Press Releases

A new method developed by Helmut Grubmüller and his team shows that the very little information obtained from simulated measurements with a free-electron laser is sufficient to calculate the 3D structure of a protein at atomic resolution. (in German) more

The neurobiologist is taking over this year's Rolf Sammet Guest Professorship at the Goethe University Frankfurt. The university honors Reinhard Jahn for his groundbreaking research on how biological membranes fuse. (in German) more

For women to give birth to a healthy child, their eggs have to halve their set of chromosomes before fertilization in a sensitive process. Melina Schuh and her team have now discovered a previously unknown structure in mammalian eggs that is indispensable for the error-free distribution of chromosomes. The findings contribute to a better understanding of how mammalian eggs are prepared for fertilization. more

Claudia Schmidt is the winner of the Three-Minute-Thesis Competition organized by the Coimbra Group, a network of leading European universities. With her short talk "The recycling system of our cells", the PhD student convinced the jury in the final contest in Krakow. (in German) more

Sandra Schilbach, Agata Zielinska, and Thomas Lilienkamp of the Göttingen Max Planck Campus have been awarded the Otto Hahn Medal. Every year, the Max Planck Society honors up to 30 researchers for their outstanding achievements during their PhD. (in German) more

In this year's competition for funding from the European Research Council, two Göttingen scientists were successful: Stefan Jakobs, research group leader at the institute and Professor at the Department of Neurology of the University Medical Center, and Theofanis Kitsopoulos, researcher at the MPI and the University of Göttingen, will receive an ERC Advanced Grant endowed with approximately 2.5 million euros each. more

At certain sites on the messenger RNA, ribosomes stumble and start sliding before they land and resume their accurate work. Researchers at the institute have now unraveled what trips and shoves the ribosome.  more

The active compound anle138b can slow down Parkinson's disease in mice and prevent the death of nerve cells. It affects directly the alpha-synuclein protein. New findings pave the way for future treatment options in humans. (in German) more

Graphene is celebrated as an extraordinary material. It consists of pure carbon and is only a single layer of atoms thin. Nevertheless, it is extremely stable and even conductive. For electronics, however, graphene still has crucial disadvantages: It cannot be used as a semiconductor yet. Hydrogen atoms on graphene could change this. Researchers now showed how hydrogen atoms chemically bind to carbon atoms of graphene and what happens during this process. more

This year's Bruker Prize of the Electron Spin Resonance (ESR) Spectroscopy Group of the British Royal Society of Chemistry is awarded to Marina Bennati of the MPI for Biophysical Chemistry. The group honors the physico-chemist for her outstanding work in ESR spectroscopy. (in German) more

The developmental biologist took up office on April 1, 2019. Rink investigates how flatworms manage to completely regenerate their tissue following injury, and why this ability is an exception rather than the rule in the animal kingdom. more

The Göttingen chemist receives the award for his outstanding contributions to nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. The prize, which is financed by the company Bruker, is endowed with 20,000 US dollar. It has been awarded since 1999 in memory of Bruker co-founder Günther Laukien. (in German) more