Dr. Leif-Thore Deck

Leif-Thore Deck is a Max Planck Research Group Leader at the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics of Complex Technical Systems in Magdeburg since September 2026. His group works in the area of Phase Transition Engineering: the combination of mechanistic modelling and experiments at multiple scales to understand and control phase transitions in industrial processes. A main focus are crystallization, precipitation, and freezing processes in the manufacturing of (bio)pharmaceuticals.

Leif-Thore Deck received his doctorate in Mechanical and Process Engineering from ETH Zurich, working with Prof. Marco Mazzotti. His thesis was recognised with the ETH Medal and the EFCE Excellence Award in Crystallization for the best European doctoral thesis in the field. Subsequently, he was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Cambridge, where he worked with Prof. Tuomas Knowles and Daan Frenkel and where he still serves as Affiliated Lecturer in Physical Chemistry.