​BOKU
University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences
Institute for Biologically Inspired Materials
The University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU), Vienna, is represented in STIMULUS by the Institute for Biologically inspired materials (BIMat). We focus our research on colloidal aspects of biological systems and materials, including nanoparticle-actuated smart materials, and researching biophysical mechanisms in early-stage biofilm formation. BIMat will train students in nanomaterials in drug delivery and novel holographic methods to study bacterial infections.
Project Coordinator
and Principal Investigator
Prof. Erik Reimhult
Erik Reimhult was born in 1974 in Sweden, where he studied Engineering Physics and got his Ph.D. in 2004 from Chalmers University of Technology with Bengt Kasemo. After stints as a postdoc in Singapore with Wolfgang Knoll (A*STAR Institute of Materials Research and Engineering) and in Switzerland with Marcus Textor (ETH Zürich) he moved to Austria in 2010 to assume a full professorship in Nanobiotechnology at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU), Vienna. In 2011, he became the Head of the Institute for Biologically Inspired Materials. In 2013, Reimhult was awarded a prestigious ERC Consolidator Grant for research on nanoparticle-membrane interactions. He is an elected member of the Young Academy of the Austrian Academy of Sciences as well as of the Board of the Austrian Science Fund. You find a complete list of his university functions and board activities here.
Prof. Reimhult focuses on the synthesis and characterization of novel biomimetic nanomaterials with application in medicine and biotechnology, and on improving our understanding of how bacteria form biofilms and interact with cells to cause infections.
The STIMULUS researchers at BOKU
Giacomo Chizzola
Italian
Since May 2021 in Vienna
Bhavana Sathish
Indian
Since August 2021 in Vienna