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On 16 June, Saarland's Science Minister Jakob von Weizsäcker appointed the researcher as Professor of Dynamics of Biological Systems. At the Saarbrücken campus, Erdel will further strengthen the university's research focus 'BioMed – Life and Matter'.
The following text has been machine translated from the German with no human editing.
Life is never static. Even when cells, tissues or organs appear outwardly quite still, there is a ceaseless bustle of activity within them: molecules move, collide, bind together and separate again. This interplay determines the behaviour of biological systems – in short, of all living beings. Fabian Erdel is investigating how these dynamics function and interact at very different levels. The scientist is the new Professor of Dynamics of Biological Systems at Saarland University.
Traditional methods in biology have already produced impressive images: detailed images of cells, molecules and tissues. But these images are snapshots – they show what something looks like, but not how it moves. “We have learnt to visualise cells and their components in impressive detail. I want to know how they move and change over time,” says Fabian Erdel. This is precisely where the new professorship comes in: the focus is on how movement and change determine the function of living systems – from individual molecules to entire cell assemblies.
Fabian Erdel pays particular attention to the cell nucleus, the cell’s control centre. This is where the genetic material is packaged – and where vital decisions are made. Fabian Erdel investigates how proteins and other molecules move within the cell nucleus, how they aggregate to form so-called membrane-less organelles – small, fluid-like droplets – and how these structures respond to mechanical forces. Such condensates are considered key regulators of cellular processes; their malfunction is linked to diseases such as cancer or neurodegenerative disorders.
The cell biologist complements this molecular perspective with experiments at the level of whole cells. How does the cell nucleus change when a cancer cell squeezes through a narrow passage – something it must do, for example, to invade surrounding tissue? Does this mechanical deformation influence which genes are expressed? To answer such questions, Fabian Erdel combines state-of-the-art microscopy techniques with microfluidic chips that replicate tight tissue structures in the laboratory, as well as with computer-aided modelling and artificial intelligence methods.
Fabian Erdel brings a broad, international background to his work: he studied Physics alongside molecular and cell biology at Heidelberg University, and his postdoctoral positions took him to the German Cancer Research Centre (DKFZ) and Columbia University in New York. Most recently, he led a research group at the Centre de Biologie Intégrative (CBI) in Toulouse. His research is funded by an ERC Consolidator Grant from the European Research Council and has already received several awards, including the Binder Innovation Prize from the German Society for Cell Biology and the Nikon Young Scientist Award.
At Saarland University, Fabian Erdel will be based at the Center for Human and Molecular Biology (ZHMB) and will forge close links with partner institutions such as the INM - Leibniz Institute for New Materials and the Helmholtz Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland (HIPS).
For further information, please contact:
Prof. Dr Fabian Erdel: Email: fabian.erdel@cnrs.fr
Press photos available for download: Press photos can be found on this news website: https://www.uni-saarland.de/universitaet/aktuell/news.html
You may use the press photos free of charge in connection with this press release and reporting on Saarland University, provided you credit the photographer.
