Kerstin Göpfrich
Excited to engineer a synthetic cell from scratch with lipid vesicles and DNA/RNA origami-based molecular hardware. Professor @ZMBHh @UniHeidelberg
- Still time to apply until January, 19th!
- We are recruiting a tenure track professor in the broader area of molecular biology @zmbh.uni-heidelberg.de at Heidelberg University! www.nature.com/naturecareer... Please share and apply!
- We are recruiting a tenure track professor in the broader area of molecular biology @zmbh.uni-heidelberg.de at Heidelberg University! www.nature.com/naturecareer... Please share and apply!
- New to RNA design? Please try pyFuRNAce! Looking forward to your feedback 🧬
- PyFuRNAce is an intuitive browser-based RNA design tool. @monari-luca.bsky.social @kgoepfrich.bsky.social @uniheidelberg.bsky.social realized the largest cotranscriptionally folded RNA nanostructures to date. #BiotechNatureComms www.nature.com/articles/s41...
- Reposted by Kerstin GöpfrichIs it possible to engineer new cellular life from the bottom up? The Göpfrich group @kgoepfrich.bsky.social @mpi-mr.bsky.social have designed an RNA origami nanotube 🟡 to mimic the cytoskeleton: www.nature.com/articles/s41... It was a fun challenge to animate T7 RNA polymerase 🔵 #blender #b3d
- 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
- 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
- @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 GöpfrichDNA 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!
- 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 GöpfrichEMBL 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...
- Reposted by Kerstin GöpfrichSo 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
- 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 GöpfrichLeben 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
- #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?
- Reposted by Kerstin GöpfrichNews 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
- #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!
- 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... 🧵👇
- #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 GöpfrichNew 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....
- Reposted by Kerstin GöpfrichOur 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...
- 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...
- Reposted by Kerstin GöpfrichThe 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...
- Reposted by Kerstin GöpfrichAn 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/...
- Reposted by Kerstin GöpfrichBoosting 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!
- 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!
- Reposted by Kerstin GöpfrichThere 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 GöpfrichExcited 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.
- 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!
- Reposted by Kerstin Göpfrich🧬Great opportunity for exchange between representatives of biotech companies, researchers, and transfer technology experts happened during the #GermanBiotechDays2025 in Heidelberg. Health & Life Science Alliance acted as academic partner for the event. Keynote speech by @kgoepfrich.bsky.social
- Reposted by Kerstin GöpfrichAwesome talk by @petrsulc.bsky.social today at #BioQuant on self-assembly of DNA- and RNA-origami. Check out e.g. their design of a crystal that avoids kinetic traps while growing doi.org/10.1126/scie...
- Thank you for sharing so much cool science on DNA self-assembly!
- Thank you Ulrich, it was a pleasure visiting Heidelberg and meeting you. Many thanks to the amazing group of @kgoepfrich.bsky.social for hosting me!
- Reposted by Kerstin GöpfrichThe Goepfrich lab @kgoepfrich.bsky.social yesterday published the creation of cytoskeleton-like structures with different properties inside lipid vesicles using RNA origami: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
- Reposted by Kerstin GöpfrichIn the latest from @kgoepfrich.bsky.social’s group, led by the relentless @tranmai.bsky.social, we expressed RNA origami “cytoskeletons” in vesicles! We were fascinated that small changes in design led to divergent results. Future potential for directed evolution?! 🧬🧪 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
- Reposted by Kerstin GöpfrichRNA Origami: Artificial Cytoskeletons to Build Synthetic Cells – Synthetic biologists from Heidelberg University create nanotubes folded from the natural RNA biomolecule www.uni-heidelberg.de/en/newsroom/...
- Reposted by Kerstin GöpfrichRNA-Origami: Künstliche Zytoskelette für die Konstruktion synthetischer Zellen – Forscherinnen und Forscher der Universität Heidelberg auf dem Gebiet der synthetischen Biologie schaffen Nanoröhrchen, die aus dem natürlichen Biomolekül RNA gefaltet werden www.uni-heidelberg.de/de/newsroom/...
- Insanely beautiful insights into Nature's own RNA origami!
- @science.org Cryo-EM reveals mechanisms of natural RNA multivalency | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... #RNAsky #RNAbiology #Cryo-EM
- Super cool methodology and findings!
- Are lipids actively sorted during clathrin mediated endocytosis like proteins? @mathilda95.bsky.social addresses this key open question together with our collaborators from the Honigmann and Modes labs using a new Lipid-STED workflow. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
- Thank you, Laura! Come join our group and awesome network for a PhD👇
- Synetic Cell MC Doctoral Network PhD offer alert!📌 at @kgoepfrich.bsky.social group in Heidelberg! If you are interested in RNA origami, synthetic cells, & membranes, contact Kerstin with a CV and a transcript of your records! More info goepfrichgroup.de & sigsyncell.crpp.cnrs.fr
- Looking forward! Thanks for coming over!
- Fantastic to be in Heidelberg for our SigSynCell EU Marie Curie Doctoral Network workshop! What a beautiful city, thanks to @kgoepfrich.bsky.social for organising! Excited for the science to start tomorrow 🧑🔬
- Reposted by Kerstin GöpfrichI'm happy to share this roadmap towards the synthesis of life! It is the result of one of the best workshops I ever attended, where scientists across biology, chemistry, and physics came together to map out the key challenges to synthesize life. Enjoy! www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
- New Master's programme in Heidelberg! Please share with interested students
- Reposted by Kerstin GöpfrichThrilled to share our latest publication on DNA origami folding and functionalization! A fantastic collaboration with @kgoepfrich.bsky.social and Anabel Lostao teams. pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/... #DeDNAmers project 🧬with Jesús del Barrio @inmadivulga.bsky.social
- How to achieve a high degree of functionalization on DNA origami in a cost-effective manner: pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/... It's been great to work with Siliva Hernandez-Ainsa again - twelve years after we first published on DNA origami together!
- Looking for an awesome scientist who would like to become our neighbour. Application deadline coming up. Please share!
- We have an open professorship in #synbio / biological engineering in Heidelberg! jobs.zeit.de/jobs/full-pr... Check it out!
- Reposted by Kerstin GöpfrichOverjoyed and honestly relieved to share a Chem Rev magnum opus from Brian Chen & Julia Li titled Synthetic Lipid Biology! In it, we organize efforts across numerous fields to create, manipulate, and analyze lipids and biomembranes. Check it out! doi.org/10.1021/acs.... #lipidtime #chemsky #chembio
- Reposted by Kerstin GöpfrichMitochondria consist of networks of cylindrical tubes, right? Not necessarily! - in our new preprint, @gavsturm.bsky.social investigates how mitochondria transiently adopt a beads-on-a-string morphology www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
- We have an open professorship in #synbio / biological engineering in Heidelberg! jobs.zeit.de/jobs/full-pr... Check it out!
- Reposted by Kerstin GöpfrichJust over a year ago, we launched the Seattle Hub for Synthetic Biology with @chanzuckerberg.bsky.social and @uwmedicine.bsky.social. #SeaSynBio is focused on developing tech that could spawn tools that observe cells and intervene to treat disease in real time. 🔗 alleninstitute.org/division/sea...
- Agreed. Awesome work @jamessaenz.bsky.social One of these papers that leave you wonder "why has nobody asked this before". A very profound insight!
- great title!! And the paper is cool too. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
- Reposted by Kerstin GöpfrichYou can still submit articles for the collection "Nanopore applications beyond DNA sequencing" before January 24! www.nature.com/collections/... #nanopore
- With #DNAorigami, we fold DNA nanochannels that punch holes into cells. They could deliver drugs or kill bad cells.#ShareMyThesis
- How will #DNA #sequencing change our future bit.ly/1zx3WYi? Excited to be @NakedScientists! #Famelab @camscience
- The tantalizing links between gut microbes and the brain? nature.com/news/the-tantalizin… via @NatureNews
- Origami in the real world: What can we learn from nature's own folds? 3sat.de/mediathek/?mode=pla…
- DNA rendering of polyhedral meshes at the nanoscale rdcu.be/euxS
- Guess what that is! The last kiss of two stars spon.de/aeBCv via @SPIEGELONLINE t.co/UFVIp37APx
- "Banking is nice but all the stuff comes from Science!" youtu.be/CHdKMDx4XC0 via @YouTube
- Who would think these bacterial beauties could do any harm? Growing art from #bacteria - Agar #Art competition: gu.com/p/4dt8t/stw#img-3
- Have you ever eaten #DNA? I was surprised how many people say no!
- Play and #discover - why would you want a truck if you can have a #SEM? #Lego from #lab ideas.lego.com/projects/102281
- @NanoDTC @camideasfest Check out "Nano^Art this Saturday @Cambridge_Uni: Perceiving on the smallest scales" nanoart.eventbrite.co.uk
- Biology is more theoretical than physics. - PubMed - NCBI ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23765269
- I can't believe it - a USB-sized DNA sequencer will be tested in space! Lets hope aliens have DNA ;-) go.nasa.gov/1kRKu8c
- I can't believe it! #Nanopore #DNA #sequencing apparently made it into main-stream TV! @nanopore t.co/C00sZTGYxo
- @nanopore @kbradnam @OmicsOmicsBlog @Clive_G_Brown Here it is - even in the sneak peek: youtu.be/tsHvCPovq_g
- @Axel_Bangert @HobbsLizzyhobbs One year since our #CambrideShorts film on #DNA origami is out bit.ly/1LEJ2Pa @camideasfest
- @nanopore @Clive_G_Brown @kbradnam The #DNA #nanopore #sequencer in the trailer: Scorpion Sneak Peek 1 youtu.be/tsHvCPovq_g via @YouTube
- Please tweet @AidReversed: What can Europe learn from #Africa? #TheAfricaTheMediaNeverShowsYou t.co/0yk6ydpul9
- Stunning autumn morning in Leckhampton! @CorpusCambridge @Cambridge_Uni, photos: @KarlGoedel bit.ly/1PdUeVj t.co/QWylGWMEyM
