Olivia Merkel

Prof. Dr. Olivia Merkel is the Chair of Drug Delivery at LMU Munich (since 2022) and holds a tenured professorship in the Faculty of Pharmacy. Her academic journey includes postdoctoral work at Philipps-Universität Marburg (2009), a PhD in Pharmaceutics (2009), and a tenure-track professorship at Wayne State University (2011–2017). She leads the Merkel Lab, focusing on advanced drug delivery systems, particularly siRNA and nanoparticle-based therapies.

• Research interests: Nanomedicine, targeted drug delivery, polymer engineering, and pulmonary delivery systems.
• Editorial roles: Molecular Pharmaceutics, Journal of Controlled Release, and European Journal of Pharmaceutics and Biopharmaceutics.
• Award: 2020 PHOENIX Pharma Science Award.

Her lab combines experimental and computational approaches, with recent work on machine learning-driven polymer discovery and molecular dynamics simulations. Over 20 students and researchers collaborate in her group, addressing challenges in lung fibrosis treatment and T-cell targeting in asthma.