Current Scientific Members

• Gert Bange The Bange Lab studies the molecular physiology of microbes by combining structural biology with systems- and cell biology approaches.
• Anke Becker The Becker Lab aims to understand and apply fundamental design principles of bacterial gene regulation and genome architecture.
• Isabelle Bekeredjian-Ding The Bekeredjian-Ding Group focuses on approaches that enable immune recognition of clinically relevant pathogens. Their activities range from identification of neoepitopes for immune memory and eat-me signals for phagocytosis to restoration of antibiotic and bacteriophage susceptibility. The goal is to identify new targets for immune protection and therapy.
• Ivan Berg The Berg Lab studies the central autotrophic carbon metabolism in bacteria and archea, focussing on recently described archaea of the phyla Thaumarchaeota and Crenarchaeota.
• Helge B. Bode The Bode Lab aims at the understanding of microbial metabolite function in the environment using entomopathogenic nematodes and their associated bacteria as model systems.
• Andreas Brune The Brune Lab focuses on understanding insect gut microbiology and symbiosis. They study the role of the gut microbiota in digestion as well as the evolution of the intestinal microbial community.
• Tobias J. Erb The Erb Lab studies the fundamental design principles of metabolism and use their understanding to build novel, synthetic metabolism in a bottom-up fashion.
• Bernd Freisleben The Freisleben Group focuses on the intersection of distributed systems and intelligent computing in the systems and applications area.
• Alexander Goesmann The Goesmann Group works on the development of innovative bioinformatics software tools. Their major goal is to simplify and automate subsequent steps for systemic data processing and analysis.
• Peter Graumann The Graumann Lab studies dynamic processes in bacteria with a with a focus on chromosome dynamics and cell shape maintenance.
• Johann Heider The Heider Lab works on anaerobic metabolic pathways with a focus on molecular mechanisms and structure-function studies of metalloenzymes.
• Georg Hochberg Independent Max-Planck Research Group/ERC Grantee - The Hochberg Group works on evolutionary biochemistry by using the evolution of protein complexes as a model system.
• Katharina Höfer Independent Max-Planck Research Group/ERC Grantee - The Höfer Lab studies the epitranscriptomic mechanisms of gene regulation based on NAD-capped RNAs in bacteria.
• Ralf Jacob The Jacob Lab works on intracellular trafficking in polarized epithelial cells with the focus on cytoskeleton elements and lectin mediated protein sorting.
• Peter Kolb The research of the Kolb Lab focuses on ligand:protein interactions using small-molecule docking as well as chemoinformatic approaches and molecular dynamics simulations.
• Peter Lenz The Working Group of Peter Lenz focuses on theoretical soft condensed matter, statistical physics, and biological physics.
• Shu-Ming Li The Li Lab focuses on functional genomics of secondary metabolites in microorganisms to investigate the biosynthesis of these compounds.
• Roland Lill The Lill Lab studies the molecular mechanisms underlying the biogenesis of iron-sulfur (Fe/S) proteins in eukaryotes.
• Hans-Ulrich Mösch The Mösch Lab aims to uncover the molecular and structural basis of cell adhesion, cell wall biogenesis, signal transduction and transcriptional regulation of fungi.
• Sven Opitz The Opitz Group examines the social and cultural implications of the symbiosis paradigm that has recently resurged in the life sciences due to the booming research on the microbiome.
• Lennart Randau The Randau Lab investigates the functionality of small non-coding RNA molecules in archaeal and bacterial model organisms.
• Raphael Reher The Reher Lab is interested in holistic natural product research with a focus on the discovery, isolation, and structural characterization of pharmaceutically relevant specialized metabolites as lead structures for drug development.
• Bernd T. Schmeck The Schmeck Group focuses on lung inflammation in infection, allergy, and smoking related diseases. Their clinical and translational research aims for new biomarkers and therapeutical strategies for lung diseases.
• Bernhardt Seeger The Seeger Group addresses the development of efficient methods for processing and temporally analyzing of large data and event streams.
• Victor Sourjik The Sourjik Lab concentrates on quantitative analysis of the organization and molecular and physiological functions of cellular networks in microorganisms.
• Lotte Søgaard-Andersen The Working Group of Lotte Søgaard-Andersen investigates the mechanisms that allow bacteria to adapt and differentiate in response to changes in the environment.
• Martin Thanbichler The Thanbichler Lab investigates bacterial cell biology with a focus on chromosome segregation, bacterial cytoskeleton, cell division and morphogenesis.
• Kai Thormann The Thormann Lab focuses on the investigation of flagella assembly and function, cell polarity of bacteria and interactions between bacteria and phages.
• Olalla Vázquez The Vazquez Research Group develops chemical biology tools based on the genuine ability to combine organic chemistry and biological approaches.
• Alexander Visekruna The Visekruna Lab investigates the role of the intestinal microbiome on the immune system, angiogenesis, and carcinogenesis, as well as the impact of nutrition on the intestinal immune system.
• Friedmann Voigt The aim of the Voigt Group is to develop a step-by-step model for the ethical evaluation of synthetic biology.
• Lars Voll The Voll Lab focuses on the metabolic processes during the interaction of plants with fungal pathogens and how the allocation of organic carbon and nitrogen sources between host and pathogen is controlled.
• Julia Weigand The main focus of the Weigand Lab is on the identification and in-depth characterization of functional RNA structures and their interaction with proteins.
• Felix Willmund The Willmund Group concentrates on revealing and characterizing central players that act as modulators and regulators during acclimation of plant cells.