The introduction and improvement of scanning probe techniques has disclosed, since few years, the single-molecule domain. Experiments, considered till recently unthinkable, are now routine for many laboratories. It is possible, e.g., to measure the electric current flowing through an atomic contact, a single small aromatic molecule or even through a short DNA oligomer. Also it is possible to study the force with which a kinesin protein is pulling a cargo on a microtubule track. Our chair focusses on the multiscaling understanding of "complex nano materials"; from single molecular systems to bottom-up rich aggregates. The convergence of expertise from different disciplines (mostly physics, chemistry and biology) and the adoption of both theoretical and experimental investigation tools provide us with powerful instruments. In this way we can at best explore complex --mostly bioinspired-- supramolecular materials from their uni-molecular scale consitutuents till large scale networking. Our main interests are organized within the following working groups:

		Molecular Electronics, Molecular Manipulation and Nanomachines (theory and experiment group)
		Nanoscale Modeling (theory group)
		Nanostructures (experiment groups in cooperation with IFW, IZFP, HZDR)
		Nano- and Mesoscopic Systems (theory and experiment group)
		NanoBio Sensorics (experiment group)
		Biomolecules & Organic Electronics (theory group)
		Molecular Nanosensors and Applications (experiment group)
		Multiscale Modeling - Processes and Properties (theory group)
		Innovative pyroelectric materials (experiment group)
		Environmental Nanotechnology (experiment group)
		namos - the biotemplating company (spin-off from our chair)