New Research Group

We're thrilled to welcome Lukas Milles as a Group Leader at the Gene Center, starting October 1, 2024! He studied Physics and Political Science at LMU Munich and earned his PhD in Physics and Biophysics in 2018. After receiving an LMU dissertation award in 2019, he joined the University of Washington as a postdoctoral researcher in David Baker's group, who won the 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Since July 2024, he's led the Emmy Noether Research Group for Protein Design at the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry, now also affiliated with the Gene Center.
Welcome, Lukas!

Milles Lab - Protein Design

We aim to deconstruct biological function by reconstructing such function de novo. Using deep learning based protein design, we construct new-to-nature proteins that incorporate desired functions to better understand their biological mechanism. In particular, we are interested to create synthetic autocatalytic enzymes that can covalently target selected epitopes and self-strengthening catch-bonds, both inspired by bacterial pathogen mechanisms.

For more information please visit the Milles lab website.