Prof Wolfgang J. Parak obtained his PhD at the LMU München, Germany (1999) in the group of Prof. Dr Hermann Gaub. After a postdoctoral stay at the University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA in the group of Prof. Dr Paul Alivisatos he returned to Munich as an Assistant Professor in 2002 and was Associate Professor in 2005. Since 2007, he has been a Full Professor at the Physics Department of the Philipps Universität Marburg, Marburg, Germany. In addition, he was appointed as Head of the Biofunctional Nanomaterials Unit at CIC biomaGUNE, San Sebastian, Spain in 2013. Since 2010 he is also Associate Editor of ACS Nano. In 2009 Wolfgang J Parak won the "Nanoscience" - award 2008 from the Association of Nanotechnology-Centres Germany (AGenNT) and in 2012 he was awarded a Chinese Academy of Sciences Visiting Professorship for Senior International Scientists.