The author thanks numerous people for their contributions to this work: Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. M. Antonietti for the working environment and useful discussions. B. Zilske, A. V lkel, Drs. G. Lucas L. B rger, T. Pauck and K. Schilling for their skilful AUC measurements. Dr. H. Schnablegger is acknowledged for the DLS studies on ZrO ₂ and Dr. H. Wachernig for the SLS on antibody coated latexes. We also thank Dr. C. G ltner for the TEM micrographs of the antibody coated latexes. Drs. G. A. Braun, F. Caruso, S. Eda, A. Fischer, D. I. Gittins, J. Kaufmann, U. Kobold, and D. Rapoport are acknowledged for the supply of interesting colloidal samples. Dr. D. I. Gittins is also thanked for making graphical material available to the authors. Also, big thanks go to my wife Stefanie Sender for her patience. Finally, I thank the Max Planck Society for the financial support of this work and Erich C. for stimulating discussions.