Dr. Charlotta Lorenz
Charlotta (“Lotta”) Lorenz is a biophysicist investigating self-assembly processes in soft materials, their structures and properties. Her research specifically aims for biomedical and sustainable applications. During her PhD, she studied the mechanical behavior of self-assembling biopolymers. These specific biopolymers are also known as “safety belts” of the cells promising interesting mechanical properties. She demonstrated that proteins within the same class can behave fundamentally differently depending on their structure. Such differences may influence the mechanical properties of cells during vital processes such as wound healing.
During her postdoctoral research, she focused on the structure of self-assembling droplets arising from liquid–liquid phase separation. Such droplets are associated with neurodegenerative diseases including ALS, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.
In her research group, she combines droplets, polymers and small molecules under conditions resembling those in biological cells. Materials emerging from these combinations hold strong potential for biomedical and sustainable applications.