Dr. Priyanka Sharan
Priyanka Sharan studied Materials Science and Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur, India. She wrote her Master’s thesis in the group of Prof. Dr. Brigitte Voit at the Leibniz Institute for Polymer Research, Dresden, focusing on stimuli-responsive polymersomes as nano-reactors. In Oct 2018, she joined the group of Dr. Juliane Simmchen in TU Dresden, where she pursued her PhD working on the fabrication of artificial microswimmers using microfluidics and studying their behavior in complex environments. After completing her PhD in March 2022, she continued in the same group as a postdoctoral researcher. In November 2023, she joined the group of Prof. Dr. Katharina Landfester at the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research, Mainz as a postdoctoral researcher. Since May 2025, she is the group leader of the polymersomes systems within the artificial cell project in the same department.
Research Interests
The research interest of the group lies at the interface of synthetic biology, polymer chemistry and self-assembly. We are highly interested in mimicking the basic features of a natural cell by developing a truly artificial system with life-like properties such as membrane transport, communication, growth, division, motility and compartmentalization and finally using these synthetic mimics in targeted drug delivery and biomedicine. The research interest includes studying the structural and functional properties of membranes such as permeability, flexibility and membrane bending. This research aims to better understand and hence control the membrane of an artificial cells and thereby facilitate manipulation and cross-membrane transport in a highly controlled manner. Additionally, the group focuses on exploring various functional polymers to regulate selective transport and interaction with biological materials.