Lecture and award ceremony in a public webinar on 29 November 2023

The German Society of Cell Biology (DGZ) and ZEISS have honoured Professor Dr. Jochen Guck with the Carl Zeiss Lecture 2023. This award recognises internationally outstanding achievements in cell biology and pioneering microscopy…

Tomohisa Toda, Professor of Neural Epigenomics at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) has been awarded another European Research Council (ERC) grant to investigate the roles of long-lived nuclear RNA in the maintenance of brain function and brain ageing. Most of his research will…

Scientists have long sought to understand how certain animals, such as zebrafish, are able to regrow nerve fibers and regain lost motor function after spinal cord injury. In humans, these injuries are irreparable and result in permanent loss of function, such as paralysis. An international team led…

Physicist and veterinarian Prof. Dr. Kristian Franze, Research Group Leader at the Max-Planck-Zentrum für Physik und Medizin (MPZPM) and Director of the Institute for Medical Physics and Microtissue Engineering at the Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), has been awarded an ERC…

During this year's Long Night of Science, the Max-Planck-Zentrum für Physik und Medizin (MPZPM) presented itself with a significant special exhibition. The interest of the visitors in the interdisciplinary basic research conducted by the joint research center of the Friedrich-Alexander University…

Zebrafish are capable of regenerating their spinal cord. The German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft) is now providing 250,000€ to the MPL Research Group led by Daniel Wehner to further study this remarkable ability. Wehner and his team will use the funds to continue their…

This weekend, the scientific world of quantum communication, nano-optics, biological optomechanics and medical physics had to do without the expertise of the directors of the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light and the Max-Planck-Zentrum für Physik und Medizin.

The first awardee of the Rosalind Franklin Scientist-in-Residence (RFSR) Program of the Max-Planck-Zentrum für Physik und Medizin (MPZPM), Claudia Fischbach-Teschl, has started her seven month-sabbatical in Erlangen. The program offers outstanding scientists the opportunity to conduct independent…

Why is it a good idea for physicists to work on medical issues? Prof. Dr. Jochen Guck, Director of the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light (MPL), will give a public lecture on the topic "What is Physics doing in Medicine? - Introducing the new Max-Planck-Zentrum" on Monday, February 6,…

As part of the largest science festival in the region, MPL also opened its doors to the general public. More than 1,000 interested people visited the institute during the Long Night of Science to learn more about the research at MPL in a diverse program with lab tours, demonstrations and talks.

The next step in the construction of a special large-scale project has been taken: after the foundation stone was laid in 2021, employees of the partners involved embedded a time capsule in the concrete floor of the new Max-Planck-Zentrum für Physik und Medizin (MPZPM). The capsule was embedded in a…

During a visit to the Universitätsklinikum Erlangen, Minister Klaus Holetschek handed over the funding notification for the project "disCOVer (diagnosis Long-COVID Erlangen). The aim of the project is to reliably diagnose three forms of long-term consequences of an infection with SARS-CoV-2 with the…

It is essential for cells to control precisely which of the many genes of their genetic material they use. This is done in so-called transcription factories, molecular clusters in the nucleus. Researchers of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nuremberg…

How can SARS-CoV-2 be stopped? David Dulin and his team at the Max-Planck-Zentrum für Physik und Medizin in Erlangen have investigated how the virus multiplies its genome and how to impair this process at the molecular level using different active substances.

The BMBF is providing 1.2 million Euros for the reCOVer project. This will enable a research team from the Max-Planck-Zentrum für Physik und Medizin and the Universitätsklinik Erlangen to test a substance active against autoantibodies on a larger group of patients. The drug, called BC 007, has…

The Bavarian Minister of State for Health and Care was impressed by the great potential of real-time deformability cytometry for the diagnosis of infections such as Covid-19 and other diseases during a laboratory tour by Director Jochen Guck.

In memory of the pioneering English chemist Rosalind Franklin, the Max-Planck-Zentrum für Physik und Medizin has set up a scientist-in-residence program for excellent researchers.

Using real-time deformability cytometry, researchers at the Max-Planck-Zentrum für Physik und Medizin in Erlangen were able to show for the first time: Covid-19 significantly changes the size and stiffness of red and white blood cells - sometimes over months. These results may help to explain why…

The British Royal Society of Chemistry has awarded a research team for their work on the protective sugar coat of cells, which included the scientist from the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light. For the first time, it is now possible to study in detail how certain enzymes modify proteins…

Construction phase of the innovative, interdisciplinary research institute in Erlangen begins. Minister-President and Minister of Economic Affairs recognize courage of scientists from physics and medicine to break new ground together. Söder: "We have the greatest chance to discover new things when…

A new, patented method called Progressive Mechanoporation makes it possible to mechanically disrupt the membranes of cells for a short time period and let drugs or genes inside cells. In this way, researchers can test new therapies more easily than before. 

Modern vaccines such as those against…

Millions for cancer research: Jona Kayser, junior group leader in the Biological Optomechanics Division at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light, came out on top in a selection process run by the German Research Foundation (DFG). The organisation will fund his research on the evolution…

The mechanical properties of cells can reveal which diseases a patient is suffering from. Researchers at the Max-Planck-Zentrum für Physik und Medizin in Erlangen are taking advantage of this effect - and revolutionising diagnostics. Their goal: instead of costly examining blood samples in the…

Tracking the mystery of cell division: Scientists of the IRI Life Sciences of Humboldt University and the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light in Erlangen, have combined two microscopic methods in such a way that they can examine in detail the molecular machine called the mitotic spindle:…

During National Socialism in Germany, crimes against humanity, especially medical crimes, also occurred in Erlangen. In order to commemorate the victims appropriately, the municipality's city council unanimously commissioned the administration to create a place of remembrance in 2015. In the…

The city of Dresden awarded Maik Herbig, former PhD student of MPL Director Jochen Guck, the Dresden Excellence Award 2020 for his doctorate. The Saxon capital, together with the network "Dresden - City of Science", honors with the prize annually four scientists for their excellent final theses.

In…

International research team identifies how the cell nucleus structures active and inactive DNA -  and thus controls the development of a cell.

All life begins with one cell. During the development of an organism, cells divide and become specialized, yet each cell nucleus contains the same…

After an injury to the spinal cord, patients often remain paralysed because damaged nerve tracts do not regrow due to the formation of scar tissue. Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light in Erlangen, together with colleagues from Dresden and Athens, have now been able to…

Disease-causing microbes as well as cancer cells gang together to form larger structures - and only then become dangerous to humans. Scientists at the Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, the Max-Planck-Zentrum für Physik und Medizin in Erlangen and the Max Planck Institute for the…

On August 1, Kristian Franze will become one of the directors of the Max-Planck-Zentrum für Physik und Medizin (MPZPM) - at the same time he will become director of the Institute for Medical Physics and Microtissue Engineering at the Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU). The MPZPM…

Jochen Guck, Director of the Division Biological Optomechanics, was appointed professor at the Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU). He will be Professor of Biological Optomechanics.

Jochen Guck is also founding director of the Max-Planck-Zentrum für Physik und Medizin, which is…

Auch wenn der Bau des Max-Planck-Zentrum für Physik und Medizin (MPZPM) erst in vier Jahren abgeschlossen ist, wird schon jetzt interdisziplinär zwischen dem Max-Planck-Institut für die Physik des Lichts (MPL), dem Universitätsklinikum Erlangen (UK) sowie der Friedrich-Alexander-Universität (FAU)…

The construction work for the new Max-Planck-Zentrum für Physik und Medizin (MPZPM) will start: The construction site at the Schwabachanlage in Erlangen will be set up from Tuesday, June 2, 2020. On June 8, the clearing of the site and the preparatory work will beginn,  the demolition of the Novalis…

By combining imaging of deformed cells and artificial intelligence, researchers at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light and the Max-Planck-Zentrum für Physik und Medizin in Erlangen have succeeded in developing a high-speed method for identifying and sorting cells that does not require…

Recently, a film team of the Bayerischer Rundfunk (Bavarian broadcasting organisation) visited the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light: The programme about the coronascope, which is currently located in the virus laboratory of the University Hospital Erlangen and takes pictures of cells…

A kind of video surveillance could contribute to getting an insight into the life cycle of the coronavirus: Researchers at Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Light (MPL) and Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg (FAU) want to monitor live how cells get infected with Sars-CoV-2. To…

The human body is composed of billions of cells, each one representing the smallest self-sustaining unit of life. We know that surfaces of our cells are carpeted with a layer of densely crowded molecules which rush about in a perpetual frenzy. In the blink of an eye, these molecules undergo…

With construction companies having finished securing the so-called Mittelrisalit - the protruding central part of the building - demolition work on the west wing of the historic Erlangen mental asylum (Heil- und Pflegeanstalt, Hupfla) is now starting. On the vacated site, the new Max-Planck-Zentrum…

First Mayor Florian Janik and representatives of University Hospital, University, and Max Planck Institute emphasise the importance for the research activities in the metropolitan region - a "beacon project with nationwide impact".

An idea is taking shape: After years of preparation and planning,…

Organisms often react to extreme environmental conditions with defence mechanisms which allow them to survive. Understanding these mechanisms may lead to new approaches for extending the life of human cells. In a work recently published in the journal Aging Cell, a team of researchers from FAU, the…

As of February 2020 Katja Zieske joined the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light to set up her laboratory. Starting in May she will head a new Max Planck research group addressing how biological systems are assembled from modular building blocks across multiple lengths scales.

The research…

Catalyst Europe, a new programme open to postdocs, doctoral candidates (from any technological field related to health) and clinicians, funded by EIT Health, has now opened applications.

The first steps to build the Max-Planck-Zentrum für Physik und Medizin will start in the following week. Here you can find more informations about the construction project and the scientific center.

Das Max-Planck-Institut für die Physik des Lichts und seine Kooperationspartner stellen das neue Max-Planck-Zentrum für Physik und Medizin vor. Weitere Informationen rund um das Forschungszentrum finden Sie hier.