About the group

Alexandra is a developmental biologist working between the groups of Stephan Grill and Jesse Veenvliet. Having previously studied zebrafish and cnidarian embryos, she now combines in vitro approaches using embryonic stem cells with work on quail embryos to understand how cells integrate biochemical and mechanical inputs to adopt different cell fates.

Amin started out trapping atoms near absolute zero to study quantum information, but curiosity about life’s messier forms led him to biophysics. Now he builds optical traps to study the self-organization of active biological matter, particularly how these systems turn energy into motion. Outside the lab, he climbs walls, cooks all sorts of things, and dances Lindy Hop wherever music allows.

Curious, passionate, creative and intense: four words that describe Arittri the best. She uses research to beat her untamed energy and curiosity into shape by invoking scientific thought and discipline. Part of the worm family, Arittri investigates chiral acto-myosin flows that shape the body axes in worms. Her hobbies include travelling, journalling, playing badminton, singing and experimenting with novel recipes. Ask her about the best restaurants in town, silent getaways, where to see the sunset, and worms.

Douglas investigates condensates involved in transcription from an in vitro experimental perspective. He is interested in pattern formation and complexity in biological systems. In his free time,  Douglas enjoys reading, writing, and hiking.

Friederike is the keeper of C. elegans – tending to our vast varity of worm lines and creating new ones with care and precision. As a lab technician, she supports everyone with great skill and good spirit. Outside the lab, she enjoys climbing boulders or dancing at a music festival under open skies.

Gisela keeps things organized and moving. She arranges travel, coordinates Stephan’s calendar, and handles the bureaucratic side of lab life gracefully. With patience, kindness and good humour, she makes sure everything — and everyone — ends up where it should.

Ian combines experiments, theory, and computation to study sub-cellular structures down to their constituent molecules. He is currently inferring chemical reactions in actin condensates within C. elegans oocytes and learning dynamical descriptions of actomyosin mixtures. He is especially excited about statistical approaches to topics ranging from RNA structures to interaction networks.

Issy is a true protein enthusiast, equally at home with tricky purifications, protein condensates, and reconstituting proteins onto lipid bilayers. After a stint in industry, she came to Dresden for her PhD, where she now blends in vitro reconstitution with in vivo live imaging to unravel how PAR proteins and phase separation impact C. elegans polarity. When not coaxing proteins into order or contemplating the mysteries of intracellular organization, she is likely halfway up a climbing wall, playing football, or unwinding at the spa with friends.

Jan is currently on a deep dive on protein dynamics during early meiosis of C. elegans, especially relating to the eggshell, using fluorescence microscopy, image analysis and simulation. Before the worm eggshell took hold of his research, he investigated information content in music and mechanical-chemical coupling in the C. elegans oocyte. If Jan is not in the lab, you might find him playing the violin at the university orchestra or out and about cycling.

Jonas is a theorist who enjoys exploring biological questions with a physicist’s curiosity and clarity. When not modelling life’s complexities, he might be found at the piano or exploring the zoo with his family – appreciating patterns, rhythms, and creatures both in theory and in real life.

Jonathan previously studied transport dynamics, nuclear envelope fluctuations, and actomyosin patterning in Drosophila egg chambers and embryos. He now investigates the stability of the left-right organizer in quail, plus mechanical and biochemical principles governing polarity, transport, and shape in the C. elegans syncytial germline. Outside lab, he enjoys hiking, tea, and (badly) playing piano.

Jonathan is applying PDE learning techniques to experimental actomyosin dynamics data. Furthermore, he is curious about fundamental bioenergetics questions such as the spacing of mitochondria. After work, you will find him experimenting with electronic music or cycling around on the crappiest bikes.

Josef seeks to bring the order a physicist craves into the complexity of biology by finding physical descriptions of the actomyosin cortex in C. elegans and relating them to the molecular components it is made of. On a mission to fish more data, he employs microfluidics and automated microscopy. Outside the lab, you might find him hiking, playing football or dancing Lindy Hop.

Julia blends electron tomography with maths, witnesses the battle between viruses and the cytoskeleton (go, septins), and observes worms with hydrodynamic instabilities. Currently, she is looking at tissue torques in quail embryos, and occasionally she can be seen on stage wearing a chicken suit. Climbing, kids and the kaleidoscopic adventures of life keep her well entertained.

Karin investigates how upstream signals guide self-organization of agile grillers on the lab scale. Apart from managing the lab with appropriate boundary conditions, she supports research as a technician with her molecular biology toolbox. Karin likes to make worms shine and to put a smile on your face. Outside the lab, she recharges with church activities, creative pastimes, and being in nature.

Jointly in Grill and Jülicher groups, Kshitij is a predoc curious about collectivity in DNA-protein interactions. He combines single-molecule optical tweezer experiments with a touch of theory to understand the genome organisation, and transcription regulation. Outside the lab, Kshitij enjoys music, cooking, running, (but mostly) sleeping.

Kyle joined at the Grill Lab as a postdoc in 2021. Kyle focuses on developing microfluidic devices to automate wet lab processes. So far Kyle has developed a device for extracting and imaging early C. elegans embryos as they develop.

Between the groups of Stephan Grill and Marino Zerial, Lisa combines protein biochemistry and biophysics in reconstitution assays to study the Rab5 membrane fusion machinery. When she is not working on these complicated assays at the bench, she is working on her bass guitar skills.

Lutz journeyed from crystallography in Irvine through Switzerland, Ireland, and England before settling in Dresden. He now reconstitutes the actomyosin cortex, bringing structure and motion together in equal measure. When not in the lab, he trades microscopes for mountain trails, enjoying the flow of biking through the Heide.

I’m a soft-matter biophysicist interested in how physical principles shape genome organization and nuclear architecture. My research combines single-molecule experiments, quantitative imaging, and theoretical modeling to investigate DNA–protein co-condensates and their mechanical properties. I’m particularly fascinated by how local molecular interactions give rise to emergent behavior at the cellular scale. I also enjoy interdisciplinary collaboration and developing tools that bridge biology and physics.

Tina bridges scales – from worms to bacteria and purified proteins. As a lab technician, she now powers the in vitro team, known for her steady hand, clear mind and talent in protein purification. Beyond the lab, she’s both a mum and a duck mum – rescuing ducklings, nurturing plants, and enjoying the calm of nature in her backyard.