The research aim of my group is the spatiotemporal control of cell-material and cell-cell interactions and associated processes in natural and synthetic minimal cells by using visible light. These photoswitchable interactions offer non-invasive remote control over cell adhesions, enable us to self-assemble and self-sort cells into multicellular functional architectures with high precision, regulate their interactions with synthetic materials, produce hybrid systems with defined communication and to study the underlying biology. Synthetic minimal cells, which reduce complexity and yet capture key features of natural cells, allow us to quantify and correlate cell behavior with molecular information. This will enable us to address questions in cell biology as well as engineer new synthetic cell biology.