His contribution of 100 million Swiss francs[4] constitutes one of the most important private donations to support academic research in Switzerland.

[6] He developed the vision of an interdisciplinary institute that focuses on soft nanomaterials and combines fundamental and application-oriented research.

Prof. Schurtenberger left the institute to establish a new group at the University of Lund, and Ullrich Steiner was appointed as Professor of Soft Matter Physics.

[16] The BioNanomaterials group's research focuses on bioprinting, hazard assessment of nanomaterials, nanoparticle analysis[17] and nanobiomechanics.

[18] The BioPhysics group's research includes nanopores for single molecule analysis, bio-inspired voltage generation[19] and pore forming peptides.

[1] Topics of investigation include color-generation in insects,[23] the effect of graphene on human lungs,[24] bio-inspired drug delivery,[25] record-breaking perovskite solar cells,[26] and electric eel-inspired energy devices.

In 2015 AMI launched an interdisciplinary master's program at the interface of Physics, Chemistry, and Biology that emphasizes bio-inspired materials.

[31] AMI is conducting both fundamental as well as application-oriented research in the field of soft nanomaterials, receiving part of its funding through industrial partnerships.