University of Bonn
As one of only eleven Universities of Excellence in Germany, The University of Bonn is the only one with six Clusters of Excellence. Recent decades have seen them produce more winners of the Nobel Prize and Fields Medal than any other German university. The University of Bonn has a 200-year history of combining excellent research in a range of disciplines with research-led teaching.
Background:
The Famulok group is an international lab with members from 7 different countries. They put particular emphasis on collegiality and a strong team spirit. Their methods range from chemical synthesis to chemical biology, molecular biology and cell culture and provide an outstanding opportunity for education and research at all career levels.
The central focus of their research is Chemical Biology. Focal points are:
the search of active drug like compounds by aptamer displacement assays
robot supported high throughput screening, ribozyme- and aptamer research
in vitro selection and in vitro evolution of combinatorial nucleic libraries (SELEX-Technology)
DNA-nanotechnology
Current and past research projects are funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG), including the collaborative research centers SFB645, 704 and 1089, and by an ERC Advanced Grant of the European Union.
Role in DESTINATION:
University of Bonn will work with Newcastle University on mRNA packaging and be responsible for mRNA unpackaging, and delivery of DNA via logic gates.
Key personnel:
Prof. Michael Famulok (PI), Chair of Chemical Biology and Head of Department, m.famulok@uni-bonn.de
Dr Michael Haydell, Graduate student, mike_haydell@uni-bonn.de
Mathias Centola, PhD candidate, mcentola@uni-bonn.de