How inanimate matter became alive

Collaborative project on the beginning of cellular life

MPI-CBG Research Group Leaders Moritz Kreysing and Dora Tang

Together with Dora Tang (MPI-CBG) and Hannes Mutschler from the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry, MPI-CBG Research Group Leader Moritz Kreysing has successfully applied for a 1.3 million Euro grant from the Volkswagen Foundation (VolkswagenStiftung). With their collaborative project „De novo evolution of protocells with functional genomes“, they aim to understand how cellular life began and how inanimate matter became alive. Congratulations from everybody at the Institute!

The funding scheme „Life? – A fresh scientific approach to the basic principles of life” by the VolkswagenStiftung called for outstanding projects at the interface between natural and life sciences investigating the principles of life. The VolkswagenStiftung is the largest private research funder and one of the major foundations in Germany.