He will significantly expand research into supramolecularly structured polymers

Prof Dr Johannes C. Brendel returns to the University of Bayreuth as Chair of Markomolecular Chemistry I. Brendel previously worked as an Emmy Noether junior research group leader at the Friedrich Schiller University in Jena. He studied in Bayreuth, successfully completed the Elite Graduate Programme in Macromolecular Science and also obtained his doctorate in 2013. He then received a DFG research fellowship to work as a postdoctoral researcher in a joint project between the University of Warwick and the Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Science in Melbourne before establishing his own research group at the University of Jena.

Prof Dr Johannes Brendel's research focuses on both the synthesis of functional polymers and their structuring with the help of supramolecular interactions. "At the University of Bayreuth, I will significantly expand my research into supramolecularly structured polymers," he says. "In addition to self-assembled polymer fibres as medical drug transporters, I want to develop new materials that can be used, for example, as synthetic cell scaffolds, enable the 3D printing of elastomers or form nanostructured electronic components."

In Jena, Brendel worked on the Emmy Noether project "Supramolecular polymer brushes as drug delivery systems", which he will continue to develop at the University of Bayreuth as part of a Heisenberg grant from the DFG.

"A melting pot for polymer research has been created at the University of Bayreuth, in which various disciplines, e.g. chemistry, physics, engineering and biology, work closely together across disciplines, making top international research possible. This unique environment was already inspiring during my studies and doctorate and has continued to develop over the last few years that I have been away," says Prof Brendel. "I am therefore delighted to have this opportunity to return to my alma mater."