Martin Lercher, PhD profile page

Dr. Martin Lercher is a professor of computational cell biology at Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf and a board member of the Night Science Institute, which he co-founded with Dr. Itai Yanai. The Night Science Institute champions a cultural shift in science by training researchers to embrace the creative scientific process as an essential complement to rigorous hypothesis testing. With a background in physics, Lercher’s research explores how the fundamental laws of physics and chemistry shape living systems. His group develops mathematical models of bacterial cells and plants, and applies machine learning to predict how proteins interact with small molecules. Beyond research, Lercher is deeply interested in the creative process of science. Together with Yanai, he co-hosts the Night Science Podcast and writes about the role of imagination and exploration in scientific discovery.