and novices alike. Kudos to @monari-luca.bsky.social @floppleton.bsky.social et al! Preprint: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... Try it out at pyfurnace.de Feedback welcome!
PyFuRNAce: An integrated design engine for RNA origami
To realize the full potential of RNA nanotechnology and RNA origami, user-friendly design tools are needed. Here, we present pyFuRNAce, an open-source, Python-based software package with a graphical u...
www.biorxiv.org
April 20, 2025 at 12:29 PM
Hey #RNA world, we are excited to share our RNA design engine #pyFuRNAce - an integrated tool for RNA origami experts and novices alike. Kudos to @monari-luca.bsky.social @floppleton.bsky.social et al! Preprint: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... Try it out at pyfurnace.de Feedback welcome!