Vincent Hickl

Vincent Hickl is a biophysicist affiliated with Empa - Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology in St. Gallen. He works within the Biointerfaces Laboratory, Center for X-ray Analytics, and laboratory for Biomimetic Textiles and Membranes.

His research focuses on:

• Self-organization of bacteria at curved/3D surfaces
• Biofilm mechanics and formation dynamics
• Active matter physics in living systems
• Microfluidic-based imaging systems
• Antimicrobial strategy development

Utilizing techniques such as:

• Advanced microscopy
• Data science analysis
• Quantitative experimental design

This work builds on his PhD research at the University of Illinois Juarez Group, where he studied oil droplet colonization mechanics with implications for environmental cleanup.