Biophysicist and Director at the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry, Prof. Dr. Petra Schwille, has been awarded the Bavarian Order of Merit by Bavaria's Minister President Markus Söder. The renowned scientist has been Director and Scientific Member at the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry since 2011 and Honorary Professor at the Faculty of Physics at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München since 2012. Schwille is one of the leading international scientists in the field of biophysics and has already received several awards.
As Director at the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry in Martinsried, Petra Schwille is setting new standards in single molecule research and synthetic biology. With her research department, the 57-year-old aims to create a simple biological system from individual, well-characterized building blocks that can replicate itself - something that was first achieved by the primordial cell. Her scientific work therefore focuses on the development of single-molecule methods. She also works on the reconstitution of biological functions in artificial model membranes or cell modules and investigates biological processes such as the self-organization of cells.
Among other things, she is concerned with the question of the conditions under which life in general can arise, or has arisen. At the award ceremony for the Bavarian Order of Merit in the Antiquarium of the Residenz in Munich, Minister President Markus Söder paid tribute to Schwille's passionate commitment to science communication and the promotion of young female scientists in addition to her research. She is also the spokesperson for the Bavarian Maximilian Order for Science and Art.
“She combines scientific excellence with social responsibility,” said Minister President Markus Söder about Prof. Dr. Petra Schwille at the presentation of the Bavarian Order of Merit.
Petra Schwille studied physics at the University of Stuttgart and physics and philosophy at the University of Göttingen. She worked on her doctoral thesis under Nobel Prize winner Manfred Eigen at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Göttingen. Since 2011, she has been Director of the “Cellular and Molecular Biophysics” department at the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry in Martinsried.