New impetus for medicine: interdisciplinary research center opening ceremony takes place on 20 September
Numerous guests of honor including Dr. Markus Söder (Minister President of Bavaria), Hubert Aiwanger (Minister of State for Economic Affairs, Regional Development and Energy) and Markus Blume (Minister of State for Science and the Arts), Nobel Prize winners from the USA and Germany and renowned speakers from politics and science will be in Erlangen on Friday, 20 September 2024. There, the new interdisciplinary research facility, the Max-Planck-Zentrum für Physik und Medizin, will be inaugurated officially.
With the founding of the Max-Planck-Zentrum für Physik und Medizin (MPZPM), the participating institutes – the Max-Planck-Institute for the Science of Light (MPL), the Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) and the Universitätsklinikum Erlangen (UKER) – herald a new era in research culture. Previous boundaries between the fields of physics and medicine are to be broken down further and physics is to play an integral role in understanding life in collaborative basic research.
In the new interdisciplinary research center in Erlangen, physics is not seen as a methodical approach and a helpful toolbox. Instead, the international scientists will focus on the physical principles of living systems themselves and their processes. From now on, our scientists will be united under one roof to approach fundamental questions in medicine from a completely new physical perspective. Our ultimate goal is to gain new insight into our understanding of living systems, biological processes and their pathological changes, and to translate this insight into diagnostic and therapeutic application.
The MPZPM offers the best conditions for basic research at a top international level. The location of the new research center has been carefully chosen and is of great importance. The building was erected in the middle of the UKER campus, in the immediate vicinity of its four Translational Research Centers (TRZ). The daily direct exchange between scientists and clinicians and the direct access to patient samples with links to current clinical issues are unique worldwide. The MPZPM also offers central technical service facilities for in vivo studies, lab-on-chip systems and modern microscopy techniques. The operational facility concept provides excellent research conditions in the laboratories for carrying out highly sensitive optical-physical and biological-chemical experiments, some of which require nanometer precision.
To do justice to this innovative research center and its importance, it will be opened with a grand ceremony. The scientific part will take place in the morning, during which the five heads of the MPZPM's permanent research groups will share some words. A moderated panel discussion on the future of physics and medicine is also planned. The afternoon will begin with a piece of music composed especially for the occasion. This will be followed by words of welcome from representatives from politics, the Max Planck Society and the Universitätsklinikum Erlangen. This will be followed by a reception and the official ceremony.
The ceremony is a closed event to which only invited guests have access. Representatives of the press are of course cordially invited. Due to the limited space available on site, registration is mandatory.
Contact
Edda Fischer
Head of Communication and Marketing
Telefon: 09131 7133 805
MPLpresse@mpl.mpg.de