Our research is contributing to a recently emerged interdisciplinary area of Nanobiotechnology. In nature, innumerous highly functional nanomachines are precisely self-assembled from different biomacromolecules by means of non-covalent interactions. These sophisticated systems impressively demonstrate the power of programmed self-recognition of biomacromolecules. Inspired by the brilliant systems in nature, research on Nanobiotechnology exploits the nanostructuring and nanofabrication of active biomacromolecules and studies the interface between biomolecules and nanotechnology. Nanobiotechnology is envisioned to assist understanding substantial new insights into how biological systems function, and in turn lead to the design of entirely new classes of micro- and nanofabricated devices and machines.

In particular, our research concerns the development of hybrid nanomaterials self-assembled from proteins, nucleic acids and inorganic nanoparticles. In addition to fundamental studies on protein modifications and self-assembly methodologies, we particularly focus on their applications for nanomedicine, theranostic, biocatalysis and stimuli responsive materials.