Kerstin Blank is a Professor at the Institute of Experimental Physics at Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria, where she leads the Division of Biomolecular and Selforganizing Matter. Originally trained as a protein biochemist, she was introduced to atomic force microscopy (AFM) during her PhD in Hermann Gaub’s lab at Ludwig Maximilian University Munich. Since then, she has been fascinated by the intricate relationship between protein structure and mechanics.
Her current research focuses on the mechanical properties of structural proteins that form biological materials. Using these proteins as blueprints, she designs mechanoresponsive nanomechanical building blocks. A major focus is the de novo engineering of coiled coils and their mechanical characterization via single-molecule force spectroscopy. Integrating additional functionalities, such as optical readouts of their molecular state, she employs these coiled coils as molecular force sensors and as mechanoresponsive elements in smart hydrogels. These tools provide new insights into mechanical signaling at cell-material interfaces, both in 2D and 3D cell culture environments.
Kerstin Blank - Photo Credit: Sabine Starmayr
Recent AFM-related publications:
Biography: Kerstin Blank received her PhD in Biophysics from Ludwig Maximilian University Munich in 2006. After brief postdoctoral stays in Strasbourg and Leuven, she became an assistant professor at Radboud University Nijmegen in 2009. In 2014, she joined the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces in Potsdam, where she led the Max Planck Research Group Mechano(bio)chemistry. Since October 2021, she has been a full professor at Johannes Kepler University. Kerstin Blank co-founded and chaired the Gordon Research Conference on Multiscale Mechanochemistry & Mechanobiology. Since 2022, she has served as (deputy) speaker of the Biological Physics section of the German Physical Society. She is also a member of the editorial board of RSC Mechanochemistry.
Website: www.jku.at/biom
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