Prof. Dr. Katharina Landfester

Main research interests

Katharina Landfester’s broad research interests range from polymerization in miniemulsion, structure formation in nanoconfinements, characterization of physical properties in droplets, enzymatic reactions in heterophase, encapsulation of hydrophilic and hydrophobic components in nanocapsules, synthesis and characterization of functionalized nanoparticles/-capsules to uptake of nanoparticles in different cells and in vivo applications.

Short CV

Katharina Landfester is director at the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research in Mainz. She studied at the Technical University of Darmstadt and received her doctoral degree from the University of Mainz with a work at the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research in Mainz. After a postdoctoral stay at Lehigh University (US), she joined the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces (Golm, Germany). From 2003 to 2008, she was full professor at Ulm University (Germany). Since 2008, she is director at the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research. She has been awarded various prizes, including the Reimund Stadler Prize and the Dr Hermann Schnell Foundation Prize, the Liesegang Prize (2024) and the Liebig Medal (2024). She is an elected member of the German Academy of Science and Engineering (ACATECH) and the Academy of Sciences and Literature (Mainz). In 2022, she co-founded the start-up LigniLabs.

She pioneered the miniemulsion process for creating polymer-encapsulated multifunctional nanocarriers and demonstrated their applications in biology, diagnostics, and therapeutics. Her research connects fundamental chemistry with life-inspired function by designing artificial cells and nanocarriers that self-assemble, interact at interfaces, and adapt dynamically. Through advanced synthesis, high-resolution imaging, and various characterization techniques, her group uncovers the principles by which molecules evolve into active, adaptive systems, enabling precision nanomedicine and advancing our understanding of life-like functionality.

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