Welcome to the Lipfert Lab!
We are fascinated by how biological macromolecules (DNA, RNA, and proteins) adopt their three-dimensional shapes, make specific interactions, can deform under external forces and torques, and undergo conformational transitions to carry out the biological functions they have evolved to do. We use a range of biophysical tools, in particular single-molecule magnetic tweezers and solution X-ray scattering, to provide insights into the structure and mechanisms of these biological machines.
Our lab was part of the Chair for Biophysics and Molecular Materials headed by Hermann Gaub in the Physics Department of the LMU Munich. Physically, we used to be located at the main LMU campus in Munich (see CONTACT for our shipping address and directions). The lab has recently moved to Utrecht University in the Netherlands, the new address is in the Ornstein Laboratory as part of the Department of Physics and the Debye Institute for Nanomaterials Science.