Welcome to the Max Planck Institute of Biophysics!

Welcome to the Max Planck Institute of Biophysics!

We study the structure and function of proteins which regulate vital cellular processes using a wide methodological repertoire including advanced light and electron microscopy and as well as computational biology.

Our Research


Ernst Bamberg – The Functional Analysis of Electrogenic Membrane Proteins
Martin Beck – Molecular Sociology
Ulrich Ermler – Enzyme Mechanism
Ana J. García-Sáez
Gerhard Hummer – Theoretical Biophysics
Werner Kühlbrandt – Structural Biology
Eugene Kim – Structure and Dynamics of Chromosomes
Melanie McDowell – Membrane Protein Biogenesis
Hartmut Michel – Molecular Membrane Biology
Bonnie Murphy – Redox and Metalloproteins
Beata Turoňová – Image Processing
Florian Wilfling – Mechanisms of Cellular Quality Control

Overview

Scientific Facilities


Sonja Welsch – Electron Microscopy
Julian Langer – Mass Spectrometry
https://brain.mpg.de/imaging

News

The effect of removing a component from the nuclear pore complex<br> 

The effect of removing a component from the nuclear pore complex 

Research News
Removing a single component from the large nuclear pore complex has surprising effects during cell differentiation
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Silhouette of a hand holding an orange protein model, superimposed over a faint skull-like shape in the background. The composition evokes a Hamlet-like existential scene.

Necroptosis Regulation: Balancing Life and Death

Research News
A new study reveals the dual role of MLKL in necroptosis, paving the way for new treatments for inflammatory diseases.
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Understand what we do

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Meet us

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Work with us

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Latest Publications

1.
Stautz, J.; Griwatz, D.; Kaltwasser, S.; Mehdipour, A. R.; Ketter, S.; Thiel, C.; Wunnicke, D.; Schrecker, M.; Mills, D. J.; Hummer, G. et al.; Vonck, J.; Hänelt, I.: A short intrinsically disordered region at KtrB’s N-terminus facilitates allosteric regulation of K+ channel KtrAB. Nature Communications 16, 4252 (2025)
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2.
Stuke, J. F. M.; Hummer, G.: AlphaFold2 SLiM screen for LC3-LIR interactions in autophagy. Autophagy (2025)
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3.
Kühlbrandt, W.; Carreira, L. A. M.; Yildiz, Ö.: Cryo-EM of Mitochondrial Complex I and ATP Synthase. Annual Review of Biophysics 54, pp. 209 - 226 (2025)
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4.
Bukhdruker, S.; Gushchin, I.; Shevchenko, V.; Kovalev, K.; Polovinkin, V.; Tsybrov, F.; Astashkin, R.; Alekseev, A.; Mikhaylov, A.; Bukhalovich, S. et al.; Bratanov, D.; Ryzhykau, Y.; Kuklina, D.; Caramello, N.; Rokitskaya, T.; Antonenko, Y.; Rulev, M.; Stoev, C.; Zabelskii, D.; Round, E.; Rogachev, A.; Borshchevskiy, V.; Ghai, R.; Bourenkov, G.; Zeghouf, M.; Cherfils, J.; Engelhard, M.; Chizhov, I.; Rodriguez-Valera, F.; Bamberg, E.; Gordeliy, V.: Proteorhodopsin insights into the molecular mechanism of vectorial proton transport. Science Advances 11 (16), eadu5303 (2025)
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