How do cells form tissues?

We want to understand how cells form tissues and how these tissues develop into complex organisms.

Decoding Diversity

We want to understand the molecular principles underlying the development of organisms and how they brought about diversity.

Going into the unknown

We develop new technologies that make the invisible visible and simulate biological processes to understand life.

What makes cells tick?

We want to understand how cells function in detail, how they communicate, and how they organize intracellular exchange.

We are the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics (MPI-CBG)

We do pioneering basic research. 500 curiosity-driven scientists from over 50 countries ask: How do cells form tissues? Our research programs span multiple scales of magnitude, from molecular assemblies to organelles, cells, tissues, organs, and organisms.

Science News

Nonstop Transport of Cargo in Nanomachines

Max Planck researchers revel the nano-structure of molecular trains and the reason for smooth transport in cellular antennas.

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More than one way to fuel a brain

Metabolism in mammals is more flexible than previously thought

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The Origin of Life in Membraneless Protocells

Researchers show that membraneless microdroplets are a great place for RNA concentration and activity to enable the origin of life.

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Click, Light, Action!

“Click Cage” - A new tool for controlling lipid levels

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International Vertebrate Genomes Project releases first 15 new genomes

Max Planck Society supports projects for high quality reference genomes

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A novel synthetic antibody enables conditional “protein knockdown” in vertebrates

Improved functional analysis of proteins

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Staying in Shape

3D analysis of retinal tissue shows how to keep shape during organ growth

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Latest Tweets

With 27 conferences and over 60 courses taking place in 2019, we're looking forward to an exciting year @EMBLEvents… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

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Big thanks to Jan Huisken and @huiskenlab for sharing with us how they're using the #Iris15 for #lightsheet microsc… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

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NEW from the @GuckLab on yeast cell mechanics: Intracellular Mass Density Increase Is Accompanying but Not Suffici… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

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Article in @szonline on the three new excellence clusters @tudresden_de. @csbdresden and @mpicbg are strongly invol… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

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Institute News

12 Nov 2018

Latest Retina Research

10th Retina Information Day

11 Oct 2018

Open letter against xenophobia

PhD representatives from six Dresden research institutes address citizens of Dresden

4 Oct 2018

Walking through cells and organs

Türöffner-Tag in Virtual Reality

27 Sep 2018

New Clusters of Excellence for the TU Dresden

MPI-CBG part of one new Dresden cluster for Physics of Life

Nov 27

14:30 / MPI-CBG, Auditorium

Senior's Academy

Epigenetics - Are environmental influences inherited?

Senior's Academy

Nov 29

13:00 - 17:00 / MPI-CBG, Galleria

Explain Science Visually

Explain Science Visually

Jan 15

14:30 / MPI-CBG, Auditorium

Senior's Academy

New approaches for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases

Senior's Academy