New Research Group Leader at the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research

In March 2026, Kevin Jahnke will establish a research group on ‘Biomembrane Engineering’ at the new Heilbronn site of the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research. Its focus will be on engineering synthetic lipid nano- and microstructures, with the aim of investigating the biophysics of both cells and lipid vesicles. 

• Kevin Jahnke will be the first research group leader to join the Institute’s new site in Heilbronn, which is currently being set up.
• His research group will be funded by the Emmy Noether Program, a program of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) that supports outstanding early-career scientists.
• Kevin Jahnke’s long-term goal is to connect biophysical insights with biotechnological applications, with a specific focus on drug delivery, and to open new approaches to the treatment of lipid-associated diseases.

Connecting biophysical insights with biotechnological applications

“I envision that the new site of the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research in Heilbronn will be an amazing place for my research. On one hand, it will bridge between biology, physics and chemistry, and on the other, it will promote the transfer of scientific knowledge into biotechnological applications”, says Kevin Jahnke.

“We are delighted that Kevin will be rejoining our institute, this time with a research group whose focus perfectly matches the research landscape in Heilbronn. This will undoubtedly open up excellent opportunities for collaboration and offer the potential for fundamental discoveries in membrane and cellular biophysics”, says Joachim Spatz, Managing Director of the Max Planck Institute (MPI) for Medical Research, welcoming the experimental biophysicist. Kevin Jahnke will be coming from Harvard University, where he has worked since completing his PhD at the MPI for Medical Research in 2022.

Expanding the frontier of membrane engineering

Central to the work of Kevin Jahnke’s ‘Biomembrane Engineering’ group will be synthetic lipid vesicles. These are similar in structure to natural cell membranes, but can be produced in the laboratory in unlimited numbers and with an endless variety of components, structures and forms. This makes them ideal objects for exploring and understanding all aspects of the biophysics of cell membranes: a central theme in modern biology. Furthermore, synthetic lipid vesicles can be used to build an unlimited range of specifically designed alternatives to cells for use in medical applications. They could also be the starting point for an unlimited range of programmed nano- and micro-structures for other technological applications.

Key questions which Kevin Jahnke intends to investigate with his group include: How can lipid nanostructures be rationally designed to enable efficient drug loading, uptake, and controlled release? In what ways does leaflet asymmetry modulate the biophysical behavior and functional properties of lipid membranes? Is it possible to engineer unconventional or entirely new classes of delivery vehicles using these principles?

Kevin Jahnke’s group is an Emmy Noether research group. The Emmy Noether Program is a program of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) that supports outstanding early-career scientists, offering them the opportunity to lead a junior research group and to satisfy the conditions for appointment as a university professor.

About Kevin Jahnke

Kevin Jahnke is an experimental biophysicist working on lipid membranes, cellular biophysics, and drug delivery. The native German studied physics at Heidelberg University, performed research for his master’s thesis at the University of Cambridge, UK, and joined the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research for his PhD. Since 2022 he has been working as a Postdoctoral Fellow in Biophysics in the laboratory of Dave Weitz at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. From March 2026, he will head his own Emmy Noether Research Group ‘Biomembrane Engineering’ at the Heilbronn location of the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research. His work has led to 30 publications and six patents so far, including 16 first and six corresponding authorships.