MPI for Biology Tübingen & Friedrich Miescher Laboratory

Excited to see our FML Research Group Leader
@luisapallares.bsky.social
in the latest Max Planck Research! 🎉
The article follows her journey from Colombia to Germany and her work on how genes and environment shape complex traits using fruit flies.

Read the full story: www.mpg.de/26180374/W00...

Three people standing side by side indoors in front of large windows and tall green plants, smiling at the camera.

A big thank you to Yen-Ping Hsueh from the @mpi-bio-fml.bsky.social for an outstanding talk on #predatory #fungi yesterday! A fascinating topic and a truly insightful discussion.

Many thanks as well to @alexanderforderer.bsky.social, @carogutj.bsky.social and Gloria Meng-Hsuan Lin for hosting!

We're #hiring a new Insect Husbandry Technician (f/m/d) from 50% in Tübingen, Baden-Württemberg. Apply today or share this post with your network:

jobs.tue.mpg.de/en/programs/...

Join us again this week for the next talk in our DSSS series by Prof. Dr. Henrik Krehenwinkel from Trier University:

▶️Title and abstract: tinyurl.com/y3sk7zbr
📆: Thursday 5th March at 11am
📍: Max Planck House lecture hall, Max-Planck-Ring 6

We look forward to seeing you there!
#DSSS

Have you ever wondered 🤔... Does phenotypic variance respond to environmental perturbation? Does it have a genetic basis? Are mean and variance regulating loci exposed to different selection pressures? These and more questions are explored in our new preprint 🔥

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Two men stand side by side indoors, smiling at the camera in bright sunlight coming through large windows.

Yesterday we had the pleasure of welcoming @thorstenlangner.bsky.social from @mpi-bio-fml.bsky.social for a fascinating talk about #plantpathogen #coevolution and pathogen-informed disease control🌱🦠

Thank you for the inspiring visit and many thanks to @incavirus.bsky.social for hosting!

Come and join us for this week's exciting DSSS talk to be held by Prof. Dr. Claude Becker from the LMU Biocenter in Munich:

▶️Title and abstract: tinyurl.com/3xwvjabe
📆: Thursday 26th Feb at 11am
📍: Max Planck House lecture hall, Max-Planck-Ring 6
#DSSS

Thrilled to share our work in @natcomms.nature.com!

Thankful for a great collaboration ☺️

Grateful for the support of the @humboldt-foundation.de and the @mpi-bio-fml.bsky.social

More details below.

Huge congratulations to a former IMPRS student at MPI for Biology Tübingen on securing this position - what a fantastic achievement!
Hadeer, we wish you every success as you build your lab, continue to inspire students, and work at the interface of artificial intelligence and protein science.

Beyond Mendel: a new genetics agenda
Most traits aren’t “one gene–one trait”. A perspective paper calls for new experimental paradigms to capture polygenic effects in real environmental context - backed by large-scale automated phenotyping and new infrastructure. Read more: tinyurl.com/2s4d3nwe

Everyone welcome to this week's DSSS talk to be held by Prof. Dr. Matthias Hammerschmidt joining us this Thursday from the University of Cologne:

▶️Title and abstract: tinyurl.com/4vkjp5bv
📆: Thursday 12th Feb at 11am
📍: Max Planck House lecture hall, Max-Planck-Ring 6
#DSSS

We’d like to introduce you to Chahat as part of this month’s #wearebio #wearefml series. She joined the institute as part of the Researcher Support Team last June and her energy, enthusiasm and smile are infectious! Read about her life before and beyond the institute here:
tinyurl.com/ye2789df

We’re hiring! The Max Planck Institute for Biology Tübingen is looking for a full-time Research Coordinator (f/m/d) to connect research and administration in an international, interdisciplinary biology institute.
Apply by Feb 27, 2026. Read the full job advertisement here: tinyurl.com/mtrs4asa

Join us for the next exciting talk in our DSSS series by Prof. Dr.-Ing. Katrin Rosenthal from the Bioprocess Engineering Department at Bielefeld University. Everyone welcome!

▶️More info: tinyurl.com/mpz895ts
📆: Thursday 5th Feb at 11am
📍: Max Planck House lecture hall, Max-Planck-Ring 6
#DSSS

One single protein, one big decision: how brown algae know when to reproduce. New press release on how researchers in the Department of Algae Development and Evolution have discovered a remarkably streamlined strategy for developmental control in brown algae.
Read on here: tinyurl.com/3taptpba

Antonin Bau from the Blista Centre for Blind and Visually Impaired Students in Marburg has just completed a school internship at the institute. With curiosity and focus, he quickly settled into the lab - demonstrating what's possible when opportunities are made accessible.
tinyurl.com/yc55cy23

Great to host the K2 biology class (Leistungsfach) from Eugen-Bolz-Gymnasium Rottenburg at MPI for Biology! 🌱 Pupils explored our campus for plant samples, tried light microscopy and practised pipetting - getting a broader view of biology beyond the classroom. 🔬

A study from the new "Insect Sex Determination and Development research group" is featured on the front of PNAS, uncovering a conserved genetic switch for sex determination, stable across 150 million years of evolution. Read the full press release:
tinyurl.com/bdzebvdf

Farewell to Max Planck Research Group Leader Hassan Salem as he moves from Tübingen to the #JohnInnesCentre. Wishing him all the best on his exciting journey! This post is part of our new #FarewellSeries, celebrating researchers moving on to exciting new chapters! 🚀 #maxplanck
tinyurl.com/2dr9k8k7

Join us this week for the next exciting talk in our 2026 DSSS series by Prof. Yasin Dagdas from the Centre for Organismal Studies, Heidelberg University. Everyone welcome!

▶️More info: tinyurl.com/46xdmxa9
📆: Thursday 22nd Jan at 11am
📍: Max Planck House lecture hall, Max-Planck-Ring 6
#DSSS

A warm welcome goes to
@miyapan.bsky.social
who has joined the Max Planck Institute for Biology Tübingen as a new Max Planck Research Group Leader! Read more about her "Insect Sex Determination and Development" group here:
tinyurl.com/9sbj5b3u
We wish you a great start Miya!
#MaxPlanck #Biology

🌟 First DSSS of 2026 🌟
A New Year brings a new day and time for our seminar series: Thursdays from 11am to 12pm. This week's speaker is Dr. Daniel Ibrahim. Everyone welcome!

📅 Thurs. 15th Jan.
⏰ 11:00
📍 MPH lecture hall, Max-Planck-Ring 6
▶️ More info: shorturl.at/BftRZ

Excited to share a paper from our new Research Group "Insect sex determination and development"!

Revisiting giant virus-host dynamics in brown algae: Susana Coelho and colleagues @mpi-bio-fml.bsky.social review old stories and new perspectives
link.springer.com/article/10.1...

New paper on genome editing in brown algae by Dr. Claudia Martinho, former member of Susana Coelho's Algal Development and Evolution Department, in collaboration with Masakazu Hoshino, Morgane Raphalen, Viktoriia Bukhanets, Anagha Kerur, @kbogaert.bsky.social, Rémy Luthringer, and Susana Coelho

More PhD projects at IMPRS “From Molecules to Organisms”! 🚀 Apply by 19 Jan 2026.
Research on fungal–prey interactions & transgenerational inheritance (Advisors: Hsueh, Sommer).
📍Tübingen, Germany. 🔗 lnkd.in/gWGf2w2g

#IMPRS #PhD #LifeSciences #MaxPlanck

How can genome sequencing training foster more equitable global science? 🌍
An interview with doctoral researcher Catarina Lino on a hands-on plant genomics workshop in Zimbabwe - and what it means for North–South collaboration.
👉 tinyurl.com/9knhj92v
#PlantGenomics #ScienceCollaboration #maxplanck

Apply now for a PhD in Life Sciences at IMPRS “From Molecules to Organisms”! Research nanomechanics of cellular machines and track kinesin motors at high resolution in Tübingen in Erik Schäffer’s group at the University of Tübingen. More information available on our website: www.phd.tuebingen.mpg.de

Last week, John Weir, Group Leader at the Friedrich Miescher Laboratory, was invited to the Carlo-Schmid Gymnasium in Tübingen to give the bilingual Grade 9 biology class a talk in English on his specialist subject, meiosis—bringing their current curriculum topic to life!

From lab benches to farmyard 🌱🐑 Meet Anita Bollmann-Giolai, a postdoc studying plant–microbe interactions—and living them daily on her farm. A dedicated scientist and seasoned farmer, she bridges research and real-world biology
tinyurl.com/5n6henhx
#wearebio #wearefml