Max Planck Institute of Biophysics

1/3: 👏👏👏 Optogenetics has transformed neuroscience, earning The Nobel Prize in Medicine today! 👏👏👏 Hearthfelt congratulations to Georg Nagel, Peter Hegemann, and Karl Deisseroth! 👏👏👏 We celebrate this breakthrough that originated from our scientists’ pioneering research. 🎉🎉🎉

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biophys.mpg.deMax Planck Institute of Biophysics Celebrates 2026 Nobel Prize in Medicine for Optogenetics

3/3: The translation of these findings into practical tools for neuroscience and medicine, such as light-controlled neurons and restoring vision, highlights the impact of basic research. 👉 Read more: www.biophys.mpg.de/2934651/2026...

This achievement exemplifies the excellence of sustained research efforts and interdisciplinary collaboration. 💪💪💪🤝🤝🤝

2/3: Key contributions include the discovery of the light-activated ion channel properties of channelrhodopsin, which was conducted in collaboration with our researchers, Georg Nagel and Ernst Bamberg, as well as Peter Hegemann in Regensburg.

1/3: How do microbes power carbon capture? ⚡️ In our new study, Bonnie Murphy @bjmurphylab.bsky.social and Seigo Shima @mpimicrobiomarburg.bsky.social explored the different molecular solutions to capturing carbon dioxide using electron bifurcation. 📓 Read more about our work here: s.gwdg.de/9e3Blu

science.orgDiversity of electron-bifurcating CO2-fixing supercomplexes in methanogensIn the hydrogenotrophic methanogenic pathway, formylmethanofuran dehydrogenase (Fmd) reduces and fixes CO2, driven by low-potential electrons provided by electron-bifurcating heterodisulfide reductase...

2/3: 🦠 By comparing two different methanogens, the research groups at @mpibp.bsky.social and @mpimicrobiomarburg.bsky.social found an electron bifurcation path dependent on a newly identified protein, MvhB. 📄 Read the full study in Science Advances: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.aed3711

Goethe-Universität Frankfurt

3/3: Since methanogens play an important role in carbon cycling, understanding this molecular diversity could help researchers take advantage of these processes for sustainable energy ☀️

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@goetheuni.bsky.social

Weil’s so schön war: Noch ein kleiner Videorückblick aufs #ScienceFestival! 🎬 Vor knapp einer Woche gab’s auf dem Roßmarkt Wissenschaft zum Anfassen und Entdecken. Danke an alle, die mitgemacht, gefragt, gestaunt und erklärt haben! 🔬 #Frankfurt #FrankfurtAlliance

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@evgenii-protasov.bsky.social

21 Sept

Day 1 of the Symposium on Cellular Biophysics 2026 is a wrap! 🥳🔬 Huge thanks to faculty members @idikic.bsky.social and @heilemannlab.bsky.social for two fantastic opening talks on cellular homeostasis and super-resolution microscopy. Photos by Louise Duever. #IMPRS_CBP #phdlife

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Evgenii Protasov

17 Sept

Great collaboration between @mpimicrobiomarburg.bsky.social and @mpibp.bsky.social solving the structures of CO₂-fixing supercomplexes in methanogens and shedding light on their evolution🧫🔬 #methanogens #methane #StructuralBiology #CryoEM @science.org @maxplanck.de www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

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SBGrid Consortium

@sbgrid.bsky.social

7 Sept

Our software webinar series will resume in October with Beata Turoňová, Group Leader at the @mpibp.bsky.social, introducing cryoCAT. Until then, you can catch up on webinars you missed from our last series on the SBGrid YouTube channel. More here: buff.ly/p1w3J7S #SBGrid #Webinars

youtube.comSBGrid ConsortiumFor structural biologists, by structural biologists! The SBGrid TV channel was developed with participation from many members of the structural biology community. We welcome suggestions for topics to…

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2 Sept

Join us at the annual IMPRS-CBP Symposium (Sep 21–25 at @mpibp.bsky.social )! 🧬 A week of faculty talk series + featured lectures in welcoming of new PhD cohort. For registration and program details here: imprs-cbp.mpg.de/symposium-on...

27 Aug

Why do leukemia patients stop responding to venetoclax, a precision drug that blocks cancer cells' ability to escape cell death? 🩸 Our new study in Advanced Science reveals resistance isn't one-size-fits-all 🧵 📝 Learn more: www.biophys.mpg.de/2925331/rese...

advanced.onlinelibrary.wiley.comadvanced.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

27 Aug

Researchers from the MPI of Biophysics & KU Leuven (@office-garcia.bsky.social & @lmcsleuven.bsky.social) analyzed leukemia-linked BCL-2 mutations that disrupt venetoclax binding, letting cancer cells dodge treatment 🧬 📝 Full study: advanced.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10....

13 July

How do 2 meters of DNA fit inside a nucleus you can barely see? 🧬 Our new study mapped individual nucleosomes inside human cells.

biophys.mpg.deA Molecular View of Genome Packaging in Human CellsIndividual nucleosomes were detected directly inside human T cells using cryo-electron tomography.

13 July

Turns out DNA packing is messier than early models suggest! Check our work in our website: www.biophys.mpg.de/2922264/mole... 📝

nature.comMolecular architecture of heterochromatin at the nuclear periphery of primary human cells - Nature CommunicationsThe 3D organisation of chromatin inside a human cell is still not fully resolved. Here the authors reveal that in situ cryo-ET resolves individual nucleosomes and predicts DNA linkers, thus showing th...

13 July

Our work by @becklab.bsky.social, @hummerlab.bsky.social, and @marinalusic.bsky.social is now available in @natcomms.nature.com 📄 Read the full study: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

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SCALE - SubCellular Architecture of LifE

@scale-cluster-ffm.bsky.social

9 July

🚀 We're hiring! Join the founding Digital Twin Team at the SCALE Cluster of Excellence @goetheuni.bsky.social Apply by: 31 August 2026 For more information: scale-frankfurt.org/wp-content/u... Full position description: scale-frankfurt.org/wp-content/u... Descriptions below 🧵:

30 June

🌈 What does it mean to be queer in science today? Join our panel with four LGBTQIA+ scientists sharing their journeys, insights, and truths in academia! 📅 July 15, 2026 | 1:00–5:30 PM | MPI Biophysics, Lecture Hall 🍕+Beer & Pizza after by PhD Reps! #LGBTQIAinScience #QueerInSTEM #ScienceForAll

29 June

Scorching heat, eager minds: Postdoc @emmabelcher96.bsky.social shared her scientific journey with students from Friedrich-Dessauer High School—lab life, salaries, pros & cons, all while keeping them hooked, despite the sweltering weather. Inspiring the next generation, one talk at a time.💡🔬

26 June

1/3: We are excited to share a new study by Maarten Tuijtel from @becklab.bsky.social, published in eLife. 🔬 🎉 The work addresses a key question in cryo-electron tomography: how to best distribute the limited electron dose across a tilt series while balancing angular sampling and image quality. 💥

26 June

2/3: By systematically testing different tilt increments 📐, the study shows that finer angular sampling can improve alignment quality despite lower signal per image. 📸

elifesciences.orgOptimising the tilt-increment for in situ cryo-electron tomography

26 June

3/3: Across reconstruction, template matching, and subtomogram averaging, datasets acquired with 1°, 2°, and 3° all performed robustly—with 3° tilt steps showing the best performance in final refinement. @elife.bsky.social 📄 Read the full study: 👉 elifesciences.org/reviewed-pre...

19 June

1/3: We are proud to share that the recent work by postdocs Karen Palacio-Rodriguez and Sergio Cruz-León, from Gerhard Hummer’s department, was selected as one of the Editors’ Highlights in Nature Communications! 🎉 👏 Open-access paper: 👉 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

19 June

2/3: Using high-resolution cryo-EM 🔬 (in collab with Fabio Lapenta) combined with multi-scale molecular dynamics simulations 🧬, the team resolved two distinct conformational states of the human vault particle.

nature.comStructural flexibility of the human vault particle revealed by high-resolution cryo-EM and molecular dynamics simulations - Nature CommunicationsVaults are widespread, large cellular particles with unknown function. Here, the authors reveal how vaults flex and change shape using imaging and simulations, identifying key interactions that contro...

19 June

3/3: This revealed the structural mechanisms behind its characteristic “breathing” motions. Simulation-guided mutagenesis reveled key contacts for the the particle's stability, opening new doors for the rational engineering of vaults as nanoscale delivery systems. 👉 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

biophys.mpg.deMitoScanner: Searching for the Right Place to Divide MitochondriaProteins DRP1 and MID49 scan the mitochondrial outer membrane before division, revealing a previously unrecognized step in mitochondrial fission.

11 June

We present MitoScanner: a newly discovered step in mitochondrial division! 🔍✂️ Explore here the work by @office-garcia.bsky.social 📝 www.biophys.mpg.de/2921124/sear... #Mitochondria #CellBiology

11 June

The results, published in @natcellbio.nature.com, show how the protein DRP1 scans the surface of mitochondria to finds the right place to cut 🔬 💻 #Microscopy #NatureCellBiology 📄 Read the full study: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

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5 June

Now it's @jpkreysing.bsky.social 's turn! 🎓🎉 Congratulations Jan Philipp on defending your PhD thesis, "Capturing Functional States in Situ with Cryo-Electron Tomography" in the @becklab.bsky.social lab! We're very excited to see more IMPRS-CBP #PhDs graduate🎓✨ #imprs_cbp #PhDlife #CryoET

27 May

How do you do quantum physics ⚛ when sign language ☝️ lacks the words? Kudos to Ingo Barth, the first deaf German to earn a chemistry PhD, broke barriers as a physics student and research leader—then created Sign2MINT, a STEM sign language lexicon with 5,000+ signs, empowering Deaf scientists. 💪💪💪

27 May

Komm’ am 12. Juni auf die Night of Science✨! Erlebe, wie aus Stickstoff leckeres Eis🍦wird und welche Aufgaben verschiedene Proteine in unserem Körper übernehmen! Erfahre in Vorträgen und bei einer Elektronenmikroskopie-Tour 🔬 mehr über unsere Forschung! Infos: 👉 www.biophys.mpg.de/de/night-of-...

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Murphy Lab

@bjmurphylab.bsky.social

9 May

We had a great time having Michael Elbaum from the Weizmann Institute visit our institute (@mpibp.bsky.social)! Had an insightful seminar and a fun time at the Krios doing STEM 🔬 Our Krios is upside down according to material scientists so instead of turning our microscope, we turned ourselves!

18 May

What does a postdoc do in their “free” time? Spoiler: They don’t have any. But when Marcel Heinz does sneak in a few minutes between tasks, he’s busy building a free, no-registration chemical sketcher—kudos for this valuable contribution to the community! 👉 Check out his project: www.bondcraft.net

20 Apr

That’s a wrap on our @embo.org #cryoFIB & #cryoET course! It was an incredible week of hands-on learning, collaboration, and shared expertise, made possible by dedicated organizers, incredible trainers, and an engaged group of participants.

20 Apr

Special thanks to the organisers and to @sonjawelsch.bsky.social for leading this effort. We are looking forward to seeing this knowledge travel back to labs around the world.🌍

17 Apr

We are having a very hands-on week at the @embo.org #cryoFIB & #cryoET course 🔬 Our participants are learning about sample vitrification, lamella milling, FLM, lift-out, data acquisition and more! We are learning by doing, troubleshooting, and sharing expertise across labs. 🧪

15 Apr

Participants shared their work and ideas in our poster session at the @embo.org Practical Course on “In-situ structural biology by Cryo-FIB and Cryo-ET” at our institute! It was a great chance to connect, discuss, and get new perspectives on #cryoFIB and #cryoET. 🌍

13 Apr

We’ve kicked off our @embo.org Practical Course on #cryoFIB & #cryoET! Participants from around the world are joining us this week for hands-on training, from lamella milling to tomogram reconstruction 🔬

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3 Feb

Thinking of applying to IMPRS-CBP? 👣 Here’s a quick look at our application process to guide you along the way. 🗓️ Deadline: March 11 Apply here 👉 imprs-cbp.mpg.de/call-for-app... #gradschool @mpibp.bsky.social @goetheuni.bsky.social @unimainz.bsky.social

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13 Feb

Interested in how membrane proteins are born? Our First IMPRSsion video introduces the McDowell Group and their research (@melaniemcdowell.bsky.social @mpibp.bsky.social). Watch it on our YouTube channel and apply to IMPRS-CBP: youtu.be/rigtICb6yco?... #imprs_cbp #phd #membraneproteins #biophysics

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18 Feb

Why should you join our #gradschool? Check out our 10 #keyfeatures and find out how we support you during your #phdjourney! Apply by March 11! imprs-cbp.mpg.de/key-features

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23 Feb

Come visit our @mpibp.bsky.social booth at the @biophysicalsoc.bsky.social #bps2026 meeting in San Francisco! We’re looking forward to chat about our research, PhD opportunities, and international career paths! 🥳 We’d love to connect and take your #cellfie! 🦠 Find us in booth 630! #imprs #imprs_cbp

12 Feb

Ready to TANGO? 💃 In our new publication, Beata Turoňová & Markus Schreiber (@ms314.bsky.social, @becklab.bsky.social) present TANGO: the first cryoET framework to analyze the relation between particle positions and orientations 🪩 All in a single user-friendly package! #CryoET #OpenScience