Our mission is to address our fundamental question of “how cells form tissues.” At the current time, we are particularly interested in the problem of emergence. How do the properties of tissues emerge from the interactions between individual cells, and how do cells emerge from the interactions of molecules?
The MPI-CBG uses a multi-disciplinary approach in order to fully understand the fundamental mechanisms underlying cell division, adhesion, polarity, cell-cell interactions, cytoplasmic organization, intracellular transport, membrane trafficking, and how these processes are regulated and modified by signaling and metabolic pathways within the particular context of tissues.
von Appen – Structural self-organization of membranous organelles
Hyman – Organization of Cytoplasm
Nadler – Membrane chemical biology – spotlight on lipids
Rodenfels – Energetics of biological systems
Shevchenko – Mass spectrometry in life Sciences
Tang – Dynamic protocellular systems
Toth-Petroczy – Protein plasticity and evolution
How do the properties of cells emerge from the interactions between individual cells, and how do cells emerge from the interactions of molecules? We believe the most important questions that will drive biology over the next few decades are how precision, robustness, and resilience arise from molecular interactions and what physics and computational models are needed for describing biological systems.
Because descriptions of emergent properties at the cell and tissue scales have similar physical and mathematical principles, this provides a platform for a multiscale understanding of biological organization. We and others have termed this field “the physics of life.”
Çelik – Mathematical Structures and Applications
Haas – Self-Organization of Multicellular Systems
Harrington – Algebraic Systems Biology
Sbalzarini – Scientific Computing for Image-based Systems Biology
In general, we investigate morphogenetic problems such as the regulation of size and shape at all scales using several model organisms. A recent expansion of this is to use organoids as a key model system to investigate the development of tissues from cells and organs from tissues, as well as the underlying cell biology of these processes.
Organoids allow us to work on human tissue biology and re-engineer tissue formation in vitro. The studies of tissues using organoids and the reconstitution of complex biochemical systems in vitro allow the creation of a framework of cell and tissue organization. This allows us to explore fate, morphogenesis, tissue shape and function, and the origin of disease.
Grapin-Botton – Self-organization of cells into organ communities
Huch – Tissue regeneration and its deregulation in disease
Mateus – Biophysical principles of vertebrate growth
Modes – Network complexity and systems biophysics
Myers – Exploring Cells & Systems via Image Analysis and Customized Microscopy
Scharaw – Cell Biology of Tissue Aging
Tabler – Cell biology and dynamics of skull growth
Tomancak – Patterns of gene expression in animal development
Zerial - Multi-scale analysis of cell and tissue organization