The institute offers Bachelor’s and Master’s thesis projects at two locations: Lübeck and Hamburg.
Each site has its own scientific focus areas and instrumentation platforms, allowing students to choose the research environment that best matches their interests.

Metabolomics – NMR – protein biochemistry – biomarker research

In Lübeck, the focus lies on biomedical analytics and the development of NMR-based methods. We work closely with clinical partners and develop interdisciplinary methodological approaches for diagnostics and disease monitoring (Mallagaray and Günther groups). In addition, we conduct fundamental glycobiology research (Mallagaray group). Moreover, we investigate metabolic alterations associated with inflammation and aging processes (specifically type VII collagen interactions), as well as in the context of sex development and gender diversity (Seeger group).

Focus areas

• metabolomics and method development
• analysis of clinical samples
• glycoprotein analytics
• identification of novel biomarkers
• structural studies on protein–glycan interactions: enzyme kinetics and thermodynamics
• metabolic flux analyses in cells
• cell culture model systems for metabolomics

Methods & technical equipment

• high-resolution NMR spectroscopy (1D, 2D, protein–ligand interactions)
• NMR-based metabolomics and flux methods
• complementary mass spectrometry
• statistical data analysis and software development (e.g., Matlab)
• protein biochemistry and standard laboratory techniques

Who is Lübeck suited for?

Students interested in biomedical research, analytical chemistry, data analysis, NMR, or biochemical laboratory methods.

Structural mass spectrometry – virology – XFEL – biophysics

The Hamburg site is located at the CSSB Centre for Structural Systems Biology and closely connected to DESY and the Leibniz Institute of Virology (LIV). Research here focuses on structural protein analysis, advanced MS technologies, and viral systems.

Focus areas

• structure and dynamics of viral protein complexes (e.g., noroviruses, coronaviruses, Lassa virus)
• assembly of viral particles
• analysis of proteoforms and replication/transcription complexes
• method development in structural mass spectrometry
• integration of MS with XFEL-based structural methods

Methods & technical equipment

• native MS, top-down proteomics, HDX-MS
• instrument development and ion optics
• single-particle approaches (CDMS, AFM, cryo-EM)
• experiments at large-scale facilities (PETRA III, FLASH, European XFEL)
• computational modelling and simulation-based analyses

Who is Hamburg suited for?

Students excited about structural biology, virology, mass spectrometry, biophysics, or instrument development.

If you would like to pursue a Bachelor’s or Master’s thesis with us, we are happy to help you find the right location, research group, and project topic.

You can find available thesis projects here.

For general inquiries (not related to specific open calls), feel free to contact our main points of contact:

Thorsten Biet – Lübeck

Ulrich Günther – Lübeck

Alvaro Mallagaray – Lübeck

Karsten Seeger – Lübeck

Charlotte Uetrecht – Hamburg