Cassian Afting
Cassian Afting is a Physician Scientist and currently conducts his PhD doctoral research in Jochen Wittbrodt’s laboratory at the Centre for Organismal Studies (COS) as part of the Heidelberg University’s MD/PhD program. His research revolves around the development of biomaterial platforms for retinal tissue engineering. Highlighted in one of his recent publications, he, together with an interdisciplinary team of chemists, material scientists and developmental biologists, established a 3D laser printing platform for the manufacturing of biocompatible microimplants directly in living organisms. Cassian’s work is part of the 3D Matter Made to Order (3DMM2O) Cluster of Excellence, shared between Heidelberg University and the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), which takes an interdisciplinary approach in tackling open questions and modern problems in 3D additive manufacturing by bridging natural sciences with engineering. Before graduating from medical school in 2021, Cassian completed his MD doctoral research on mammalian lipid metabolism and lipid droplet biology in health and disease at the Otto-Meyerhof Zentrum (OMZ) with Joachim Füllekrug. On track to be a PI, Cassian will provide insight into the early steps of becoming an independent researcher and what he found to be the opportunities and challenges of interdisciplinarity in science.