Friedrich Miescher Laboratory of the Max Planck Society

Friedrich Miescher Laboratory of the Max Planck Society

The Friedrich Miescher Laboratory (FML) was established by the Max Planck Society in 1969 to support young scientists. It offers outstanding young researchers the opportunity, over a period of several years, to set up a research group, follow their own research ideas and start an independent career. The scientists in the individual groups share the laboratory equipment and jointly undertake the organisation of the laboratory. The research topics at the FML are diverse, and change with the appointment of new group leaders. The four research groups currently working at the FML want to understand how genetic information is stored on the DNA and how it is reliably inherited. The FML is part of the Max Planck Campus in Tübingen and there are close ties with the neighbouring Max Planck Institute for Biology Tübingen and Max Planck Institute Biological Cybernetics.

Contact

Max-Planck-Ring 9
72076 Tübingen
Phone: +49 7071 601-800
Fax: +49 7071 601-801

PhD opportunities

This institute has an International Max Planck Research School (IMPRS):

IMPRS "From Molecules to Organisms"

The Friedrich Miescher Laboratory is an integral part of the International Max Planck Research School of the MPI for Biology Tübingen.

Ice Age bones reveal how sticklebacks adapt to new habitats

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Uncovering the secrets of adapting to a new habitat

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Scientists from Tübingen develop new mathematical approaches and software to model the networks that control embryonic development

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Yearbook article 2015 from the Friedrich Miescher Laboratory of the Max Planck Society

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Researchers from Tübingen resolve how a plant steroid hormone makes plants grow

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Three-spined stickleback fish live in both salt and fresh water. When the glaciers melted at the end of the last ice age, new lakes were formed, and sticklebacks from the sea found new habitats in those freshwater environments. At the Friedrich Miescher Laboratory on the research campus of the Max Planck Society in Tuebingen, Germany, Felicity Jones and her team are studying how the genome of fish changes as they adapt. 12,000-year-old stickleback bones provide insight into the early phase of this transformation.

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Meiotic DNA breaks and recombination

2021 Roussova, Dorota; Firlej, Magdalena; Altmannova, Veronika; Weir, John R.

Cell Biology Developmental Biology Evolutionary Biology Structural Biology

In order to generate haploid gametes, eukaryotes can undergo a specialised form of cell division called meiosis. During the first round of meiosis, homologous chromosomes - one from each parent) - must be linked together so they can be properly segregated. In order to do so, most organisms use meiotic recombination to generate crossovers between homologous chromosomes. We describe our recent work that has used biochemical reconstitution to understand parts of the protein machinery that ensures faithful segregation of homologous chromosomes during meiosis.

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Untangling the genome using tiny beads

2020 Kučka, Marek; Su, Dingwen; Chan, Yingguang Frank

Cell Biology Evolutionary Biology

Genome sequencing holds the key to fighting disease and understanding biodiversity. However, current techniques only produce sequence fragments and omit its context, sometimes causing misleading results. We have developed haplotagging, an improved method for highly accurate sequencing at low costs while preserving the sequences context. Haplotagging can be applied to identify a single gene present in two different butterfly species living between the Amazon and the Andes which creates a unique wing pattern.

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Computer-based design of novel signaling molecules with improved properties

2019 ElGamacy, Mohammad; Müller, Patrick

Cell Biology Evolutionary Biology

We use an interdisciplinary approach combining computational chemistry, biophysics, and developmental biology to create new signaling activators and inhibitors. We have designed novel hematopoietic growth factors and antagonists of cancer-relevant signals, and their structures are in atomic-level agreement with our theoretical predictions. Strikingly, the growth factors are highly active and can induce the differentiation of blood cells in living zebrafish embryos. This strategy holds great promise to engineer signaling molecules with novel functionalities for future clinical applications.

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The molecular basis of recombination variation using linked-read sequencing technology

2018 Dreau, Andreea; Venu, Vrinda; Gaspar, Ludmila; Jones, Felicity C.

Cell Biology Developmental Biology Evolutionary Biology Structural Biology

Genetic variation is the basis of biodiversity, and is the key substrate of evolution. We are studying meiotic recombination, a key source of genetic variation, to elucidate on the role it plays while organisms adapt to new environments. Using linked-read genome sequencing technology, we have developed a method of studying recombination in individuals, and are using this to identify its molecular basis. Research on this fundamental process has implications for our understanding of first trimester abortion, genome function and how molecular mechanisms shape evolution in natural populations.

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Regulation of DNA break formation and repair in meiosis

2017 Weir, John

Cell Biology Developmental Biology Structural Biology

Sexual reproduction requires the generation of special cells called gametes, i.e. eggs and sperms, which carry half the genome of the parent. Meiosis is the process by which the parental genome is divided. In order to segregate the genome in a controlled way, novel linkages between sequentially similar chromosomes need to be created. Linkages are made by making programmed breaks in the DNA, followed by controlled repair of these breaks. Understanding the process of breakage and repair in detail at the molecular level will provide new insights into human fertility and genetic diseases.

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