The Institute of Molecular Biology (IMB) is a modern research centre on the campus of the Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz,

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 betwe ...

. It is funded by the Boehringer Ingelheim Foundation and the state of Rheinland Palatinate. The scientists at IMB primarily conduct basic science in

developmental biology Developmental biology is the study of the process by which animals and plants grow and develop. Developmental biology also encompasses the biology of Regeneration (biology), regeneration, asexual reproduction, metamorphosis, and the growth and di ...

epigenetics In biology, epigenetics is the study of stable phenotypic changes (known as ''marks'') that do not involve alterations in the DNA sequence. The Greek prefix '' epi-'' ( "over, outside of, around") in ''epigenetics'' implies features that are "o ...

, genome stability and related areas.

History

* In early 2009 the Boehringer Ingelheim Foundation decided to fund a new centre of excellence in the

life sciences This list of life sciences comprises the branches of science that involve the scientific study of life – such as microorganisms, plants, and animals including human beings. This science is one of the two major branches of natural science, the ...

. * The federal state of

Rhineland-Palatinate Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; german: link=no, Rheinland-Pfalz ; lb, Rheinland-Pfalz ; pfl, Rhoilond-Palz) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the ...

financed the construction of a new building, starting in December 2009 on the campus of the University of Mainz. * In May 2010 developmental biologist Christof Niehrs (formerly at the

German Cancer Research Center The German Cancer Research Center (known as the Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum or simply DKFZ in German) is a national cancer research center based in Heidelberg, Germany. It is a member of the Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres, ...

, DKFZ) was appointed as the institute's founding director. The institute was then named "Institute of Molecular Biology" and the institute's research focus on developmental biology, epigenetics, and DNA repair was set. * The major part of the IMB building was inaugurated in March 2011. * In July 2011, the first five research groups started their work at IMB, with four more groups following in 2012. * From 2013-2015, eight research groups joined IMB. * From 2018-2021, six groups joined IMB. * The continuation of core funding was secured from autumn 2020 – 2027 by the Boehringer Ingelheim Foundation and the State of Rhineland-Palatinate.

Research

IMB’s mission is to answer key questions in how organisms grow, age, and develop disease through basic research in epigenetics, genome stability and related fields. Research in these fields is carried out in the following research groups, led by one group leader each: * Joan Barau: Transposable Elements & Genome Stability * Peter Baumann: Chromosome Dynamics,

Telomeres A telomere (; ) is a region of repetitive nucleotide sequences associated with specialized proteins at the ends of linear chromosomes. Although there are different architectures, telomeres, in a broad sense, are a widespread genetic feature mos ...

Ageing Ageing ( BE) or aging ( AE) is the process of becoming older. The term refers mainly to humans, many other animals, and fungi, whereas for example, bacteria, perennial plants and some simple animals are potentially biologically immortal. In ...

* Petra Beli: Chromatin Biology & Proteomics * Falk Butter:

Quantitative Proteomics Quantitative proteomics is an analytical chemistry technique for determining the amount of proteins in a sample. The methods for protein identification are identical to those used in general (i.e. qualitative) proteomics, but include quantificatio ...

* Dorothee Dormann:

RNA-Binding Proteins RNA-binding proteins (often abbreviated as RBPs) are proteins that bind to the double or single stranded RNA in cells and participate in forming ribonucleoprotein complexes. RBPs contain various structural motifs, such as RNA recognition motif ...

in Neurodegeneration * Claudia Keller Valsecchi: Biology of

Gene Dosage Gene dosage is the number of copies of a particular gene present in a genome. Gene dosage is related to the amount of gene product (proteins or functional RNAs) the cell is able to express. Since, a gene acts as a template, the number of templates ...

Alterations * René Ketting: Biology of

Non-Coding RNA A non-coding RNA (ncRNA) is a functional RNA molecule that is not Translation (genetics), translated into a protein. The DNA sequence from which a functional non-coding RNA is transcribed is often called an RNA gene. Abundant and functionally im ...

* Anton Khmelinksii:

Proteome The proteome is the entire set of proteins that is, or can be, expressed by a genome, cell, tissue, or organism at a certain time. It is the set of expressed proteins in a given type of cell or organism, at a given time, under defined conditions. ...

Organisation & Dynamics * Julian König: Genomic Views of the

RNA Ribonucleic acid (RNA) is a polymeric molecule essential in various biological roles in coding, decoding, regulation and expression of genes. RNA and deoxyribonucleic acid ( DNA) are nucleic acids. Along with lipids, proteins, and carbohydra ...

World * Nard Kubben: Biology of

and Ageing-Related Diseases * Edward Lemke: Synthetic

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. ...

of Protein Disorder * Katja Luck: Integrative Systems Biology * Brian Luke:

Telomere A telomere (; ) is a region of repetitive nucleotide sequences associated with specialized proteins at the ends of linear chromosomes. Although there are different architectures, telomeres, in a broad sense, are a widespread genetic feature mos ...

Biology * Christof Niehrs:

DNA Demethylation For molecular biology in mammals, DNA demethylation causes replacement of 5-methylcytosine (5mC) in a DNA sequence by cytosine (C) (see figure of 5mC and C). DNA demethylation can occur by an active process at the site of a 5mC in a DNA sequenc ...

& Reprogramming * Jan Padeken:

Heterochromatin Heterochromatin is a tightly packed form of DNA or '' condensed DNA'', which comes in multiple varieties. These varieties lie on a continue between the two extremes of constitutive heterochromatin and facultative heterochromatin. Both play a role ...

& Genome Stability * Vassilis Roukos: Cell Biology of Genome Maintenance * Sandra Schick: Chromatin Regulation * Lukas Stelzl: Gene Regulation by Liquid-Liquid Phase Separation * Helle Ulrich: Maintenance of

Genome In the fields of molecular biology and genetics, a genome is all the genetic information of an organism. It consists of nucleotide sequences of DNA (or RNA in RNA viruses). The nuclear genome includes protein-coding genes and non-coding ge ...

Stability * Eva Wolf: Structural

Chronobiology Chronobiology is a field of biology that examines timing processes, including periodic (cyclic) phenomena in living organisms, such as their adaptation to solar- and lunar-related rhythms. These cycles are known as biological rhythms. Chronobi ...

Joint Research Initiatives

IMB coordinates a number of joint research initiatives with institutions in Mainz (Johannes Gutenberg University, the University Medical Centre, and the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research) and beyond. Current joint Research Initiatives: * The SFB 1361 on "Regulation of DNA Repair and Genome Stability" funded by the DFG * The “Centre for Healthy Ageing” (CHA), a virtual research centre that brings together researchers in

DNA repair DNA repair is a collection of processes by which a cell identifies and corrects damage to the DNA molecules that encode its genome. In human cells, both normal metabolic activities and environmental factors such as radiation can cause DNA dam ...

telomere A telomere (; ) is a region of repetitive nucleotide sequences associated with specialized proteins at the ends of linear chromosomes. Although there are different architectures, telomeres, in a broad sense, are a widespread genetic feature mos ...

biology,

, resilience,

immunology Immunology is a branch of medicineImmunology for Medical Students, Roderick Nairn, Matthew Helbert, Mosby, 2007 and biology that covers the medical study of immune systems in humans, animals, plants and sapient species. In such we can see there ...

and clinical specialties in the context of

ageing Ageing ( BE) or aging ( AE) is the process of becoming older. The term refers mainly to humans, many other animals, and fungi, whereas for example, bacteria, perennial plants and some simple animals are potentially biologically immortal. In ...

* The “Resilience, Adaption and Longevity” (ReALity), a joint initiative of all Principle investigators of the Faculty of Biology, the Focus Program Translational Neurosciences (FTN), the Research Center for Immunotherapy (FZI), and the Center for Translational Vascular Biology (CTVB) at

Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz The Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (german: Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz) is a public research university in Mainz, Rhineland Palatinate, Germany, named after the printer Johannes Gutenberg since 1946. With approximately 32,000 st ...

* The “Science of Healthy Ageing Research Programme” (SHARP), a joint PhD programme between IMB, Johannes Gutenberg University, and the University Medical Center Mainz (UMC). * The GenEvo Research Training Group on "Gene Regulation in Evolution" * IMB's International PhD Programme (IPP) * IMB's International Summer School (ISS), an annual six-week research experience for students * IMB’s Postdoc Programme (IPPro) In addition, IMB runs an Advanced Training Programme with short courses in soft skills.

International PhD Programme (IPP)

The International PhD Program is coordinated by the Institute for Molecular Biology. The participating groups are located at the following institutions: * Institute of Molecular Biology (IMB) *

Johannes Gutenberg University The Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (german: Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz) is a public university, public research university in Mainz, Rhineland Palatinate, Germany, named after the printer Johannes Gutenberg since 1946. With approx ...

(JGU) * University Medical Centre (UMC) The research groups in the IPP cover a broad range of expertise in ageing & disease, DNA repair & genome stability, epigenetics & nuclear dynamics, bioinformatics & computational biology, RNA biology, and gene regulation & evolution. Core funding for the IPP comes from the three main participating institutions of IMB, JGU, and UMC.

International Summer School

The International Summer School (ISS) is a 6-week programme with a focus on “Gene Regulation, Epigenetics and Genome Stability”. The ISS offers outstanding and enthusiastic undergraduate and Master's students from all over the world the opportunity to acquire excellent practical skills and hands-on training from leading scientists in molecular biology.

Postdoc Programme

The IMB Postdoc Programme (IPPro) was established specifically to provide IMBs postdocs with the necessary scientific & technical support and tailored mentoring to fast-track their careers, including scientific seminars, courses & events, technical training, professional skills training, mentoring, and career development.

Scientific Advisory Board (SAB)

Current members of the SAB: * Prof. Peter Becker (Biomedical Center Munich, Ludwig Maximillian University) * Prof. Bradley Cairns (

Huntsman Cancer Institute Huntsman Cancer Institute (HCI) is an NCI-designated cancer research facility and hospital located on the campus of the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is the only National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center i ...

University of Utah The University of Utah (U of U, UofU, or simply The U) is a public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is the flagship institution of the Utah System of Higher Education. The university was established in 1850 as the University of De ...

) * Prof. Ian Hickson (Center for Chromosome Stability and Center for Healthy Aging,

University of Copenhagen The University of Copenhagen ( da, Københavns Universitet, KU) is a prestigious public university, public research university in Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded in 1479, the University of Copenhagen is the second-oldest university in ...

) * Prof. Rudolf Jaenisch ( The Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research) * Prof. Ruth Lehmann ( The Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research) * Prof. Marina Rodnina (

Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry The Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry (german: Max-Planck-Institut für biophysikalische Chemie), also known as the Karl-Friedrich Bonhoeffer Institute (german: Karl-Friedrich-Bonhoeffer-Institut), was a research institute of the Ma ...

, Göttingen)

Infrastructure

IMB is housed in a new 6000 sq m research building with laboratories, offices, seminar rooms and a large auditorium. IMB is located in close proximity to many institutes of the

Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz The Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (german: Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz) is a public research university in Mainz, Rhineland Palatinate, Germany, named after the printer Johannes Gutenberg since 1946. With approximately 32,000 stu ...

, two

Max Planck Institutes The Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science (german: Max-Planck-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Wissenschaften e. V.; abbreviated MPG) is a formally independent non-governmental and non-profit association of German research institutes. ...

, the

University of Applied Sciences Mainz The Mainz University of Applied Sciences (German language, German: ''Hochschule Mainz''), is a 1971-founded university located in Mainz, Germany. The University of Applied Sciences Mainz consists of three faculties: School of Technology, School ...

, and the University Medical Center. Nearby Frankfurt and Darmstadt are also cities with extensive scientific activities, including the research of

Goethe University Frankfurt Goethe University (german: link=no, Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main) is a university located in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. It was founded in 1914 as a citizens' university, which means it was founded and funded by the wealt ...

, and the

Technical University of Darmstadt Technical may refer to: * Technical (vehicle), an improvised fighting vehicle * Technical analysis, a discipline for forecasting the future direction of prices through the study of past market data * Technical drawing, showing how something is co ...

People related to the institute

* Christof Niehrs,

Leibniz Prize The Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize (german: link=no, Förderpreis für deutsche Wissenschaftler im Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz-Programm der Deutschen Forschungsgemeinschaft), in short Leibniz Prize, is awarded by the German Research Foundation to ...

awardee, founding director of IMB. *

Rudolf Jaenisch Rudolf Jaenisch (born April 22, 1942) is a Professor of Biology at MIT and a founding member of the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research. He is a pioneer of transgenic science, in which an animal’s genetic makeup is altered. Jaenisch ...

, pioneer in the field of transgenetic research, member of the Scientific Advisory Board. * Ernst Ludwig Winnacker, renowned biochemist and research manager, previous member of the Scientific Advisory Board. * Peter Baumann, Holder of the Humboldt Professorship and Adjunct Director at IMB, was elected to the

European Molecular Biology Organization The European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) is a professional, non-profit organization of more than 1,800 life scientists. Its goal is to promote research in life science and enable international exchange between scientists. It co-funds cour ...

in 2019 *

Christoph Cremer Christoph Cremer (born in Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany) is a German physicist and emeritus at the Ruprecht-Karls-University Heidelberg, former honorary professor at the University of Mainz and was a former group leader at Institute of Molecular Bi ...

, German

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate caus ...

emeritus ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

at the

Ruprecht-Karls-University 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, ...

, honorary professor at the

University of Mainz The Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (german: Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz) is a public research university in Mainz, Rhineland Palatinate, Germany, named after the printer Johannes Gutenberg since 1946. With approximately 32,000 stu ...

and emeritus Group Leader at IMB

References

''New international PhD programme in the Life Sciences''
German Embassy, New Delhi, 02.01.2012.

EMBO encounters, Winter 2011/2012, p. 14. * Petra Giegerich

innovations report, 16.03.2011.

External links

*

{{authority control Medical research institutes in Germany Molecular biology institutes Research institutes established in 2010 Medical and health organisations based in Rhineland-Palatinate 2010 establishments in Germany