The Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry (Karl Friedrich Bonhoeffer Institute) is one of the largest of the approximately 80 institutes constituting the Max Planck Society and is unique with respect to its history and interdisciplinary research. It clearly demonstrates the research potential that can be generated by operating at the interfaces of the classical scientific disciplines: physics, chemistry, and biology. The unifying vision has been to characterize biological processes in a quantitative manner, as was already reflected in the focus of several of the founding departments on reaction mechanisms and dynamics. However, the fields of neurobiology, biochemistry and molecular biology were also represented at the outset, thereby ensuring that the institute would contribute to and exploit the dramatic advances in biology-related technology and knowledge of the next 30 years.
As a consequence, current research at the Institute covers a wide range of biophysical, cell-biological and biochemical topics and techniques. These include, among others, the spectroscopic study of the dynamics of chemical reactions; studies on living cells in three dimensions at nanoscale resolution and at the single-molecule level; molecular and electrophysiological investigations on neurotransmitter release; and a great variety of genetic, cell-biological and biochemical studies on the identification and function of components involved in signal transduction pathways, intracellular trafficking of macromolecules, RNA-processing, circadian rhythms of the vertebrate, and differentiation and development in multicellular organisms.
In addition, several groups at the Institute are working on the assembly, structure and function of macromolecular assemblies involved in membrane fusion reactions, remodelling of chromatin structure, lipid metabolism and molecular machines such as the spliceosome, nuclear pores, mitotic spindles and ribosomes.
Moreover, in recent years, cutting-edge structural biology techniques including NMR, molecular dynamics simulation, complemented by 3D electron cryomicroscopy and X-ray crystallography, have been built up at our Institute and remain under active development.
This combination highlights the multidisciplinary approach of the institute, which has been confirmed with numerous acknowledgements and awards.
The Institute is particularly engaged in the support of junior scientists which is also documented by the numerous Research Groups hosted here. The Institute also accommodates the independent Biomedical NMR Research GmbH (head: Jens Frahm).
|
Top
