The Adolphe Merkle Institute (AMI) is a research center in

Fribourg , neighboring_municipalities= Düdingen, Givisiez, Granges-Paccot, Marly, Pierrafortscha, Sankt Ursen, Tafers, Villars-sur-Glâne , twintowns = Rueil-Malmaison (France) , website = www.ville-fribourg.ch , Location of , Location of () () o ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

focused on

nanoscience The nanoscopic scale (or nanoscale) usually refers to structures with a length scale applicable to nanotechnology, usually cited as 1–100 nanometers (nm). A nanometer is a billionth of a meter. The nanoscopic scale is (roughly speaking) a lo ...

. 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 franc The Swiss franc is the currency and legal tender of Switzerland and Liechtenstein. It is also legal tender in the Italian exclave of Campione d'Italia which is surrounded by Swiss territory. The Swiss National Bank (SNB) issues banknotes and the f ...

s 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 The University of Fribourg (french: Université de Fribourg; german: Universität Freiburg) is a public university located in Fribourg, Switzerland. The roots of the university can be traced back to 1580, when the notable Jesuit Peter Canisius ...

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 Christoph Weder is the former director of the Adolphe Merkle Institute (AMI) at the University of Fribourg, Switzerland, and a professor of polymer chemistry and materials. He is best known for his work on stimuli-responsive polymers, polymeric ...

, 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 , motto = Ad utrumque , mottoeng = Prepared for both , established = , type = Public research university , budget = SEK 9 billion Ullrich Steiner Ullrich (), is a German surname of Germanic origin. Other variants include Ulrich, Ulrych/Ullrych, Ulryk/Ullryk, and many more. Notable people with the surname include: * Alexander Ulrich (born 1971), German politician *Anton Ullrich (1826–1895 ...

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, dedicated personnel for EU project proposals and a communications officer. 50% 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. 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 (Prof.

) *BioNanomaterials (Prof. Alke Fink and Prof. Barbara Rothen-Rutishauser) *Biophysics (Prof. Michael Mayer) *Soft Matter Physics (Prof.

Ullrich Steiner Ullrich (), is a German surname of Germanic origin. Other variants include Ulrich, Ulrych/Ullrych, Ulryk/Ullryk, and many more. Notable people with the surname include: * Alexander Ulrich (born 1971), German politician *Anton Ullrich (1826–1895 ...

)

Former Research Groups

*Soft Nanoscience 2008-2010 (Prof. Peter Schurtenberger) *Nanoparticle Self-Assembly 2012-2017 (Prof. Marco Lattuada) *Macromolecular Chemistry 2013-2018 (Prof. Nico Bruns)

Research Activities

AMI's research revolves around soft

nanomaterials * Nanomaterials describe, in principle, materials of which a single unit is sized (in at least one dimension) between 1 and 100 nm (the usual definition of nanoscale). Nanomaterials research takes a materials science-based approach to nan ...

, such as such as

nanoparticles A nanoparticle or ultrafine particle is usually defined as a particle of matter that is between 1 and 100 nanometres (nm) in diameter. The term is sometimes used for larger particles, up to 500 nm, or fibers and tubes that are less than 1 ...

colloids A colloid is a mixture in which one substance consisting of microscopically dispersed insoluble particles is suspended throughout another substance. Some definitions specify that the particles must be dispersed in a liquid, while others extend ...

polymers A polymer (; Greek '' poly-'', "many" + ''-mer'', "part") is a substance or material consisting of very large molecules called macromolecules, composed of many repeating subunits. Due to their broad spectrum of properties, both synthetic an ...

nanostructures A nanostructure is a structure of intermediate size between microscopic and molecular structures. Nanostructural detail is microstructure at nanoscale. In describing nanostructures, it is necessary to differentiate between the number of dimensi ...

, and

nanopore A nanopore is a pore of nanometer size. It may, for example, be created by a pore-forming protein or as a hole in synthetic materials such as silicon or graphene. When a nanopore is present in an electrically insulating membrane, it can be used as ...

s, 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 Nanocomposite is a multiphase solid material where one of the phases has one, two or three dimensions of less than 100 nanometers (nm) or structures having nano-scale repeat distances between the different phases that make up the material. The id ...

, and polymer

mechanochemistry Mechanochemistry (or mechanical chemistry) is the initiation of chemical reactions by mechanical phenomena. Mechanochemistry thus represents a fourth way to cause chemical reactions, complementing thermal reactions in fluids, photochemistry, and el ...

. The BioNanomaterials group's research focuses on

bioprinting Three dimensional (3D) bioprinting is the utilization of 3D printing–like techniques to combine cells, growth factors, and/or biomaterials to fabricate biomedical parts, often with the aim of imitating natural tissue characteristics. Generally, 3 ...

, hazard assessment of nanomaterials, nanoparticle analysis and

nanobiomechanics Nanobiomechanics (also bionanomechanics) is an emerging field in nanoscience and biomechanics that combines the powerful tools of nanomechanics to explore fundamental science of biomaterials and biomechanics. Since the introduction by its founder ...

. The BioPhysics group's research includes

s for single molecule analysis, bio-inspired voltage generation and pore forming

peptides Peptides (, ) are short chains of amino acids linked by peptide bonds. Long chains of amino acids are called proteins. Chains of fewer than twenty amino acids are called oligopeptides, and include dipeptides, tripeptides, and tetrapeptides. A p ...

. The Soft Matter Physics group is investigating and manufacturing nanostructured materials made by polymer self-assembly, energy materials for

solar cells A solar cell, or photovoltaic cell, is an electronic device that converts the energy of light directly into electricity by the photovoltaic effect, which is a physics, physical and Chemical substance, chemical phenomenon.batteries,

photonic Photonics is a branch of optics that involves the application of generation, detection, and manipulation of light in form of photons through emission, transmission, modulation, signal processing, switching, amplification, and sensing. Though ...

and

plasmonic In physics, a plasmon is a quantum of plasma oscillation. Just as light (an optical oscillation) consists of photons, the plasma oscillation consists of plasmons. The plasmon can be considered as a quasiparticle since it arises from the quantiz ...

effects arising from structured materials, bio-inspired materials and surfaces. In 2017 the institute had 33 active research projects. Topics of investigation include color-generation in insects, the effect of

graphene Graphene () is an allotrope of carbon consisting of a single layer of atoms arranged in a hexagonal lattice nanostructure.

on human

lungs The lungs are the primary organs of the respiratory system in humans and most other animals, including some snails and a small number of fish. In mammals and most other vertebrates, two lungs are located near the backbone on either side of th ...

, bio-inspired

drug delivery Drug delivery refers to approaches, formulations, manufacturing techniques, storage systems, and technologies involved in transporting a pharmaceutical compound to its target site to achieve a desired therapeutic effect. Principles related to d ...

, record-breaking

perovskite solar cell A perovskite solar cell (PSC) is a type of solar cell that includes a perovskite-structured compound, most commonly a hybrid organic–inorganic lead or tin halide-based material as the light-harvesting active layer. Perovskite materials, such a ...

s, and

electric eel The electric eels are a genus, ''Electrophorus'', of neotropical freshwater fish from South America in the family Gymnotidae. They are known for their ability to stun their prey by generating electricity, delivering shocks at up to 860 volts ...

-inspired energy devices.

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. In 2015 AMI launched an interdisciplinary master's program at the interface of

Physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...

Chemistry Chemistry is the science, scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a natural science that covers the Chemical element, elements that make up matter to the chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules and ions ...

, and

Biology Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary i ...

that emphasizes bio-inspired materials. A summer internship program for undergraduate students from universities in other European countries or The United States 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).

Collaborations

AMI is conducting both fundamental as well as application-oriented research in the field of soft nanomaterials, receiving part of its funding through industrial partnerships. In 2018 AMI spawned its first startu
NanoLockin

NCCR Bio-Inspired Materials
/h2>
AMI is involved with and headquarters the National Center of Competence in Research ''Bio-Inspired Materials'', an interdisciplinary center for research and education around materials inspired by nature.

Partnerships for International Research and Education (PIRE)
PIRE is a collaboration between AMI, Case Western Reserve University, the University of Delaware, the University of Chicago, and the University of California at San Diego. The program is funded by the National Science Foundations of Switzerland and the US. Its focus lies on developing functional materials inspired by desirable substances in nature.

Plant-inspired Materials and Surfaces (PlaMatSu)
The
European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body o ...
is funding PlaMatSu as an Innovative Training Network (ITN) under the Horizon 2020 Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions with nine PhD students at University of Fribourg (Switzerland) and AMI, University of Freiburg (Germany), and
University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...
. As industrial partners the ITN includes BASF SE (Germany), Fischerwerke GmbH & Co. KG (Germany), and Dr. Tillwich GmbH (Germany), as well as VDI - The Association of German Engineers and
Wikimedia CH Wikimedia chapters are national or sub-national not-for-profit organizations created to promote the interests of Wikimedia projects locally. Chapters are legally independent of the Wikimedia Foundation, entering into an agreement with the founda ...
as communication partners.

CityCare
CityCare is another ITN funded by the
European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body o ...
under the Horizon 2020 Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions with three PhD students. The projects investigates the damaging effects of air pollutants on the skin.

PATROLS
PATROLS (Physiologically Anchored Tools for Realistic nanOmateriaL hazard aSsessment) is an international project funded by the European Union through the Horizon 2020 research and innovation program with the objective to develop tools and techniques to predict potential hazards for humans and the environment from engineered nanomaterials in order to minimize the necessity of animal testing and categorize nanomaterials according to their health and safety risks.

See also
*
University of Fribourg The University of Fribourg (french: Université de Fribourg; german: Universität Freiburg) is a public university located in Fribourg, Switzerland. The roots of the university can be traced back to 1580, when the notable Jesuit Peter Canisius ...
*
Fribourg , neighboring_municipalities= Düdingen, Givisiez, Granges-Paccot, Marly, Pierrafortscha, Sankt Ursen, Tafers, Villars-sur-Glâne , twintowns = Rueil-Malmaison (France) , website = www.ville-fribourg.ch , Location of , Location of () () o ...

References

External links

Adolphe Merkle Institute

Université de Fribourg
{{authority control Research institutes in Switzerland University of Fribourg 2008 establishments in Switzerland