Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences

Leishmania pathogens require the protein TKUL to maintain infection in host cells. TKUL combines two enzymes in one molecule. This structural peculiarity could be used for novel therapies.  

Dirk Görlich and Steven McKnight receive this year’s Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research for deciphering the functional principles of cellular logistics and organisation

More than 40 million people worldwide are infected with the herpes virus every year. The virus can pose a serious threat to newborns and people with weakened immune systems. Researchers in Hamburg and Göttingen have now generated a mini-antibody that neutralizes a protein essential for the infection

Using light to break down and bind CO₂: two new research groups want to make what nature already does much more efficient

Patrick Cramer speaks with Bram Wijlands, Managing Director of Max Planck Innovation, about researchers launching start-ups – and their exciting ventures.

Nothing works with incomprehensible code – not even a cell. Patrick Cramer is carrying out research on the enzyme that transcribes the DNA code to enable a protein to be synthesized from a gene. To do so, he relies on high-resolution microscopes and artificial intelligence.

It is thanks to magnetic resonance imaging MRI – and not least Jens Frahm – that doctors are better able to diagnose diseases among patients than they could 30 years ago. The research conducted by the Director of the non-profit making company Biomedizinische NMR Forschungs GmbH at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Goettingen has succeeded in significantly improving the images made of the body. In the interim, the team from Goettingen has even been able to push MRI from photography to filming.

STED microscopes can produce extremely detailed images of everything from the transport of individual proteins or tiny membrane vesicles in living cells to the synapses of neurons or the skeletons of tumor cells. The technique was invented by Stefan Hell, Director at the Max Planck Institutes for Biophysical Chemistry in Goettingen and Medical Research in Heidelberg. Now, the spin-off company Abberior Instruments sells the highest-resolution fluorescence microscope on the market – and researchers at both the Institutes and the company continue to push the resolution to its ultimate limit: the single nanometer size scale of a molecule.

Evotec’s history illustrates that biotechnology made in Germany can set standards worldwide. The Max Planck Society is one of the company’s founders and continues to shape it to this day.

Egg and sperm cells are highly sensitive during their development. When, for example, there is an error in the way the genetic material is divided between the individual gametes, the resulting embryo will often either be nonviable or suffer from severe birth defects. Melina Schuh from the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Göttingen wants to find out why egg maturation is so error-prone. The results of her research could one day help couples who are unable to have children.

Doctors and patients can thank magnetic resonance imaging – and not least Jens Frahm – for the fact that many diseases can now be diagnosed far more effectively than they could 30 years ago. The research carried out by the director of the Biomedizinische NMR Forschungs GmbH (non-profit) at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Göttingen has greatly simplified the process of capturing images of the body’s interior. Now the team from Göttingen wants to bring those images to life.

Ludwig II of Bavaria is a particularly striking example of how differently people’s internal clocks can tick. According to historical sources, the monarch usually conducted his government business at night and slept during the day. Whether the Fairy Tale King had a disorder that disrupted his sleep-wake rhythm is a matter even Gregor Eichele can only speculate about. Nevertheless, Eichele and his team at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Göttingen have gained much new insight into how the body’s natural timekeepers work.

A novel measurement technique exploits the quantum mechanical interaction of free electrons with light fields to visualize optical fields at the nanoscale with temporal resolution. An electron beam is modulated at an illuminated nanostructure and subsequently overlapped with a reference field. From the resulting electron energy distribution, the method reconstructs the temporal profile of the light field, thus functioning as a "quantum oscilloscope."

More than one million people become infected with the AIDS virus HIV every year. In order to infect its host, the virus must not only enter a cell but also transport its genetic material into the cell nucleus and integrate it into a chromosome. We have now discovered that the capsid of the virus has evolved into a molecular transporter. As such, the capsid can directly pass a central line of defense of the nucleus, which otherwise protects against viral invaders. This smuggling strategy keeps the HIV genome hidden from the antiviral sensors in the cytoplasm.

Only one in three fertilizations results in the birth of a baby. Many embryos do not develop to term because they carry an incorrect number of chromosomes; they are aneuploid. We study how aneuploidy arises at the beginning of life. Aneuploidy in embryos is a main cause of pregnancy loss and infertility. It often results from chromosome segregation errors in the egg, but also frequently arises in the early embryo. Our recent work shows that aneuploidy often develops when the genetic material from both parents combines after fertilization. This is due to a remarkably inefficient process.

Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease (CMT) is the most common hereditary neuropathy of the peripheral nervous system. So far no treatment is available. Using transgenic animal models, we have developed new therapeutic approaches which are currently being translated to humans, thus creating new therapeutic options for approximately 1.5 million affected CMT patients worldwide.

According to the current dogma in neuroscience, neurons in the brain must communicate actively with each other to establish functional networks. Recent results now demonstrate that neurons in a brain region that is critically involved in learning and memory processes can connect and form structurally normal networks without active signal transmission at their synaptic contact points.