With deep sadness, we received the news of the suddendeath of our dear colleague Ulrike Alexiev. Her passingis a great loss for the CRC 1449, as she was a very dedicated principal investigator and a great cooperation partner.

Ulrike's field of research was molecular biophysics with a focus on biological photoreceptors. Her methodological expertise lay in the use of fluorescence probes for spectroscopic, imaging and time-resolved methods. She was an expert in the field of fluorescence life-timeimaging microscopy (FLIM) and recently applied this method to nanorheology for the investigation of hydrogels and human mucus. 

Due to her outstanding research achievements and her broad interest in various fields of research, she was a member of a large number of Collaborative Research Centers (CRC). She was vice-speaker of the CRC 449 "Structure and Function of Membrane-bound Receptors", scientific coordinator of the graduate school of CRC 1078 "Protonation dynamics in protein function", and project leader in the CRC 1112 "Nanocarriers: Architecture, Transport and Targeted Delivery of Drugs for Therapeutic Applications" as well as our CRC 1449 "Dynamic Hydrogels at Biointerfaces".

It is unimaginable that you will no longer be with us. You will be dearly missed.

Rainer Haag

CRC 1449 spokesperson (on behalf of all members)