= N. Kröger
{c}
<N. Kröger> investigated how <diatoms> build intricately patterned <silica> structures. A 1999 study isolated positively charged <peptides>, named <silaffins>, from diatom biosilica. Adding these molecules to a solution of <silicic acid> generated networks of silica nanospheres outside the living <cell>.<Polycationic peptides from diatom biosilica that direct silica nanosphere formation by N. Kröger and others>[Abstract: isolation and in-vitro silica precipitation]{ref}
Reconstituting this step gave evidence that organic components can directly influence mineral formation. It did not require an intact <diatom> to make every sphere, while also not claiming that the isolated <peptides> alone reconstruct the whole shell. The experiment connects <biomineralization> to the properties of particular biological molecules.
\Image[https://tu-dresden.de/cmcb/bcube/forschungsgruppen/kroeger/resources/bilder/people-1/nils-kroeger/%40%40images/6ea20314-c8c3-4708-b5ed-ccccdb720c81.jpeg]
{title=Portrait of <N. Kröger>}
{description=Photograph by TUD/Magdalena Gonciarz, identified on the institutional profile. The original silaffin paper gives the matching nils.kroeger author address.}
{source=https://tu-dresden.de/cmcb/bcube/forschungsgruppen/kroeger/group-leader?set_language=en}
{width=260}
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