Biophysical Society Bulletin | March 2022

Biophysicist in Profile

Research Grant (AdR ERC) with the goal to develop this tech- nique further and to apply it to diverse fields of biophysics: for example, super-resolution imaging of cells and subcellular organelles, structural biology of proteins and protein com- plexes, lipid membrane biophysics, and many more.” In addi- tion to his research work, Enderlein serves as the founding Editor-in-Chief for the Biophysical Society’s gold open access journal, Biophysical Reports , which launched in early 2021. “As a young man, my dream was to become an astrophysicist, and I still have deep interest in developments in astronomy, astrophysics, and cosmology, but I discovered that the ‘bio- physical universe’ is no less fascinating, surprising, and cap- tivating,” he says. “Biophysics is at the fascinating interface between physics and biology, the first being the lead science of the 20th century, whereas the latter is the lead science of the 21st century. The idea to apply the incredibly successful methods and concepts of physics to the incredibly complex and deep questions of biology is extremely fascinating.” “We see an incredible development of new experimental methods, such as cryo-EM, single-molecule fluorescence, super-resolution optical microscopy, advanced NMR, smart labels for live cell functional imaging, etc., that yield an in- credible wealth of information about the functioning of cells with molecular resolution. Together with dramatic advances in modeling (one spectacular example is the recent successes

of alpha-fold in predicting protein structure), I hope that in the years to come we will be able to reproduce living systems (bacteria, cells, organs) in silico, helping us to understand their complex functioning with huge practical implications for drug design, medicine, but also environmental preserva- tion,” he continues. “One particularly big challenge where I expect dramatic advances in the not-too-distant future is our understanding of the working of the brain and consciousness. Here again, advances in neuroimaging have seen tremen- dous methodological progress, which allows us meanwhile to watch neuronal activity with single-neuron resolution in brain organoids or small mouse brains.” When he is not working, Enderlein reads many popular sci- ence books, to feed his interest in natural sciences outside of biophysics. “On the other side, literature, art, and classical music have always been an absolutely indispensable part of my life,” he shares. “I am also politically active in supporting many LGBTQ and human rights activities.” For those just starting out in their careers, he advises: “Al- ways stay curious and be open for new directions and ideas, always question yourself and your research results (or, as Richard Feynman wrote, ‘The first principle is that you must not fool yourself—and you are the easiest person to fool’), and despite all our desire to be successful, always stay an honest person who never gets eaten up by ambition and ego.”

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March 2022

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