Adolphe Merkle Institute
The Adolphe Merkle Institute is a research center in Fribourg, Switzerland focused on nanoscience. The institute is named after the Swiss entrepreneur Adolphe Merkle who created the foundation that partially funded the institute.
History
Dr. Adolphe Merkle, an entrepreneur from Fribourg, established the Adolphe Merkle Foundation in 2007 with the goal of strengthening research and teaching at the University of Fribourg. His contribution of 100 million Swiss francs constitutes one of the most important private donations to support academic research in Switzerland.In 2008, the Adolphe Merkle Institute was founded under its first director, Prof. Peter Schurtenberger, formerly a professor in the Department of Physics at the University of Fribourg and then appointed as the chair of Experimental Physics and Nanoscience at the Institute. He developed the vision of an interdisciplinary institute that focuses on soft nanomaterials and combines fundamental and application-oriented research. In 2010, Prof. Christoph Weder, who joined AMI as the chair for Polymer Chemistry and Materials in 2009, became director, serving until April 2022. The institute appointed Professors Alke Fink and Barbara Rothen-Rutishauser as co-chairs of BioNanomaterials and Michael Mayer as Professor of Biophysics. Prof. Schurtenberger left the institute to establish a new group at the University of Lund, and Ullrich Steiner was appointed as Professor of Soft Matter Physics. Steiner took over as institute director in May 2022.
Since 2014, AMI is located on the University of Fribourg's Pérolles campus. The Institute is housed in two renovated buildings that were previously a private clinic and an additional modern construction.
Structure
AMI is an interdisciplinary research center, focused on fundamental and application-oriented research in soft nano- and materials sciences.The institute is headed by an executive director and executive board, who report to a scientific advisory board and institute council. Administrative structures are said to be kept lean and AMI employs an industry liaison and technology transfer office for partners from industry and academia, and a communications officer.
40% of AMI staff are doctoral students and 20% postdoctoral researchers.
The emphasis on interdisciplinarity is also reflected in how the research groups are constituted. They do not adhere to the traditional distinction of fields in the natural sciences but rather have interdisciplinary topics as their research focus.
The principal investigators of the research groups have full professorships at the University of Fribourg's Faculty of Science and Medicine. They teach at the Master's level but have a decreased teaching load in order to dedicate more time towards research activities at AMI.
Current Research Groups
- Polymer Chemistry & Materials
- BioNanomaterials
- Biophysics
- Soft Matter Physics
- Mechanoresponsive Materials
Former Research Groups
- Soft Nanoscience 2008-2010
- Nanoparticle Self-Assembly 2012-2017
- Macromolecular Chemistry 2013-2018
- Smart Energy Materials 2021-2024
Research Activities
AMI's research revolves around soft nanomaterials, such as such as nanoparticles, colloids, polymers, nanostructures, and nanopores, and emphasizes bio-inspired materials design, stimuli-responsive materials, optical materials, energy materials, sensing, the detection of nanoparticles in complex media, and the investigation of the interactions of nanomaterials with biological systems.The Polymer Chemistry & Materials group is conducting research on stimuli-responsive or smart polymers, supramolecular systems, bio-inspired materials, nanocomposites, and polymer mechanochemistry.
The BioNanomaterials group's research focuses on bioprinting, hazard assessment of nanomaterials, nanoparticle analysis and nanobiomechanics.
The BioPhysics group's research includes nanopores for single molecule analysis, bio-inspired voltage generation and pore forming peptides.
The Soft Matter Physics group is investigating and manufacturing nanostructured materials made by polymer self-assembly, energy materials for solar cells and batteries, photonic and plasmonic effects arising from structured materials, bio-inspired materials and surfaces.
The Mechanoresponsive Materials Group focuses on developing optical probes for polymers and soft matter, particularly for the detection of mechanical damage in these materials, using high-resolution microscopy techniques and bio-inspired approaches.
In 2023 the institute had 40 active research projects. Topics of investigation include color generation in insects, soft worm-like robots, the development of guidelines for nanomaterials waste disposal, artificial muscles, squid-inspired materials damage detection, and electric eel-inspired membranes.
Education
For the master's students there is a strong early focus on 'hands-on' work in the AMI laboratories as well as the opportunity to join one of the research groups for their master's thesis.A summer internship program for undergraduate students from universities around the world is also present and is run in collaboration with the National Center of Competence in Research (NCCR) Bio-Inspired Materials of the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF).