Wolfgang Parak

Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Parak leads the Biophotonics research group at the University of Hamburg's Department of Physics and is affiliated with the Center for Hybrid Nanostructures (CHyN). His work focuses on colloidal nanoparticles, their synthesis, surface chemistry, and biomedical applications.

• Employment: University of Hamburg (since 2017)
• Email: wolfgang.parak@uni-hamburg.de
• OrciD: 0000-0003-1672-6650

Research spans three branches: (1) Synthesis of multifunctional nanoparticles (CdSe, Au, FeO₃), (2) Surface functionalization via amphiphilic polymers, and (3) Applications in medicine (targeted delivery, analyte sensing, photothermal therapy). Recent work explores size-dependent nanoparticle penetration in cell spheroids and plasmonic polymorphs with bipyramid thin films.

Publications (2025) include studies on:

• Aggregation-mediated cellular uptake optimization (Nano Today)
• Plasmonic polymorphs in Small
• Photoluminescent gold nanomaterials (Advanced Optical Materials)

Scientific recognition:

• Highly Cited Researcher (2018-2021)
• Bioconjugate Chemistry Lectureship Award (2018)

Current projects include NANO-PEFIS (2024-2026) and grants for material resources (Otange, Bonakdar).