Michael Rappolt has been appointed as Professor of Lipid Biophysics (School of Food Science and Nutrition) in April 2013. He received his MSc and PhD in physics from the University of Hamburg and achieved his habilitation at the University of Ljubljana in the Faculty of Health Sciences. He was Senior Researcher at the Synchrotron Trieste Outstation (Italy), Institute of Biophysics and Nanosystems Research (Austrian Academy of Sciences), before becoming Assistant Professor at Graz University of Technology. Professor Michael Rappolt is a leading authority on investigating the structure and dynamics of lipid membranes using small-angle X-ray scattering. His recent research activities have concentrated on the study of drug/membrane interactions with potential applications to drug delivery and food. Further research topics concentrate on characterising crystallization processes in food, the investigation of colloid interfaces and the determination of particle structures on the nanoscale. He also seeks to transfer standard measurement techniques applied in food research – such as mechanic (sound and shear) and thermodynamic sample manipulations to synchrotron sites – to understand food on a smaller (nanometre) and faster (microsecond) scale.