About us

Our lab focuses on AI-guided protein design to engineer cellular decision-making, with the goal of creating synthetic proteins that can modulate, sense, or reprogram signal transduction in a controlled and context-dependent manner. We work at the interface of machine learning, structural biology, synthetic biology and biomedicine, combining deep learning-based structure prediction and generative design with experimental validation in cell-based systems.

Our research builds on and aims to further develop recent breakthroughs in diffusion models, sequence design networks, and third-generation structure prediction tools to design therapeutic binding domains, scaffolds, and synthetic receptors with precise spatial and functional control. Applications span from fundamental studies of receptor clustering and signaling to programmable receptors for cell therapy and regenerative medicine.

Our lab is based at the TUM School of Natural Sciences in Garching and is embedded within the Center for Functional Protein Assemblies, the Center for Smart Drug Design and the newly approved Cluster of Excellence “Biosystems Design Munich (BiosysteM)”.