Prof. Dr.-Ing. Kai Sundmacher re-appointed a Fellow of the Max Planck School Matter to Life

Innovative network of German organizations for interdisciplinary life science research and excellent graduate education

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Kai Sundmacher, Director of the Process Engineering Department, has been re-appointed a Fellow of the Max Planck School Matter to Life due to his outstanding scientific profile by the President of the Max Planck Society, for the period from October 1, 2025 to September 30, 2029. His focus here is especially on biosystems engineering and artificial life-like systems.

In the Matter to Life Program, PhD students experience first-class training, highly interdisciplinary teaching and research opportunities from outstanding experts across Germany. The school currently constitutes of 50 Fellows who are selected and appointed for a period of four years as well as 11 Adjunct Fellows.

The Max Planck School Matter to Life is dedicated to interdisciplinary life science research and has formed an innovative network of German organizations for excellent graduate education. Through access to leading research institutions and universities, students receive a first-class education and learn from world-renowned scientists.

The objective of the Max Planck School Matter to Life is to address the questions of “What is life?” and "Can life-like processes, functions and objects be quantitatively described, simulated, predicted and created in the laboratory?". The work focuses on methods to describe, model, and ultimately harness the laws of physics and chemistry that dictate the biological processes of dynamic spatiotemporal organization of life into molecules, cells, tissues and organisms. Thus, the MPS MtL not only pushes the boundaries of our understanding of life, but also paves the way for filling the knowledge gap in fundamental sciences and finding innovative solutions to some of the most pressing scientific challenges.