TUM - Technische Universität München

10/28/2025 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 10/28/2025 02:34

New endowed professorships for marketing and protein design

  • President
  • Research
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • 10/28/2025
  • Reading time 2 min.

Wübben Stiftung strengthens research with AI

New endowed professorships for marketing and protein design

With the support of the Wübben Stiftung Wissenschaft, the Technical University of Munich (TUM) has established a professorship for Marketing & Technology and a professorship for AI-guided Protein Design. The professorships were appointed to David Finken from ETH Zurich and Thomas Schlichthärle from the University of Washington.

Astrid Eckert / TUM
Bioscientist Thomas Schlichthärle joins TUM from the University of Washington.

How do artificial intelligence and immersive technologies such as virtual reality influence the decision-making behavior of consumers and managers? This question will be the focus of the work of the new endowed professorship in Marketing & Technology. Digital technologies are expected to profoundly change marketing and management. The professorship combines social psychological and organizational research with practical applications.

TUM has appointed behavioral scientist Dr. David Finken, who conducts interdisciplinary research at the interface with technology, to the endowed professorship. He will join the TUM School of Management in December from ETH Zurich. He has received several awards for his research.

Roberto Conciatori
David Finken joins TUM from ETH Zurich.

Wide range of applications

To the endowed professorship for AI-guided Protein Design, TUM has appointed Thomas Schlichthärle from the University of Washington in Seattle. In his interdisciplinary work at the TUM School of Natural Sciences, the multi-award-winning bioscientist combines the fields of natural sciences, computer sciences and biomedicine.

Proteins are considered the building blocks of life. Proteins designed for specific purposes could therefore improve a wide range of applications, such as cancer immunotherapies or the control of stem cell behavior. The professorship's research focuses on the development of methods for producing synthetic proteins that can specifically modulate, sense or reprogram signal transduction. The team uses machine learning for this purpose.

"A great vote of confidence"

Founded in 2023, the Wübben Stiftung Wissenschaft is a private science foundation based in Berlin. It supports science at the highest international level. Its activities focus on individuals who think and work scientifically at various stages of their careers.

"We are delighted that, with the support of the foundation, we have succeeded in appointing Thomas Schlichthärle and David Finken from the US and Switzerland to TUM, thereby strengthening the university and Germany as a center of science in important fields of the future," says Marion Müller, Managing Director of the Wübben Stiftung Wissenschaft.

"It is a great vote of confidence in our university that the Wübben Stiftung Wissenschaft is funding two professorships," emphasizes TUM President Prof. Thomas F. Hofmann. "In doing so, it is making an exceptionally valuable contribution - on the one hand, in attracting top scientists to Germany, and on the other, in supporting TUM's focus on fruitfully linking artificial intelligence and other digital technologies with various disciplines."

Further information and links

AI research at TUM

Technical University of Munich

Corporate Communications Center

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