Dr. Padryk Merkl
Postdoctoral Researcher — Professorship for Drug Formulation & Delivery, ETH Zürich
Research topics: mucins, mucinases, drug delivery, nanomaterials, biofilms
About
I am a postdoctoral researcher at ETH Zürich in the Drug Formulation & Delivery group. My work focuses on mucins/mucus, mucinases, and drug delivery. I develop tools to engineer mucin‑selective proteases for pharmaceutical applications.
Currently, I investigate mucus‑degrading enzymes for pulmonary drug delivery and therapy.
Research Areas
- Mucin & mucus biology: structure, glycosylation, and transport properties relevant to barrier function.
- Mucinases: inactive/engineered enzymes as tools to map mucin architecture and to tune permeability.
- Drug delivery & aerosol science: pulmonary delivery, nanoparticle–biopolymer interactions, responsive materials.
- Biofilms & antimicrobial strategies: photothermal and photocatalytic approaches; interfacial pH mapping.
- Optical & plasmonic readouts: colorimetric and luminescent sensors for biochemical analysis.
Selected Publications
- Merkl, P.; Sotiriou, G.A. (2024). Paper-based colorimetric hyperammonemia sensing by controlled oxidation of plasmonic silver nanoparticles. Nanoscale Advances, 6, 2586–2593. doi:10.1039/d4na00021h
- Merkl, P.; Zhou, S.; Zaganiaris, A.; Shahata, M.; Eleftheraki, A.; Thersleff, T.; Sotiriou, G.A. (2021). Plasmonic Coupling in Silver Nanoparticle Aggregates and Their Polymer Composite Films for Near‑Infrared Photothermal Biofilm Eradication. ACS Applied Nano Materials, 4, 5330–5339. doi
- Merkl, P.; Aschtgen, M.-S.; Henriques‑Normark, B.; Sotiriou, G.A. (2021). Biofilm interfacial acidity evaluation by pH‑Responsive luminescent nanoparticle films. Biosensors & Bioelectronics, 171, 112732. doi
* indicates co‑first authorship.
Awards & Grants
- 2025 — ETH Zürich Seed Grant
- 2023–2026 — Swedish Research Council International Postdoc (VR)
- 2023 — PhD Thesis Award, German Society for Aerosol Research (GAeF), Málaga
- 2019 — Teaching Award, Karolinska Institutet