Max Planck Institute of Biophysics

Did you know we’re hosting the EMBO Practical Course on Cryo-FIB & Cryo-ET in April 2026? ❄️ We invite early career researchers and facility scientists to join us in Frankfurt and meet the leading experts in cryo-FIB/SEM and cryo-ET!

🔗 Apply by Dec 8: meetings.embo.org/event/26-in-...

Our next #DiscoverySeminar features the guest speaker Prof. Martin Beck from the Max Planck Institute of Biophysics @mpibp.bsky.social. Join his lecture on "Nuclear pores as guardians of the genome".

One thing is certain: We will continue translating our research into material that informs, inspires, and engages, ensuring our work is heard and seen!

- Team-building exercises helped us get to know each other better.
- Overall, we achieved a good work-food balance!

Stay curious about what the new year will bring!

- After visiting and analyzing the Senckenberg Museum’s Health and Medicine exhibition, we engaged in a fruitful exchange with Julia Krohmer, the Senckenberg Society's Deputy Science Coordinator.

- We reflected on the past year and planned for the upcoming year.

There’s a communications team behind every breakthrough, ensuring the world hears about it.

Here are some photos from our team retreat! 📸🎉

Logo of the Max Planck Society together with the portrait of Gerhard Hummer, Max Planck Institute of Biophysics, and Highly Cited Researcher 2025

Proud to share that, according to Clarivate’s Highly Cited Researchers 2025 ranking, our Director Gerhard Hummer is among the world’s most frequently cited scientists. 👏 The ranking recognizes about 6,600 researchers worldwide who are among the top 1% most cited in their fields over the past decade.

Photo Credit: Dr. Christiane Birr (Max Planck Institute for Legal History and Legal Theory).

Shout-out to our partners: MPG, Brain, Legal History #ScientistsInAction #MaxPlanckSociety

Scientists making waves! 🌊 At this year’s Frankfurt Museumsuferfest, our team swapped pipettes for paddles and crushed the Dragon Boat Race! 🐉🚣

#Museumsuferfest #DragonBoatRace

Great work of @deglushk.bsky.social from my PhD lab @mpibp.bsky.social on how to get more information out of all the membranes you see in cryoET data!

Exciting week in Frankfurt! Our CEOS energy filter and ASI Timepix3 are installed and we're looking forward to running the first tests :) #CryoEM #timepix #REELanalysis #4DSTEM @mpibp.bsky.social

Precision, teamwork, and a sharp eye! Not just for experiments, but for #pumpkins too! 🎃🔬
We held a pumpkin carving #competition at MPI of Biophysics, and the results were impressive! Swipe through to find out who took home the 🏆!

#CarvingConnections #HalloweenSpirit

SND3 is the membrane insertase within a distinct SEC61 translocon complex - Nature Communications The fungal SND pathway inserts a wide range of proteins into the ER membrane. Here, SND3 is identified as a membrane insertase within a distinct SEC61 translocon complex, implying a role in co-transla...

@tzujingyang.bsky.social et al, in collaboration with the @hummerlab.bsky.social, used #cryoEM and #MD to visualize an SND3 translocon complex that inserts proteins into the ER membrane 🤯 Full article here: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Structure of the ribosome-bound SND3 translocon complex from the heat-tolerant fungus Chaetomium thermophilum. The SND3 translocon inserts proteins into the endoplasmic reticulum membrane as they are produced by the ribosome.

SNDing proteins into the membrane! Our new publication from @melaniemcdowell.bsky.social ’s group identifies the SND3 protein as a new route for membrane protein insertion! 🍄 📘 Read more here: www.mpg.de/25599408/102... Image: Louise Duever.

Prof. Hartmut Michel's group @mpibp.bsky.social is recruiting a postdoc in structural bioenergetics. See the link for more detail.👇

Orange and green poster of the In-situ structural biology by Cryo-FIB and Cryo-ET in Frankfurt am Main, with EMBO logo. The poster promotes childcare grants, travel grants and that this is a sustainable event.

Have you registered to the next EMBO Practical Course on In-situ structural biology by Cryo-FIB and Cryo-ET? 🧊 Join us in Frankfurt for hands-on training on cryo-techniques and networking with experts!

🔗 Apply by Dec 8, 2025: meetings.embo.org/event/26-in-...
📍 Frankfurt | 📆 April 12–20, 2026

Bonnie Murphy and Ralf Steinhilper stand together, smiling at the camera. Ralf is wearing a creatively handcrafted doctor’s hat.

Heartfelt congratulations to @ralfsteinhilper.bsky.social @bjmurphylab.bsky.social on successfully defending his PhD thesis with summa cum laude! 👏💪🏆 For his doctoral research, Ralf used anaerobic sample preparation to study redox enzymes by single-particle cryo-EM.🔬 #phdlife #biophysics #excellence

cryoTIGER: deep-learning based tilt interpolation generator for enhanced reconstruction in cryo electron tomography - Communications Biology Deep learning-based interpolation using cryoTIGER enhances angular sampling in cryoET, improving 3D reconstructions, particle localization, and structural recovery without increasing electron dose.

Deep learning-based interpolation using cryoTIGER developed by the authors in this new Communications Biology manuscript enhances cryoET reconstructions. @mpibp.bsky.social
@becklab.bsky.social
@jpkreysing.bsky.social
@sergiocruzleon.bsky.social

doi.org/10.1038/s420...

Fantastic new work from our researchers!
Check out their work on 🐯 cryoTIGER for cryoET 🐯

Our Green Yard Sale at the MPI of Biophysics was a great success! 💚

Organized by our Sustainability Group, it promoted Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle while donating the profits to Klimaschutzinitiative-Riedberg e.V. 🌿♻️

#Sustainability #GreenYardSale #MPIBiophysics

Photo of Sergio Cruz and text: Sergio Cruz-León receives the 2026 Theory & Computation Postdoctoral Research Award

🎉 Congratulations to our postdoc @sergiocruzleon.bsky.social for receiving the 2026 Theory & Computation Postdoctoral Research Award from the Biophysical Society! 🎉 Sergio will present his work at the Theory & Computation subgroup Symposium during the 2026 Biophysical Society meeting.

A diverse group of young people in running gear smile for the camera.

Our colleagues laced up their running shoes for this year’s “Lauf für mehr Zeit” charity run 🏃‍♀️🏃‍♂️.
 It was the perfect opportunity to combine fitness, team spirit, and supporting a meaningful cause—all in one day! 💙
A big thank you to everyone who participated and contributed to making a difference. ✨

And what better way to wrap up the day than with a poster session? Our current #imprs_cbp students shared their work and a beer or two while discussing science at the @mpibp.bsky.social 🍺 #phdlife #gradschool

We’re excited to welcome our new faculty member, Till Stephan! He shared his group's research on mitochondrial architecture using fluorescence nanoscopy. @goetheuni.bsky.social

#imprs_cbp

Amazing week learning and discussing science! Thank you Florian Wilfling, Till Stephan and Alexandra Stolz for joining us! Looking forward to our last day on Monday! #imprs_cbp #phdlife

We welcome our new faculty member Ramachandra Bhaskara! His group uses simulations and modeling to study complex biological systems at the interface of biology, physics, and data science.
#imprs #imprs_cbp @goetheuni.bsky.social

Another day full of science at the #imprs_cbp symposium! We heard from Eszter Lodinski on bacterial proteins linked to antibiotic resistance and Inga Hänelt on membrane transport proteins.
@goetheuni.bsky.social @mpibp.bsky.social

In the afternoon we dove into the computational world. From cryo-ET data processing with Beata Turonova to molecular simulations by Ramachandra Bhaskara, Gerhard Hummer, and Jürgen Köfinger. @goetheuni.bsky.social @mpibp.bsky.social #imprs #imprs_cbp

That’s a wrap! Thanks to all speakers and participants for joining us on this week’s cellular biophysics journey. See you at next year’s #imprs_cbp symposium! 🎊✨

We followed with a day packed with CryoEM! We heard about the cryoEM from Werner Kühlbrandt, STEM-EELs from Bonnie Murphy and CryoET from Martin Beck.