Prof. Joachim P. Spatz
Max Planck Institute for Medical Research

Abstract
The evolution of cellular compartments for spatially and temporally controlled assembly of biological processes was an essential step in developing life by evolution. Synthetic approaches to cellular-like compartments are still lacking well-controlled functionalities, as would be needed for more complex synthetic cells. With the ultimate aim to construct life-like materials such as a living cell, matter-to-life strives to reconstitute cellular phenomena in vitro – disentangled from the complex environment of a cell. In recent years, working towards this ambitious goal gave new insights into the mechanisms governing life. With the fast-growing library of functional modules assembled for synthetic cells, their classification and integration become increasingly important. We will discuss strategies to reverse-engineer and recombine functional parts for synthetic eukaryotes, mimicking the characteristics of nature’s own prototype. Particularly, we will focus on large outer compartments, complex endomembrane systems with organelles and versatile cytoskeletons as hallmarks of eukaryotic life. Moreover, we identify microfluidics and DNA nanotechnology as two highly promising technologies which can achieve the integration of these functional modules into sophisticated multifunctional synthetic cells.

Biography
Joachim P. Spatz joined the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research in Heidelberg as a Director for the Dept. of Cellular Biophysics in 2016. 2004-2016 he was a Director at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems and heading the Dept. New Materials and Biosystems. From 2004 he is also a Full Professor at Heidelberg University. He was an Associated Professor for Biophysical Chemistry at the University of Heidelberg from 2000-2004. From 1999-2000 he received his habilitation in Physics at the University of Ulm. He was a PostDoc at the Institut Curie, Paris, in 1997 and 1998. He received his Diploma in Physics (1994) and his Ph.D. in Physics (1996) from the University of Ulm.

Location
Seminar Room, 0.125, Kussmaulallee 2
Location Details

Zoom
https://eu02web.zoom-x.de/j/64228364093?pwd=ZpEjavWqnUTHCa42JGkZUaSpeMyUB2.1
Meeting-ID: 642 2836 4093
Kenncode: 112406