Portrait Andre Stiel

Group Leader Cell Engineering

Prof. Dr. André Stiel

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CV

After receiving his Diploma in Biology from the Ruhr University Bochum in the Department of Biophysics (Klaus Gerwert), André conducted his Ph.D. studies at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, Göttingen, in the group of Nobel Laureate Stefan Hell where he was pivotal in pioneering the field of photo-switchable proteins for super-resolution imaging. After receiving his Ph.D. from the Ruprecht-Karls University, Heidelberg, in 2008 André moved for a postdoctoral stay to the Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology, Tübingen, where he worked on computer aided protein engineering in the group of Birte Höcker, specifically pioneering a sensor for direct visualization of auxin which created significant attention. During his time in Tübingen André spend time as a guest researcher at the HHMI research campus Janelia Farm.

In 2015 André moved to Munich to start the CellEngineering group at the Institute for Biological and Medical Imaging headed by Vasilis Ntziachristos a world leading researcher in the field of Optoacoustics. Since then, André is key to advancing the field of genetically encoded Optoacoustic contrast agents. He also picked up on his favorite topic of photo-switchable proteins, by introducing (in parallel with an US consortium) photo- switching as a unique way to overcome background limitations in Optoacoustic imaging and enable the method for the visualization of small cell numbers deep in the animal. André primary interests are protein engineering (bioengineering), fluorescent and in general chromophore bearing proteins and optical imaging. Since 2024 André is a full professor at the University of Regensburg. André's projects are primarily funded through the German Research Foundation (DFG), the European Research Council (ERC, Consolidator Grant 2020), the European Innovation Council (EIC, Pathfinder, 2021), the Helmholtz Center Munich and a Chan Zuckerberg Consortium (2024).

Fields of Work and Expertise

Protein EngineeringFluorescent ProteinsBacteriophytochromesPhotoswitchingMolecular Sensors Structure-function relationshipsPhotophysicsOptoacoustic/Photoacoustic imagingsuper-resolution fluorescence microscopy

Publications

Opt. Express. 33, 32943-32954 (2025)

Englert, L. ; Perleberg, B. ; Tayal, S. ; Wang, B. ; Huang, Y. ; Azeem, M. ; He, H. ; Stiel, A.-C. ; Ntziachristos, V.

Assessment of performance characteristics of photoswitchable bacteriophytochromes at different depths using optoacoustic mesoscopy.
Photochem. Photobiol., DOI: 10.1111/php.70011 (2025)

Menchicchi, B. ; Stiel, A.-C. ; Nieddu, M. ; Fuenzalida-Werner, J.P.

Fluorescent proteins: A journey from the cell to extreme environments in material science.
J. Eur. Acad. Dermatol. Venereol., DOI: 10.1111/jdv.20811 (2025)

Aguirre Bueno, J. ; Gasteiger, C. ; Hindelang, B. ; Seeger, M. ; Berezhnoi, A. ; Weidenfeld, I. ; Darsow, U. ; Stiel, A.-C. ; Steimle-Grauer, S.A. ; Posch, C. ; Biedermann, T. ; Ntziachristos, V.

Non-invasive characterization of melanoma depth at single-cell resolution.
Acta Biomater. 195, 536-546 (2025)

Huang, Y. ; Stankevych, M. ; Gujrati, V. ; Klemm, U. ; Mohammed, A. ; Wiesner, D. ; Saccomano, M. ; Tost, M. ; Feuchtinger, A. ; Mishra, K. ; Bruns, O.T. ; Geerlof, A. ; Ntziachristos, V. ; Stiel, A.-C.

Photoswitching protein-XTEN fusions as injectable optoacoustic probes.
ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 17, 14903-14911 (2025)

Göllner, S. ; Colditz, M. ; Huang, Y. ; Schmidt, H. ; Winkler, A.S. ; Stiel, A.-C.

Chip-based optoacoustic single cell detection in flow using point-source optimized surface acoustic wave transducers.
Opt. Express. 33, 6216-6227 (2025)

Liu, Y. ; Chuah, J. ; Huang, Y. ; Stiel, A.-C. ; Unser, M. ; Dong, J.

Model-based temporal unmixing towards quantitative photo-switching optoacoustic tomography.
Nat. Methods 21, 1996-2007 (2024)

Stiel, A.-C. ; Ntziachristos, V.

Controlling the sound of light: photoswitching optoacoustic imaging.
Photoacoustics 38:100628 (2024)

Huang, S. ; He, H. ; Tom, R.Z. ; Glasl, S. ; Anzenhofer,P. ; Stiel, A.-C. ; Hofmann, S.M. ; Ntziachristos, V.

Non-invasive optoacoustic imaging of dermal microcirculatory revascularization in diet-induced obese mice undergoing exercise intervention.
Adv. Func. Mat., DOI: 10.1002/adfm.202301820 (2023)

Hasler, M. ; Patrian, M. ; Banda-Vázquez, J.A. ; Ferrara, S. ; Stiel, A.-C. ; Fuenzalida-Werner, J.P. ; Costa, R.D.

Fully biogenic near-infrared phosphors: Phycobiliproteins and  cellulose at force toward highly efficient and stable bio-hybrid light-emitting diodes.
Cancer Nanotechnol. 14:36 (2023)

Liu, N. ; Gujrati, V. ; Fuenzalida Werner, J.P. ; Mishra, K. ; Anzenhofer,P. ; Stiel, A.-C. ; Mettenleiter, G. ; Feuchtinger, A. ; Walch, A.K. ; Ntziachristos, V.

Bacterial outer membrane vesicles as cationic dye carriers for optoacoustics-guided phototherapy of cancer.
BioSpektrum 28, 711-715 (2022)

Göllner, S. ; Mishra, K. ; Stiel, A.-C.

Schallschalter: Photoschaltbare Reporter und Sensoren in der Optoakustik.
Adv. Drug Deliv. Rev. 189:114506 (2022)

Liu, N. ; Mishra, K. ; Stiel, A.-C. ; Gujrati, V. ; Ntziachristos, V.

The sound of drug delivery: Optoacoustic imaging in pharmacology.
Photoacoustics 25:100301 (2022)

Fuenzalida Werner, J.P. ; Mishra, K. ; Stankevych, M. ; Klemm, U. ; Ntziachristos, V. ; Stiel, A.-C.

Alginate beads as a highly versatile test-sample for optoacoustic imaging.
Sci. Rep. 11:24430 (2021)

Yun, M. ; You, S.H. ; Nguyen, V.H. ; Prakash, J. ; Glasl, S. ; Gujrati, V. ; Choy, H.E. ; Stiel, A.-C. ; Min, J.J. ; Ntziachristos, V.

Reporter gene-based optoacoustic imaging of E. coli targeted colon cancer in vivo.
Nat. Biotechnol., DOI: 10.1038/s41587-021-01100-5 (2021)

Mishra, K. ; Fuenzalida Werner, J.P. ; Pennacchietti, F. ; Janowski, R. ; Chmyrov, A. ; Huang, Y. ; Zakian Dominguez, C.M. ; Klemm, U. ; Testa, I. ; Niessing, D. ; Ntziachristos, V. ; Stiel, A.-C.

Genetically encoded photo-switchable molecular sensors for optoacoustic and super-resolution imaging.
Methods Enzymol. 657, 365-383 (2021)

Stankevych, M. ; Mishra, K. ; Ntziachristos, V. ; Stiel, A.-C.

A practical guide to photoswitching optoacoustics tomography.
Photoacoustics 22:100263 (2021)

Liu, N. ; Gujrati, V. ; Malekzadeh-Najafabadi, J. ; Werner, J.P,F. ; Klemm, U. ; Tang, L. ; Chen, Z. ; Prakash, J. ; Huang, Y. ; Stiel, A.-C. ; Mettenleiter, G. ; Aichler, M. ; Blutke, A. ; Walch, A.K. ; Kleigrewe, K. ; Razansky, D. ; Sattler, M. ; Ntziachristos, V.

Croconaine-based nanoparticles enable efficient optoacoustic imaging of murine brain tumors.
Nature 592, 768–772 (2021)

Herud-Sikimić, O. ; Stiel, A.-C. ; Kolb, M. ; Shanmugaratnam, S. ; Berendzen, K.W. ; Feldhaus, C. ; Höcker, B. ; Jürgens, G.

A biosensor for the direct visualization of auxin.
Sci. Rep. 11:2181 (2021)

Seeger, M. ; Stiel, A.-C. ; Ntziachristos, V.

In vitro optoacoustic flow cytometry with light scattering referencing.

Dean-Ben, X.L. ; Weidenfeld, I. ; Degtyaruk, O. ; Ntziachristos, V. ; Stiel, A.-C. ; Razansky, D.

Deep tissue volumetric optoacoustic tracking of individual circulating tumor cells in an in intracardially perfused mouse model.
Anal. Chem. 92, 10717-10724 (2020)

Fuenzalida Werner, J.P. ; Huang, Y. ; Mishra, K. ; Janowski, R. ; Vetschera, P. ; Heichler, C. ; Chmyrov, A. ; Neufert, C. ; Niessing, D. ; Ntziachristos, V. ; Stiel, A.-C.

Challenging a preconception: Optoacoustic spectrum differs from the absorption spectrum of proteins and dyes for molecular imaging.
Sci. Adv. 6:eaaz6293 (2020)

Mishra, K. ; Stankevych, M. ; Fuenzalida Werner, J.P. ; Grassmann, S. ; Gujrati, V. ; Huang, Y. ; Klemm, U. ; Buchholz, V.R. ; Ntziachristos, V. ; Stiel, A.-C.

Multiplexed whole-animal imaging with reversibly switchable optoacoustic proteins.
Nat. Commun. 10:5056 (2019)

Weidenfeld, I. ; Zakian Dominguez, C.M. ; Duewell, P. ; Chmyrov, A. ; Klemm, U. ; Aguirre Bueno, J. ; Ntziachristos, V. ; Stiel, A.-C.

Homogentisic acid-derived pigment as a biocompatible label for optoacoustic imaging of macrophages.
Biomed. Opt. Express 10, 4775-4788 (2019)

Mokrousov, M.D. ; Novoselova, M. ; Nolan, J. ; Harrington, W. ; Rudakovskaya, P. ; Bratashov, D.N. ; Galanzha, E. ; Fuenzalida Werner, J.P. ; Yakimov, B.P. ; Nazarikov, G. ; Drachev, V.P. ; Shirshin, E.A. ; Ntziachristos, V. ; Stiel, A.-C. ; Zharov, V.P. ; Gorin, D.A.

Amplification of photoacoustic effect in bimodal polymer particles by self-quenching of indocyanine green.
ACS Chem. Biol. 14, 1896-1903 (2019)

Fuenzalida Werner, J.P. ; Mishra, K. ; Huang, Y. ; Vetschera, P. ; Glasl, S. ; Chmyrov, A. ; Richter, K. ; Ntziachristos, V. ; Stiel, A.-C.

Structure-based mutagenesis of phycobiliprotein smURFP for optoacoustic imaging.
Eur. Biophys. J. Biophys. Lett. 48, S153-S153 (2019)

Fuenzalida Werner, J.P. ; Mishra, K. ; Weidenfeld, I. ; Chmyrov, A. ; Drepper, T. ; Ntziachristos, V. ; Stiel, A.-C.

Photophysics and engineering of transgene labels for optoacoustics.
Eur. Biophys. J. Biophys. Lett. 48, S56-S56 (2019)

Fuenzalida Werner, J.P. ; Mishra, K. ; Weidenfeld, I. ; Chmyrov, A. ; Drepper, T. ; Ntziachristos, V. ; Stiel, A.-C.

Photophysics and engineering of transgene labels for optoacoustics.
Anal. Chem. 91, 5470-5477 (2019)

Mishra, K. ; Fuenzalida Werner, J.P. ; Ntziachristos, V. ; Stiel, A.-C.

Photocontrollable proteins for optoacoustic imaging.
Nat. Commun. 10:1191 (2019)

Peters, L. ; Weidenfeld, I. ; Klemm, U. ; Loeschcke, A. ; Weihmann, R. ; Jaeger, K.E. ; Drepper, T. ; Ntziachristos, V. ; Stiel, A.-C.

Phototrophic purple bacteria as optoacoustic in vivo reporters of macrophage activity.
Nat. Commun. 10:1114 (2019)

Gujrati, V. ; Prakash, J. ; Malekzadeh Najafabadi, J. ; Stiel, A.-C. ; Klemm, U. ; Mettenleiter, G. ; Aichler, M. ; Walch, A.K. ; Ntziachristos, V.

Bioengineered bacterial vesicles as biological nano-heaters for optoacoustic imaging.
2019 in
Vortrag: European Conferences on Biomedical Optics (ECBO), 23-27 June 2019, Munich, Germany. (2019)

Mishra, K. ; Fuenzalida Werner, J.P. ; Ntziachristos, V. ; Stiel, A.-C.

Fundamentals of photo-control and its use in optoacoustics.
J. Struct. Biol. 204, 519-522 (2018)

Fuenzalida Werner, J.P. ; Janowski, R. ; Mishra, K. ; Weidenfeld, I. ; Niessing, D. ; Ntziachristos, V. ; Stiel, A.-C.

Crystal structure of a biliverdin-bound phycobiliprotein: Interdependence of oligomerization and chromophorylation.
Anal. Chem. 90, 10527-10535 (2018)

Vetschera, P. ; Mishra, K. ; Fuenzalida Werner, J.P. ; Chmyrov, A. ; Ntziachristos, V. ; Stiel, A.-C.

Characterization of reversibly switchable fluorescent proteins in optoacoustic imaging.
2016 in
In: (Optical Tomography and Spectroscopy). 2016.

Dean-Ben, X.L. ; Stiel, A.-C. ; Jiang, Y. ; Razansky, D.

Light fluence estimation by imaging photoswitchable probes with temporally unmixed multispectral optoacoustic tomography.
Proc. SPIE 9708:970825 (2016)

Dean-Ben, X.L. ; Stiel, A.-C. ; Jiang, Y. ; Ntziachristos, V. ; Westmeyer, G.G. ; Razansky, D.

Imaging the distribution of photoswitchable probes with temporally-unmixed multispectral optoacoustic tomography.