![Cipsm headquaters 300dpi](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f1/Cipsm_headquaters_300dpi.jpg)
The Center for Integrated Protein Science Munich (CIPS
M) is a
cluster of excellence in sciences located in
Munich
Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...
. It is an association of research groups of the
Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, the
Technical University of Munich
The Technical University of Munich (TUM or TU Munich; german: Technische Universität München) is a public research university in Munich, Germany. It specializes in engineering, technology, medicine, and applied and natural sciences.
Establis ...
, the
Helmholtz Center Munich, and the Max Planck Institutes of
biochemistry
Biochemistry or biological chemistry is the study of chemical processes within and relating to living organisms. A sub-discipline of both chemistry and biology, biochemistry may be divided into three fields: structural biology, enzymology and ...
and
neurobiology
Neuroscience is the scientific study of the nervous system (the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nervous system), its functions and disorders. It is a multidisciplinary science that combines physiology, anatomy, molecular biology, developme ...
in
Martinsried
Martinsried is one of Munich's two science suburbs. It is a section of Planegg municipality in the district of Munich in Bavaria, Germany.
Martinsried is best known as the location of the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry, the Max Planck ...
. Research at the center expands from isolated proteins up to proteins in living organisms applying methods of
biophysics
Biophysics is an interdisciplinary science that applies approaches and methods traditionally used in physics to study biological phenomena. Biophysics covers all scales of biological organization, from molecular to organismic and populations. ...
,
biochemistry
Biochemistry or biological chemistry is the study of chemical processes within and relating to living organisms. A sub-discipline of both chemistry and biology, biochemistry may be divided into three fields: structural biology, enzymology and ...
,
medicine
Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care pr ...
, and
biology
Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary i ...
.
Goals
Protein
Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including catalysing metabolic reactions, DNA replication, res ...
s are as biological
macromolecules
A macromolecule is a very large molecule important to biophysical processes, such as a protein or nucleic acid. It is composed of thousands of covalently bonded atoms. Many macromolecules are polymers of smaller molecules called monomers. The ...
a cornerstone of life. However, their functional importance and structural effects are not yet fully understood in every detail. Investigation of isolated proteins up to living organisms (e.g.
zebra fish
The zebrafish (''Danio rerio'') is a freshwater fish belonging to the minnow Family (biology), family (Cyprinidae) of the Order (biology), order Cypriniformes. Native to South Asia, it is a popular aquarium, aquarium fish, frequently sold under ...
, ''
Drosophilidae
The Drosophilidae are a diverse, cosmopolitan family of flies, which includes species called fruit flies, although they are more accurately referred to as vinegar or pomace flies. Another distantly related family of flies, Tephritidae, are true ...
'', ''
Caenorhabditis elegans'' or
''escherichia coli'' bacteries), especially with regard to interactions, structural complexities (e.g. protein folding, structures of protein complexes, interactions between proteins and
nucleic acids, and manipulation of protein functions) and neuro-degenerative diseases, promises to furnish basic knowledge of these macromolecules. This very knowledge could contribute to advances in biomedicine and biotechnologies.
Organization
![cipsm organigramm 7dez09](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/03/Cipsm_organigramm_7dez09.jpg)
The cluster is divided into six main areas of research.
Each research area (A-F) is being represented by two coordinators who, in cooperation with the executive board, decide on the appointment of new professorships and elect the executive board of four researchers and one member responsible for family and gender support.
The main responsibilities of the board members are research, teaching and support of junior academic staff. The board members represent the interests of the cluster towards the directorate of the respective university. The speaker of the board and his deputy take special care of the supervision and recruitment of junior professorships. Research group leaders (principal and associate investigators) meet annually to decide on budget allocation.
Leading the research group still is the individual task of the research group leader at own responsibility. Regular meetings between group leaders and coordinators ensure efficient guidance of the cluster. The speaker represents the cluster and thus negotiates with the universities participating in the cluster of excellence on matters like teaching as well as on financial and personal issues.
Administration and supervision of financial endorsements of each fiscal year, personal recruitment, management of all cluster issues, procurement of larger tools, and organizing activities such as symposia, conferences and workshops (see
Events and Conferences
Event may refer to:
Gatherings of people
* Ceremony, an event of ritual significance, performed on a special occasion
* Convention (meeting), a gathering of individuals engaged in some common interest
* Event management, the organization of e ...
) are part of the job of the cluster CEO, who further takes care of applications and publicity work.
Gender Support Program
Female scientists of CIPS
M are supported by a program called AFF (''Ausschuss für Familien- und Frauenförderung''; committee for family and gender support). The program was created to get more researchers with children and habilitated females into professorships or leading positions. The committee is being led by a member of the board who is especially responsible for family and gender support.
The support program is intended to counter barriers in the academic career resulting from parental leave. For this purpose, junior researchers with child or children can be allocated a technical assistant for support of their research. Furthermore, a domestic aid can be granted on request. For researchers' children up to the age of three years, CIPS
M runs its own day nursery.
Additionally, a mentoring program was created to support successful employment of female scientists and symposia with high ranking female scientists should give researchers opportunities to obtain insight into careers, gain experiences and enhance scientific interaction.
Endowment
Financial endorsements of CIPS
M are provided by the
Federal Republic of Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated between ...
, the
states of Germany and the
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
The German Research Foundation (german: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft ; DFG ) is a German research funding organization, which functions as a self-governing institution for the promotion of science and research in the Federal Republic of Germ ...
in the course of the
German Universities Excellence Initiative
The Excellence Initiative of the German Council of Science and Humanities and the German Research Foundation (DFG) aims to promote cutting-edge research and to create outstanding conditions for young scholars at universities, to deepen cooperatio ...
and distributed orientated on demand.
Individual financial support of scientists of the cluster includes project-related funding of PhD and Postdoc positions, procurement of larger tools, financial support of
events and conferences
Event may refer to:
Gatherings of people
* Ceremony, an event of ritual significance, performed on a special occasion
* Convention (meeting), a gathering of individuals engaged in some common interest
* Event management, the organization of e ...
, and
gender support.
Research highlights and achievements
The CIPS
M cluster has been elected landmark in the German "country of ideas" initiative honoring the achievements of CIPS
M researchers, who have been awarded several prizes for their work conducted with CIPS
M:
* Thomas Carell received the
Otto-Bayer-Prize 2008 of the
Bayer Science & Education Foundation.
*
Patrick Cramer
Patrick Cramer (born 3 February 1969 in Stuttgart, West Germany) is a German chemist, structural biologist, and molecular systems biologist. In 2020, he was honoured to be an international member of the National Academy of Sciences. He became pre ...
has been awarded the
Philip Morris Research Prize for the detailed elucidation of the RNA polymerase II structure in 2007.
*
Magdalena Götz received the
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize 2007 of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft in recognition of her work in the area of brain development.
* Elena Conti received the
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize 2008 of the
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
The German Research Foundation (german: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft ; DFG ) is a German research funding organization, which functions as a self-governing institution for the promotion of science and research in the Federal Republic of Germ ...
for "fundamentally new knowledge of intracellular RNA transport and of RNA metabolism" together with Elisa Izaurralde of Max Planck Institute of Developmental Biology Tübingen.
* Stephan Sieber and Thomas Böttcher have been rewarded the ''Innovationspreis der BioRegionen in Deutschland'' 2008 for their research on
beta-lactones for the treatment of diseases, which are resistant to common
antibiotics
An antibiotic is a type of antimicrobial substance active against bacteria. It is the most important type of antibacterial agent for fighting bacterial infections, and antibiotic medications are widely used in the treatment and prevention o ...
.
*
Horst Kessler has been awarded the
Josef Rudinger Award of the European Peptide Society for his contributions to peptide chemistry in 2008.
* Heinrich Leonhardt has received the Binder Innovation Award for the development of fluorescent
antigen
In immunology, an antigen (Ag) is a molecule or molecular structure or any foreign particulate matter or a pollen grain that can bind to a specific antibody or T-cell receptor. The presence of antigens in the body may trigger an immune respons ...
-bonding
nanobodies, which can be expressed in living cells, in 2008.
* Thomas Cremer has been awarded the 2009
Schleiden Medal
The Schleiden Medal is an award given by the Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, the National Academy of Germany, to honour outstanding achievements in the field of cellular biology. The award is named after botanist Matthias Jakob Schleiden.
Recipie ...
of the
German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina
The German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina (german: Deutsche Akademie der Naturforscher Leopoldina – Nationale Akademie der Wissenschaften), short Leopoldina, is the national academy of Germany, and is located in Halle (Saale). Founde ...
in honor of his work in the area of nucleus architecture.
Furthermore, the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research supports the cooperation "experimental and theoretical methods for dissecting the dynamics of epigenetic gene silencing in living cells" between the CIPS
M groups Leonhardt and Schotta and the
University of Heidelberg
}
Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg, (german: Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg; la, Universitas Ruperto Carola Heidelbergensis) is a public research university in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, ...
.
Events and conferences
* ''Graduate School Life Science Munich'' (LSM): An international support program for extraordinary Diploma or Master absolvents in the field of anthropology, biochemistry, cellbiology, ecology, evolution, genetics, microbiology, plant sciences, systematics, and zoology including lectures, seminars and workshops.
* ''CIPS
M-Harvard Young Scientists' Forum'' (YSF): An annual meeting on a CIPS
M initiative for interdisciplinary exchange between PhD students and Postdocs of
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...
and Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich.
* CIPS
M gala in the
Deutsches Museum
The Deutsches Museum (''German Museum'', officially (English: ''German Museum of Masterpieces of Science and Technology'')) in Munich, Germany, is the world's largest museum of science and technology, with about 28,000 exhibited objects from ...
on May 4, 2009 in course of the "country of ideas" initiative with lectures about current highlights of the cluster's protein research.
* ''Elmau Conference'' 2008 and ''Monastery Irsee Conference'' 2009: Conferences on current topics in protein research in cooperation with
Bayer Schering Pharma AG
Bayer AG (, commonly pronounced ; ) is a German multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company and one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world. Headquartered in Leverkusen, Bayer's areas of business include pharmaceutica ...
.
* CIPS
M lecture of Prof. Martina Havenith in course of the
Gender Support Program
Gender is the range of characteristics pertaining to femininity and masculinity and differentiating between them. Depending on the context, this may include sex-based social structures (i.e. gender roles) and gender identity. Most cultures u ...
(2009).
* ''Alpenforum'' 2009: CIPS
M has been supporting the "Alpenforum" of the
GDCh young scientists Munich since 2008. The forum is held annually in Oberammergau to give students and doctorands of chemistry and related sciences the chance to collect information on possible careers in chemistry, to get into contact with companies and to get to know interesting employers.
* ''FRAU 2.0 "frau & mutter & wissenschaftlerin wie geht das überhaupt?" (''Woman 2.0 "woman & mother & scientist how can this work?"'' 2009): information event for students of sciences, especially chemistry, biology and pharmacy, on possible careers and perspectives for female scientists at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich in course of the
Gender Support Program
Gender is the range of characteristics pertaining to femininity and masculinity and differentiating between them. Depending on the context, this may include sex-based social structures (i.e. gender roles) and gender identity. Most cultures u ...
.
* ''CIPS
M Trainees' Minisymposium'': Lecture and discussion event at the Technical University of Munich on trends and novel developments in protein sciences.
* ''Synthesefest'': lecture event at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich on organic chemistry with international lecturers of science and industry.
* in course of the lecture series „Innovation Management and Global Challenges“ (November 2009 to January 2010), Dr.
Wolfang Plischke, member of the
Bayer AG
Bayer AG (, commonly pronounced ; ) is a German multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company and one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world. Headquartered in Leverkusen, Bayer's areas of business include pharmaceutica ...
board of management, has been invited to lecture and thus give master and PhD students insight into how their research might impact on the chemical industry.
Furthermore, the CIPS
M cluster organized
* the ''Chromatin Assembly and Inheritance of Functional States, 2nd Transregio 5 Symposium'' (2007),
* the ''European Cooperation in the Field of Scientific and Technical Research "COST Meeting"'' (2008),
* the ''EMBO Workshop "Gene Transduction in Yeast"'' (2008),
* the ''16th Lecture Conference ORCHEM 2008'' in cooperation with the Gesellschaft Deutscher Chemiker and the Liebig-Vereinigung für Chemie,
* the ''4th International Conference on the Hsp90 Chaperone Machine'' (2008).
Science Comment
The project ''Science Comment''
Homepage Science Comment
/ref> has been established in 2009 to comment objectively on and to discuss publications in well reputed scientific journals of chemistry, biology, pharmacy and medicine. This internet forum was intended to facilitate international communication of research results. The registered user can, referring to a certain publication, criticise or discuss this publication in public. Science Comment serves its purpose as data base for the quality assessment of a publicized result prior to its application. The possibility to check the feasibility of the result saves the users' time and resources.
References
External links
* Nature Spotlight on Germany; ''Nature'' 2007, Nature Jobs, 452-453 and 485 (publicized November 19, 2007)
* Allowing an élite; ''Nature'' 2007, ''450'', 452-3 (publicized November 15, 2007)
"Hier geht was"; Financial Times Germany, September 10th 2008, p. 28 (pdf file)
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Culture in Munich
Medical research institutes in Germany
Medical and health organisations based in Bavaria
Research institutes in Munich