^{Institute for Theoretical Physics}

Dr. Gerhard Kahl is Professor and Head of the Institute for Theoretical Physics. In his research he focuses with his collaborators on investigations of soft matter and bio-related systems with particular emphasis on structural and thermodynamic properties, self-assembly (both under in- and out-of-equilibrium conditions), and phase behaviour. The applied methodological spectrum ranges from theoretical concepts (such as density functional theory) over computer simulations to artificial intelligence tools.

Supervisor Research Project 1

Self-assembly of biological and bio-related macromolecules, opens a file in a new window

^{Institute for Mechanics of Materials and Structures}

Dr. Christian Hellmich is Professor at the Institute for Mechanics of Materials and Structures, and is currently also its Head. He is best known for his development of multiscale mechanics models which quantitatively integrate often separated fields, such as materials science, X-ray physics, chemistry, biology, and medicine. Applications concern various fields in civil and bioengineering, ranging from tunnel engineering to orthopedics.

Supervisor Research Project 2

Atoms-to-beam homogenization of biomacromolecules, opens a file in a new window

^{Institute for Theoretical Physics}

Dr. Emanuela Bianchi is Assistant Professor at the Institute for Theoretical Physics of TU Wien. She has received several research fellowships, including an Alexander von Humboldt, a Lise Meitner and an Elise Richter fellowship, and performed her postdoctoral research in Austria and Germany. Since 2018 she is permanent researcher at the Institute for Complex Systems at CNR in Rome. In 2018, she received the START prize by the Austrian Science Fund. Her research focuses on the theoretical and computational investigation of the self-assembly behavior of anisotropically interacting colloids.

Supervisor Research Project

Design of anisotropic DNA origami nanoparticles for programmed self-assembly, opens a file in a new window

^{Institute of Applied Physics}

Dr. Markus Valtiner is Professor at the Institute of Applied Physics. He completed his PhD at the Max-Planck-Institute in Düsseldorf (with Martin Stratmann), and his post-doc with Jacob Israelachvili at UC Santa Barbara (USA). His work is focused on measuring molecular interactions in biologic systems, including membrane physics and chemistry in confinement. He uses and develops single molecule atomic force microcopy, the surface forces apparatus, and optical tweezers.

Supervisor Research Project 4

Soft matter in confinement, opens a file in a new window

^{Institute of Computer Engineering}

Dr. Radu Grosu is Professor the Head of the Cyber-Physical-Systems Division of the Computer-Engineering Institute. Radu Grosu is also a Research Professor at the Department of Computer Science, of the State University of New York at Stony Brook, USA. The research interests of Radu Grosu include the modeling analysis and control of cyber-physical systems and of biological systems.

Supervisor Research Project 5

Reinforcement and Supervised Learning with Neural Circuit Policies, opens a file in a new window

^{Institute of Visual Computing & Human-Centered Technology}

Dr. Robert Sablatnig is  Professor of computer vision, heading the Computer Vision Lab, which is part of the 2018 founded Institute of Visual Computing & Human-Centered Technology, which he is heading since 2019. His research interests are 3D Computer Vision, Machine- and Deep Learning for Visual Computing, Automated Document Analysis, Multispectral Imaging, Virtual- and Augmented Reality, and Applications in Industry and Cultural Heritage Preservation.

Supervisor Research Project 7

Immunophenotyping for Diagnosis in Childhood Leukemia, opens a file in a new window

^{Institute of Applied Synthetic Chemistry}

Dr. Stefan Baudis is researcher at the Institute of Applied Synthetic Chemistry. He is head of the Christian Doppler Laboratory for Advanced Polymers for Biomaterials and 3D Printing. His research focus is on polymeric biomaterials for medical engineering and biomedical applications.

Supervisor Research Project 8

Gradient hydrogels: A material platform for 4D tissue models, opens a file in a new window

Institute for Applied Synthetic Chemistry

Dr. Marko Mihovilovic is Professor and Chair in Bioorganic Synthetic Chemistry at the Institute for Applied Synthetic Chemistry (IAS) since 2014. Marko Mihovilovic has been Head of the IAS with some 120 researchers and staff from 2013-2019 and was appointed as Dean of the Faculty for Technical Chemistry at TU Wien in 2020. He held post-doc placements as an Erwin Schrödinger fellow at the University of New Brunswick (Canada) and the University of Florida (USA), in the fields of biocatalysis and molecular biology.

Supervisor Research Project 9

A Generic Approach for Target Identification of Natural Products Employing a Tandem Photoaffinity-Clicking Strategy, opens a file in a new window

^{Institute of Applied Synthetic Chemistry}

Dr. Hannes Mikula is Assistant Professor and Group Leader (‘Molecular Chemistry & Chemical Biology’) at the Institute of Applied Synthetic Chemistry. Together with his team he focuses on the development of bioorthogonal strategies for diagnostic and therapeutic applications, including the targeted delivery and activation of drugs. Therefore, the group designs chemical tools with unmatched performance and unique capabilities, to enable highly selective, safe and ultra-efficient chemistry in living systems.

Supervisor Research Project 10

Bioorthogonal turn-OFF and Dual Release, opens a file in a new window

^{Institute of Chemical Technologies and Analytics}

Dr. Martina Marchetti-Deschmann is Full Professor for Mass Spectrometric Methods / Analytical Chemistry. Heading the Research Group of Mass Spectrometric Bio- and Polymer Analysis in the Research Division of Imaging and Instrumental Analytical Chemistry focusing on method /instrumentation development. Recently she focused on correlative and multimodal imaging allowing comprehensive knowledge collection across the scales, including MS imaging, a method enabling the mapping of thousands of molecules within biological systems.

Supervisor Research Project 11

Multimodal imaging – a picture says more than a thousand datapoints, opens a file in a new window

^{Institute of Lightweight Design and Structural Biomechanics}

Dr. Philipp Thurner is Professor of Biomechanics at the Institute of Lightweight Design and Structural Biomechanics (ILSB). He is head of the Research Division Biomechanics and head of the ILSB. His research is focused on the micro-and nano-mechanics of biological tissue based on the idea that mechanical characterization of biological tissue biopsies will aid diagnosis and treatment of diseases in the future, and can so complement and inform correlative imaging approaches including classical clinical imaging techniques.

Supervisor Research Project 12

Correlative multimodal imaging of human meniscal tissue at different stages of degeneration, opens a file in a new window

^{Institute of Applied Physics}

Dr. Gerhard Schütz is Professor for Biophysics at the Institute of Applied Physics. His research focusses on understanding the role of plasma membrane processes during cellular signaling, with particular emphasis on T cell antigen recognition. For this, he develops advanced single molecule fluorescence microscopy approaches, which enable a spatial resolution down to ~20nm. Recently, he ventured into correlative microscopy concepts (e.g. by combining fluorescence with force microscopy).

Supervisor Research Project 6

Advanced Probabilistic Clustering Algorithms for Super-Resolution Microscopy, opens a file in a new window

Supervisor Research Project 13

Development of an autonomous microscopy system for adaptive experimentation in cell biology, opens a file in a new window

^{Institute of Chemical Technologies and Analytics}

Dr. Bernhard Lendl is Professor at the Institute of Chemical Technologies and Analytics. His research focus is on advancing analytical sciences through the development of novel analytical techniques and instrumentation based on infrared and Raman spectroscopy and their application to environmental and process analytical chemistry, material characterization as well as bio-medical diagnostics.

Supervisor Research Project 14

Next Generation Super-resolution Chemical Imaging, opens a file in a new window

^{Institute of Applied Synthetic Chemistry}

Dr. Peter Ertl is Professor of Lab-on-a-Chip Systems for Bioscience Technologies at the Faculty of Technical Chemistry. His research focuses on the development of advanced in vitro diagnostic microsystems, lab-on-a-chip technologies and organ-on-a-chip systems. Dr. Ertl is also founder and speaker of the Austrian Microfluidic Initiative, Editor-in-Chief of the open access journal Organs-on-a-Chip and Chief Technology officer (CTO) of SAICO Biosystems KG as well as Co-founder of Pregnerate GmbH.

Supervisor Research Project 15

CellChemChip: Multidimensional tracing of cells and molecules

^{Institute of Materials Science and Technology}

Dr. Aleksandr Ovsianikov is Professor and the Head of the research group 3D Printing and Biofabrication. His research is dealing with the use of additive manufacturing technologies and bioprinting for tissue engineering and regeneration. Dr. Ovsianikov was awarded prestigious ERC Starting Grant in 2012 and an ERC Consolidator Grant in 2017 for projects aimed at these topics. He is also a co-founder and a head of research of a TU Wien spin-off UpNano.

Supervisor Research Project 16

Controlled vascularization for organ-on-chips, opens a file in a new window

^{Institute of Lightweight Design and Structural Biomechanics}

Dr. Orestis Andriotis is a Senior Scientist at the Institute of Lightweight Design and Structural Biomechanics. His research focuses on the nano- and micromechanical characterization of biological tissues using atomic force microscopy, to understand the structure-function relationships of health and pathology, the spatiotemporal dynamics of enzymic degradation of single collagen fibrils and how structure-functions alterations manifest themselves in during tissue development and during development and progression of pathologies.

Supervisor Research Project 17

Mechanical assessment of cell clusters, opens a file in a new window

^{Institute of Materials Science and Technology}

Dr Julia Fernández Pérez is part of the 3D Printing and Biofabrication Group of TU Wien. She received her PhD in Tissue Engineering from Trinity College Dublin (Ireland) in April 2020. Her worked on the development of alternatives to traditional corneal transplantation using tissue engineering approaches, focusing on the use of decellularized matrices. She then took a postdoctoral position at the MERLN Institute at Maastricht University (The Netherlands) working on developing vascular grafts using additive manufacturing. She joined Prof. Ovsianikov’s group in February 2023.

Supervisor Research Project 18

Bioprinting of 3D immunogenic skin model, opens a file in a new window

^{Institute of Chemical, Environmental and Bioscience Engineering}

Dr. Robert L Mach is Professor and Head of the Institute of Chemical, Environmental and Bioscience Engineering and of the Research area Biochemical Technology. He has a 25 years+ experience in molecular biology and biotechnology of microorganisms. His research focus is embedded in the institutes vision “Imagineering Nature I5.0” aiming the provision of sustainable materials and energy. In addition to industry, I5.0 integrates agriculture and the energy sector and thus follows a systemic approach. Interdisciplinary teams within the Institute are working on flag ship projects such as CO₂ refinery, new bioactive substances, circular economy or gas fermentation to contribute to solutions for emerging problems of mankind such as climate change or multi resistance related diseases.

Supervisor Research Project 19

An albino Aureobasidium pullulans for biotechnological application (ALABAMA), opens a file in a new window

^{Institute of Chemical, Environmental and Bioscience Engineering}

Dr. Astrid Mach-Aigner is Assistant Professor at the Institute of Chemical, Environmental and Bioscience Engineering. She is Head of the research group for Synthetic Biology and Molecular Biotechnology. Her research focus is on studying mechanisms of gene regulation by transcription factors and epigenetic mechanisms like DNA methylation, histone modifications and regulatory RNAs. Related to this, her group develops synthetic tools for targeted and controlled gene expression. Two other major research directions in her group are the identification of novel bioactive compounds and the production of polyols (sugar replacements) from alternative substates in a circular economy context.

Supervisor Research Project 20

Secretory stress management in Trichoderma reesei, opens a file in a new window

^{Institute of Applied Physics}

Dr. Eva Sevcsik is Assistant Professor at the Institute of Applied Physics. She is head of the “Micro- and Nanostructured Biointerfaces” group. Her research is devoted to the development and application of micro- and nanostructured biointerfaces to manipulate the spatial organization of membrane proteins in living cells. Using these surfaces in combination with single molecule microscopy techniques, she studies the fundamental elements of plasma membrane organization and function, with a specific interest in the molecular mechanisms governing early T cell signaling.

Supervisor Research Project 21

Stimuli-responsive nanostructured biointerfaces for T-cell activation, opens a file in a new window

^{Institute of Chemical Technologies and Analytics}

Dr. Ruth Birner-Gruenberger is Associate Professor at the Institute of Pathology at Medical University of Graz since 2011 and Professor at the Institute of Chemical Technologies and Analytics atTU Wien since 2019. She studied Chemistry and Biology in Graz, Austria, and Melbourne, Australia. Ruth started her own group at the Medical University of Graz focusing on mass-spectrometry based omics technologies in 2007.

Supervisor Research Project 22

Functional Proteomics of GliFlozin Drug (Off) Targets, opens a file in a new window

^{Institute of Solid State Electronics}

Dr. Heinz D. Wanzenboeck is Assoc. Professor at the Institute of Solid State Electronics. He is the principal investigator of the Biomedical Microsystems Laboratory. His multinational team (Austria/Spain/Italy/Germany) of currently 9 persons (7male/2female) combines their different skills in engineering and biology. His research focus is (i) direct-write mask-less nanofabrication of sub-100 nm 3D structures (ii) microfabrication of cell culture chips (iii) the study of cellular processes on a microfluidic chip using electron microscopy and non-destructive bioimpedance analysis.

Supervisor Research Project 23

Electrophysiology on a microchip, opens a file in a new window

^{Institute of Solid State Electronics}

Dr. Sonia Prado López is Assistant Professor at the Institute of Solid State Electronics at Technical University of Vienna. Her scientific interest is in biomedical electronics research with emphasis on addressing fundamental scientific questions of the origin, spread and control of cancer. What motivates her is to converge the actual knowledge in tumoral biology, tissue engineering, microfluidics, and electronics to create ex vivo tumoral models - Cancer on microelectronic chip- opening new ways for the study and treatment of cancer.

Co-Supervisor Research Project 23

Electrophysiology on a microchip, opens a file in a new window

^{Department of Organic Chemistry, University of Vienna}

Christian Dank pursued studies in chemistry at the University of Vienna, Austria. After obtaining the Master of Science (M.Sc.) degree in the group of Prof. Johann Mulzer in the field of total synthesis, during his Ph.D., he worked on the syntheses of novel antimalarials, supervised by Dr. Hubert Gstach and Prof. Walther Schmid. After his Ph.D., he joined the medicinal chemistry department of Boehringer Ingelheim in Vienna, working on oncology projects for two and a half years. During his postdoctoral fellowship in the Lautens group in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, he contributed to his fields of expertise, total synthesis and medicinal chemistry, and explored the field of metal catalysis. Currently, he is teaching at his alma mater, the University of Vienna, as a senior lecturer. His current research interests are the design and synthesis of probes to explore pathways of biomolecules as well as methodological studies.

Supervisor Research Project 25

Synthesis of Novel Compounds with Potential Therapeutic Activity for the Treatment of Respiratory Diseases