Max Planck Institutes and Experts

The evolution of the human lineage is tightly linked to the evolution of the brain. To better understand the evolutionary changes in brain development, researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology compare the cranial bones of recent modern humans to those of our closest living and fossil relatives.

The cilium is a slim hair-like structure found on almost all cells in our body. The cilium functions both in motility and as an antenna that allows sensation between cells and the environment. To build a functional cilium, the cell relies on intraflagellar transport (IFT). A failure to complete the process of IFT leads to human diseases including infertility, blindness, mental retardation and cysts formation. How the cilium is formed and what goes wrong in cilium-related diseases is poorly understood and is the topic of intense research also because of its medicinal aspects.

Life on Earth is surprisingly old. After the formation of our planet, about 4.5 billion years ago, the Earth was a hostile place without solid crust, essential water and with regularly occurring meteorite impacts. After the first stabilization of environmental conditions and the condensation of liquid water, it didn’t take long for the first life to appear in the form of primitive unicellular bacteria. The Max Planck Research Group Organic Paleobiogeochemistry studies how life evolved from its first occurrence to the complex ecosystems that surround us today.

During ageing, human proteins tend to aggregate. At a certain point, protein aggregation becomes toxic, which can cause damage to occur also in neurons and may result in neurodegenerative diseases. By studying model organisms like the roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans, it is possible to uncover the mechanisms underlying neurodegeneration. Scientists recently found that a naturally occurring molecule enhances defence mechanisms against neurodegenerative diseases. Feeding this particular metabolite to C. elegans improves clearance of toxic protein aggregates in the body and extends life span. 

Blood vessels provide the whole organism with essential oxygen and nutrients, but are also an important source of regulatory cues in many organs. In the skeletal system, specialized capillaries release signals that control bone-forming progenitor cells and thereby bone growth. The aging organism lacks such specialized blood vessels and shows a detrimental decline in bone renewal. New results indicate that the stimulation of blood vessel growth in such conditions might be therapeutically beneficial.