A brief review with 18 refs. is provided of the principal research and development activities of the Lab. of Polyelectrolytes and BioMacromols. at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technol. These include, in particular, the synthesis of tailor-made polyelectrolytes, the development of novel materials based on polyelectrolytes as well as basic research in the field of process technologies for synthesis and structure formation. The applications focus on the environment, biotechnol. and medicine. [on SciFinder (R)]