Epigenetics - packaging artists in the cell

Biomaterials - patent solutions from nature

Animals and plants can produce amazing materials such as spider webs, wood or bone using only a few raw materials available. How do they achieve this? And what can engineers learn from them? more

Chaperones - folding helpers in the cell

Nothing works without the correct form: For most proteins, there are millions of ways in which these molecules, composed of long chains of amino acids, can be folded - but only one way is the right one. Researchers in the department "Cellular Biochemistry" at the Max Planck Institute for Bi ... more

Gene-editing with CRISPR/Cas9

The discovery that bacteria use a kind of immune system to fight viruses initially was only interesting for microbiologists. But when the discovery that CRISPR/Cas9 system is able to manipulate genes of many organisms was made, also non-scientists were alerted. But how does this method works? more

Cancer-like metabolism and human brain size evolution

The size of the human brain increased profoundly during evolution. A certain gene that is only found in humans triggers brain stem cells to form a larger pool of stem cells. As a consequence, more neurons can arise, which paves the way to a bigger brain. This brain size gene is called ARHGA ... more

Body cells spy out bacteria

Bacterial infection does not automatically lead to illness; many germs only become dangerous when they occur in large numbers. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology in Berlin have discovered that the body has a receptor, which doesn’t recognize bacteria themselves, b ... more

Synchro swimmers under the microscope

Not only birds, fish and even crowds of people show collective movement patterns, motile bacteria also form currents and vortices when their cell density exceeds a certain size. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for terrestrial Microbiology in Marburg have now been able to show how sw ... more

Max-Planck-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Wissenschaften e.V.

The research institutes of the Max Planck Society perform basic research in the interest of the general public in the natural sciences, life sciences, social sciences, and the humanities. In particular, the Max Planck Society takes up new and innovative research areas that German universiti ... more