Jochen Guck

Jochen Guck received his PhD in Physics from the University of Texas at Austin in 2001. After first leading a group at the University of Leipzig, he moved to the Cavendish Laboratory at Cambridge University as a Lecturer in 2007 and was promoted to Reader in 2009. In 2012 he became Professor of Cellular Machines at the Biotechnology Center of the Technische Universität Dresden. As of October 2018 he is Director at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light and the Max-Planck-Zentrum für Physik und Medizin in Erlangen, Germany, and since August 2020 Professor of Biological Optomechanics in the Physics Department of the Friedrich-Alexander Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg. He has authored over 200 peer-reviewed publications and holds six patents. His work has been recognised by several awards, amongst them the Cozzarelli Award by the National Academy of Sciences (USA) in 2008, the Paterson Medal and Prize by the Institute of Physics (UK) in 2011, an Alexander-von-Humboldt Professorship in 2012, and the Wilhelm Ostwald Medal by the Saxonian Acedemy of Sciences in 2022.

Our research centres on exploring the physical properties of biological cells and tissues, and their importance for cell function and behaviour. We also develop novel photonic, microfluidic, and scanning-force probe techniques for the study of these optical and mechanical properties. The ultimate goal is utilising this insight for novel diagnostic and therapeutic approaches.

This research is Project 11 of the SPP 2332 PoP.