MPIKG – Change in the office of Managing Director: Prof. Dr. Peter Fratzl takes over
MPIKG | Director of the Department of Biomaterials Prof. Dr. Peter Fratzl takes over: In accordance with the rotation principle, physicist Prof. Dr. Peter Fratzl has been taking over the office of Managing Director at the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces (MPIKG) in the Potsdam Science Park for two years since January 1, 2021. He replaces the chemist and biochemist Prof. Dr. Peter H. Seeberger.
The scientific and administrative management of the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces is subject to a board of directors consisting of four directors. One of the four institute directors is appointed to this office from the four-member board of directors on a rotating basis for two years. From January 1, 2021 to December 31, 2022, Peter Fratzl will now hold the official duties.
Since 2003, Peter Fratzl has headed the “Biomaterials” department at the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, which currently consists of six research groups. His research focuses on the investigation of the relationships between the (hierarchical) structure and the physical properties of biological and biomimetic materials. He is one of the pioneers in this field. He investigates natural materials such as wood, insect shells, mussel shells, protein fibres and bones.
Fratzl conducts basic research as well as clinically oriented research on the latter in order to gain new insights into osteoporosis and bone regeneration. His interest in the interdisciplinary fields of cultural studies and design complements Fratzl’s research. To answer questions relevant to biology, medicine, materials science, engineering and the humanities, the Biomaterials Department uses techniques and methods that largely come from physics and chemistry.
Peter Fratzl is the author and co-author of more than 600 scientific publications in journals and books. He is the recipient of the Leibniz Research Prize (2010), honorary doctorate from the University of Montpellier, France. Fratzl is also a member of the following academy: Austrian Academy of Sciences, Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences, Academy of Sciences and Literature Mainz and the German Academy of Science and Engineering.