Rate My Professor Ralf Richter

Professor Ralf Richter is Professor of Physical Chemistry of Biological Systems at the University of Leeds, with affiliations to the School of Biomedical Sciences in the Faculty of Biological Sciences, the School of Physics and Astronomy in the Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences, the Astbury Centre for Structural Molecular Biology, and the Bragg Centre for Materials Research. He obtained his MSc in Physics from Chalmers/Göteborg University, Sweden, in 1998, and his PhD in Physical Chemistry from University Bordeaux I, France, in 2004. His career trajectory includes postdoctoral research at the University of Heidelberg, Germany (2005-2007), serving as Research Group Leader at CIC biomaGUNE in San Sebastian, Spain (2007-2018), holding a Chair of Excellence and later Visiting Scientist position at University Grenoble Alpes, France (2012-2023), and joining the University of Leeds as Associate Professor from 2016 to 2025 before being promoted to Professor in 2025. He serves on the Executive Committee of the Astbury Centre for Structural Molecular Biology and as Internal Peer Review Lead for the School of Physics and Astronomy.

Richter's research centers on the physical chemistry of biological systems, particularly the assembly, structure, and function of soft biological interfaces such as cell membranes, glycocalyces, and glycan-rich extracellular matrices that regulate inter- and intra-cellular communication, cell adhesion, migration, fate decisions, and physiological processes including inflammation, tissue repair, and ovulation. Dysregulation of these interfaces contributes to infections, aberrant inflammation, cancer, and other diseases. Another key focus is the nuclear pore complex permeability barrier, a nanoscopic meshwork of intrinsically disordered proteins essential for selective nucleo-cytoplasmic transport and gene expression. His multidisciplinary group combines studies on living cells and tissues with well-controlled biomimetic model systems assembled via directed self-assembly of purified biomacromolecules using surface science and engineering approaches. Quantitative in situ characterization employs advanced physico-chemical techniques including quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring (QCM-D), atomic force microscopy (AFM), spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE), and advanced optical microscopy methods. Insights from biological and soft matter physics inform the behavior of these complex soft biological materials. Richter leads numerous research projects as Principal Investigator, such as the HORIZON Europe MSCA Doctoral Network on self-organisation and barrier functions of the mammalian glycocalyx (GLYCOCALYX), superselective targeting of cells through multivalent lectin-glycan interactions, defining the role of cell glycocalyces in trafficking at endothelial walls, molecular mechanisms of nuclear pore permselectivity via a polymer physics approach, and cryoEM analysis of hyaluronan crosslinking mechanisms in HC-HA/PTX3 complexes. He collaborates extensively across biology, physics, chemistry, and engineering disciplines.