Dr. Volker Mailänder

Volker Mailänder studied medicine at the University of Ulm supported by a stipend from the 'Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes' and was in the graduate program 'Molecular Biology'. He worked in the Blume/Negrin lab in Stanford, California, on natural killer cells and on bioluminescence imaging. Afterwards, he received training in internal medicine (haematology/oncology) in the Charité hospital in Berlin. After relocating to the Institute for Clinical Transfusion Medicine, University Clinic of Ulm, he worked on stem cell manipulation and was board certified in transfusion medicine. He focused on using polymeric nanoparticles for labelling or manipulation of stem cells and other cell types and was leading the stem cell lab of the III. Medical Clinic until December 2015. Since January 2016, he is leading a joint research group between the University Clinic Dermatology, Mainz, and the MPI for Polymer Science. He is a full professor at the University Clinic, Mainz and is heading the Center for Translational Research – CTN. Current research topics include protein-nanoparticle interactions, detecting pathways of endocytosis and harnessing nanoparticles for use in medical applications.

Research Interests

Coming from a background of clinical research in haematology and oncology and having been board certified in transfusion medicine, my interest is in the field of using nanocarriers for the treatment of malignant disease and on a broader range in immunological control of diseases and cellular therapies. Hallmarks of the development of nanocarrier systems were liposomes like Doxil® and iron oxide nanoparticles like Resovist®. Since then the research for nanocarriers has been hampered by a lack of understanding of the confounding factors leading to drug delivery by nanocarriers. Being able to understand when the targeting of nanocarriers could work and when the targeting cannot work is a major goal or our research. We, therefore, have been investigating the deteriorating effect of adsorbed proteins on nanocarriers. Our future focus will be on transforming our in vitro knowledge into in vivo approaches and demonstrate the level of effectiveness of targeting and its biological impact.


Selected Publications

Han S, da Costa Marques R, Simon J, Kaltbeitzel A, Koynov K, Landfester K, Mailänder V, Lieberwirth I.
Endosomal sorting results in a selective separation of the protein corona from nanoparticles.
Nat Commun. 2023 Jan 18;14(1):295
Deuker MFS, Mailänder V, Morsbach S, Landfester K.
Anti-PEG antibodies enriched in the protein corona of PEGylated nanocarriers impact the cell uptake.
Nanoscale Horiz., 2023, 8, 1377-1385
Johanna Simon, Gabor Kuhn, Maximilian Brückner, Michael Fichter, Richard da Costa Marques, Katharina Landfester , Volker Mailänder
Achieving dendritic cell subset-specific targeting in vivo by site-directed conjugation of targeting antibodies to nanocarriers.
Nano Today Volume 43, April 2022, 101375
Tanmoy Sarkar, Katharina Lieberth, Aristea Pavlou, Thomas Frank, Volker Mailaender, Iain McCulloch, Paul W. M. Blom, Fabrizio Torricelli, Paschalis Gkoupidenis
An organic artificial spiking neuron for in situ neuromorphic sensing and biointerfacing.
Nature Electronics volume 5, pages 774–783 2022
Wettstein L., Weil T., Conzelmann C., Müller J.A., Groß R., Hirschenberger M., Seidel A., Klute S., Zech F., Prelli Bozzo C., Preising N., Fois G., Lochbaum R., Knaff P.M., Mailänder V., Ständker L., Thal D.R., Schumann C., Stenger S., Kleger A., Lochnit G., Mayer B., Ruiz-Blanco Y.B., Hoffmann M., Sparrer K.M.J., Pöhlmann S., Sanchey-Garcia E., Kirchhoff F., Frick M., Münch J.
Alpha-1 antitrypsin inhibits TMPRSS2 protease activity and SARS-CoV-2 infection.
Nat Commun. 12(1):1726 2021
Wagner, J., L. J. Li, J. Simon, L. Krutzke, K. Landfester, V. Mailänder, K. Müllen, D. Y. W. Ng, Y. Z. Wu, T. Weil
Amphiphilic Polyphenylene Dendron Conjugates for Surface Remodeling of Adenovirus 5
Angewandte Chemie International ed. in English. 59(14):5712-5720 2020
Tonigold M, Simon J, Estupiñán D, Kokkinopoulou M, Reinholz J, Kintzel U, Kaltbeitzel A, Renz P, Domogalla MP, Steinbrink K, Lieberwirth I, Crespy D, Landfester K, Mailänder V
Pre-adsorption of antibodies enables targeting of nanocarriers despite a biomolecular corona
Nat Nanotechnol. 2018 13(9):862-869
Schottler S, Becker G, Winzen S, Steinbach T, Mohr K, Landfester K, Mailander V*, Wurm FR*
Protein adsorption is required for stealth effect of poly(ethylene glycol)- and poly(phosphoester)-coated nanocarriers
Nature Nanotechnology 2016, 11: 372-377
Ritz S, Schottler S, Kotman N, Baier G, Musyanovych A, Kuharev J, Landfester K, Schild H, Jahn O, Tenzer S, Mailander V
Protein corona of nanoparticles: distinct proteins regulate the cellular uptake
Biomacromolecules 2015, 16: 1311-21
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