Charlotte Kielar

Dr. Charlotte Kielar is a Researcher at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR), based in the Nanomaterials and Transport department under the Ion Beam Physics and Materials Research Institute. Her work focuses on designing and analyzing nanostructured materials, particularly DNA origami systems, with applications in biomaterials, drug discovery, and surface engineering. She holds a PhD from the Universität Paderborn, where her groundbreaking research on DNA origami nanostructures earned her the prestigious Dissertationspreis 2020 and a €2,000 award.

Her research interests bridge chemistry, materials science, and biophysics, with key emphases on Stability and Functionalization of Nanostructures, Biomolecular Interactions, and Advanced Microscopy Techniques. She has pioneered methods to enhance DNA origami durability under thermal and chemical stress, as well as techniques for precise molecular placement on nanostructured substrates for drug discovery.

Dr. Kielar’s recent work includes cold denaturation mechanisms in DNA origami (2024), heavy metal stabilization strategies (2024), and large-scale DNA lattice fabrication on silicon (2023). Her studies on Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilm adhesion (2023) and ZnO surface engineering (2021) further demonstrate her cross-disciplinary impact. She has published extensively in Angewandte Chemie International Edition, ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, and Chemistry-A European Journal.

• Key Awards: Dissertationspreis 2020 (Universität Paderborn)
• Labs/Teams: Member of the Nanomaterials and Transport group at HZDR’s Ion Beam Physics Institute
• Collaborations: International partnerships include projects with Freiberg University (resource technology) and CASUS (advanced systems modeling)