Max Planck Institute of Molecular Physiology

Elucidation of its mode of action lays the foundation for the development of targeted therapies for Parkinson's disease and chronic kidney disease

A recently discovered inhibitor shows new ways for the development of mRNA-based drugs.

Researchers have patented the active ingredient against gastrointestinal stromal tumors and licensed it to a pharmaceutical company

beta-catenin discovered as a new key player in the formation of the main body axis during mammalian embryogenesis

A strategy by Max Planck scientist to assess the role of liquid-liquid phase separation drivers in cell division reveals poor predictive power of established assays

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.

Bacteria, plants and animals are full of unknown substances that could be beneficial for humans. At the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Physiology in Dortmund, Herbert Waldmann tests natural products for their biological efficacy and tries to mimic their effects with simpler molecules.

In movies, 3-D effects are spectacular. And also at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Physiology in Dortmund, Stefan Raunser finds that three-dimensional images offer a visual feast. His electron microscopes enable him to determine the position of individual atoms with great precision and to study the spatial structure of proteins. In doing so, he occasionally encounters some bizarre constructions.

How does HIV get a host cell to produce viruses? Researchers are looking for the key in order to develop efficient therapies.

The development of new cancer drugs has made enormous strides in recent decades, thanks largely to basic research at universities and institutes. Nevertheless, only a fraction of research approaches make it into clinical studies, with about 90% failing. Great – but so far unfulfilled – hopes are currently being placed in a new immunotherapy based on the inhibition of the immunomodulator IDO1. We have developed an alternative approach in which IDO1 is specifically degraded in the cell. This could open up new therapeutic options in cancer treatment. 

Billions of cells in our body constantly undergo cell division, a complex process that usually occurs error-free in healthy cells. Even minor errors can result in cell degeneration or resistance to chemotherapy. The kinetochore, a complex, multi-layered protein structure attached to the chromosome, monitors faithful cell division. We reconstituted the main components of its outermost layer, the corona, determined its structure, and unveiled its cellular function. Our findings significantly advance our understanding of cell division in healthy and malignant cells. 

Just a few weeks a completely new organism develops from a fertilised egg cell. It is almost a miracle when complex structures form from a bunch of stem cells as if by magic, without a blueprint or any further intervention. But stem cells do not leave their fate to pure chance: they live in an active, social community that is characterised by constant consultation. Our research on stem cells in the test tube shows how cells communicate with each other and how they encode and decode complex messages.

Whether antibiotics, cholesterol-lowering agents or fluorescent proteins: natural substances, for example from fungi and marine organisms, have always been used in medicine and science. Applying high-resolution cryo-electron microscopy, we have now been able to elucidate for the first time how two natural toxins influence the structure of actin filaments and thus the regulation of the cytoskeleton. While these toxins are already of great use for research, one day they could be used to specifically agglutinate the cytoskeleton of cancer cells and thus kill them. 

Tumours grow much faster than healthy tissue. Cancer cells get the energy and building blocks they need by a ten times higher sugar uptake compared to normal body cells. One could say that cancer cells are addicted to sugar. We exploit this natural weakness and put cancer cells on a radical sugar diet by applying a series of self-developed active substances so that they starve and die.