Prof. Dr. Viola Vogel

Viola Vogel is a Professor in the Department of Materials heading the Laboratory for Biologically Oriented Materials at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zürich. After completing her graduate research at the Max-Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, she received her Ph. D. in Physics at Frankfurt University, followed by two years as postdoctoral fellow at the University of California Berkeley. As faculty member, she joined the Department of Bioengineering at the University of Washington in 1990 with an adjunct appointment in the Physics. She was the Founding Director of the Center for Nanotechnology at the University of Washington (`97-`03) prior to her recent move to Switzerland.

Her interdisciplinary research program centers in bionanotechnology where she deciphers engineering principles of biological nanosystems for the development of new technologies.

Her interests range from physical sciences to medicine and include bottom-up molecular self-assembly, single molecule mechanics, how cells sense and respond to force, bacterial adhesion, biominerals, biomaterials and tissue engineering.

Viola Vogel broadly served the national and international community in many capacities which includes selection committees for the British Marshall Fund Fellowships (`93-`95), the German Ministry of Science and Education (BMBF) (`98), and as US Representative on the Council of Scientists of the Human Frontier Science Program (`03-`04). She was involved in program and technology assessments for NIH (ongoing), the National Research Council (-NASA-s Microgravity Research- & -Reshape the Education in Lifesciences-), as PCAST panel member preparing for Clinton-s -Presidential National Nanotechnology Initiative- (`99) and for the European Academy (`03-present). She organized and chaired many international meetings including the German-American Frontiers of Science Meetings (`98-`01), the National Nanotech Initiative Workshop on -Nanobiotechnology- (`03) coorganized by NSF&NIH, and will serve as Spring Meeting Chair for the Materials Research Society (`06). She is a Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE).