Ruprecht Karls Universität Heidelberg



Leon Lettermann

Postdoctoral Researcher at Heidelberg University and co-founder of Docary. My research lies in theoretical non-equilibrium biological physics, with a focus on active motility, chirality, stochastic dynamics and differentiable computational modelling.

Research Interests

  • Non-equilibrium and stochastic physics of active biological matter
  • Cellular motility, gliding microorganisms and apicomplexan parasites
  • Chirality, geometry and robustness in active systems
  • Differentiable modelling, JAX-based simulation and scientific machine learning
  • AI-supported analysis of experimental and clinical data

Selected Publications

Full list on Google Scholar

Awards

  • 2025: EXIST Gründerstipendium by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, for the development of the startup project Docary.
  • 2024: Klaus Arnold Publication Prize by the German Biophysical Society (DGfB), awarded for the paper A geometrical theory of gliding motility based on cell shape and surface flow.
  • 2017–2022: Fellow of the German Academic Scholarship Foundation.

Talks

  • Contributed Talk: "The 3D chirality of malaria parasites determines their motion patterns in 2D and originates at the apical pole"
    DPG Spring Meeting, 2026, Dresden, Germany
  • Contributed Talk: "Chirality of malaria parasites determines their motion patterns"
    Physics of Parasitism V Meeting, 2026, Robert Koch Institute, Berlin, Germany
  • Contributed Talk: "How curvature and apical tilt determine the motion of malaria parasites: a theoretical-experimental study"
    EMBL Symposium Theory and Concepts in Biology, 2025, Heidelberg, Germany
  • Contributed Talk: "Helical motion of microorganisms can be more persistent than straight motion"
    DPG Spring Meeting, 2025, Regensburg, Germany
  • Contributed Talk: "Traction-force and super-resolution microscopy reveal apical organization dictates motility in Plasmodium sporozoites"
    Physics of Parasitism IV Meeting, satellite to the Joint Spring Meeting of BSP, DGP and SSTMP, 2025, Würzburg, Germany
  • Contributed Talk: "Bridging the gap between surface flows and motility patterns of malaria sporozoites"
    GRC Biology of Host-Parasite Interactions, 2024, Newport, RI, USA
  • Contributed Talk: "How cell shape guides gliding motility"
    DPG Spring Meeting of the Condensed Matter Section (SKM), 2024, Berlin, Germany

Short Vita

since January 2026
Postdoctoral Researcher, part-time, at Heidelberg University, Institute for Theoretical Physics
Modeling gliding motility in different microorganisms and clathrin-mediated endocytosis.
since July 2025
Co-founder of Docary
Developing AI-based automatic documentation for psychiatry, funded by EXIST at Heidelberg University.
June 2022 - January 2026
Doctorate (Dr. rer. nat.) at Heidelberg University, Institute for Theoretical Physics, under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Ulrich Schwarz
Thesis on the movement apparatus of malaria parasites, funded by the DFG Special Priority Programme Physics of Parasitism and in collaboration with the Frischknecht Lab. Grade: summa cum laude.
March 2020 - May 2022
Master of Science in Physics at Göttingen University, Germany
Thesis: "A NeuralODE based framework to explore dynamical systems from N-body problems to 3D zebrafish development", under supervision of Prof. Dr. Timo Betz and Prof. Dr. Florentin Wörgötter
October 2015 - March 2020
Bachelor of Science in Physics at Göttingen University, Germany
Thesis: "Dynamical Condensation of QCD Axion Dark Matter during Late Radiation Domination", under supervision of Dr. Erik W. Lentz and Prof. Dr. David J.E. Marsh
October 2015 - April 2019
Bachelor of Science in Mathematics at Göttingen University, Germany
Thesis: "Chen-Ruan Cohomology of Orbifolds", under supervision of Prof. Dr. Thomas Schick

Teaching Activities

  • Hands-on tutorial instructor for The Simulated Parasite School, DFG Special Priority Programme Physics of Parasitism / PHYMOT, Forschungszentrum Jülich, 2024
  • Teaching assistant for Continuum Mechanics, Heidelberg University, winter term 2023/2024
  • Teaching assistant for Theoretical Biophysics, Heidelberg University, summer term 2023
  • Teaching assistant for Introduction to Physics of Complex Systems, Max Planck School Matter to Life, winter term 2022/2023
  • Teaching assistant for Experimental Physics I, Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics, Mathematics for Physicists III, and the Mathematical Propaedeutic Course in Göttingen

Address

Leon Lettermann
Institute for Theoretical Physics
Heidelberg University

BioQuant - Center for Quantitative Biology
Im Neuenheimer Feld 267
69120 Heidelberg, Germany

email: lettermann at uni-heidelberg.de
http://www.thphys.uni-heidelberg.de/~biophys
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