Welcome the Systems Biology Forum of the Max-Planck-Society

• Department of Membrane Biochemistry (Dept. Oesterhelt), MPI of Biochemistry:
  Genome-wide data are collected for halophilic organisms to build models of metabolism, regulation, bioenergetics, and signal transduction.
  Quantitative physiological experiments lead already to a satisfactory model of signal transduction in the phototactic response of Halobacterium salinarum. This model simulates all experimental observations.
  Read more on the Project Homepage
  
  
  
• Research Group "Systems Biology" (Prof. Dr.-Ing. Ernst Gilles), MPI for Dynamics of Complex Technical Systems, Magdeburg:
  The Systems Biology group at MPI Magdeburg is composed of researchers from different disciplines and has a strong focus on mathematical modeling and model analysis. The activities concentrate on studies on a number of aspects of metabolic regulation and signal transduction including both prokaryotic and eukaryotic systems (e.g. E. coli, S. cerevisiae, Hepatocyctes).
  Read more on the Project Homepage
  
  
  
• Research Group "Bioprocess Engineering" (Prof. Dr.-Ing. Udo Reichl), MPI for Dynamics of Complex Technical Systems, Magdeburg:
  Structured mathematical models are developed for the life cycle of the influenza virus in mammalian cells. Such models allow to better understand the complex mechanisms underlying cell growth and virus replication and to analyze virus growth dynamics in mammalian cells, e.g. for the optimization of virus yield in vaccine production processes.
  Read more on the Project Homepage
  
  
  
• Research Group "Molecular Network Analysis" (Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Wolfgang Marwan), MPI for Dynamics of Complex Technical Systems, Magdeburg:
  The Molecular Network Analysis Group develops experimental and theoretical approaches to study the structure and function of signaling networks by reverse engineering. Model systems are a small network of interacting proteins, mediating the phototactic response of Halobacterium salinarum and a large genetic network that controls commitment and differentiation in the eukaryote Physarum polycephalum.
  (Project Homepage in preparation)
  
  
  
• Kinetic Modeling Group (Dr. Edda Klipp), MPI for Molecular Genetics, Berlin:
  The Kinetic Modeling Group deals with the modelling of complex biological phenomena and diseases, using various mathematical tools. The realization of genomic information in a biological instance is ensured by a complex network of processes. The behavior of such dynamic processes cannot be understood by intuition alone. We use mathematical models to describe and investigate cellular processes and regulatory links from gene expression to metabolism. One of our main interests is the integration of high-throughput data generated in the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics.
  Read more on the Project Homepage
  
  
  
• Research Group "Complex structures in biology and cognition" (Prof. Dr. Jürgen Jost), MPI for Mathematics in the Sciences, Leipzig:
  The research group is composed of researchers from mathematics, physics, computer science, biology, neurobiology and psychology and investigates complex systems and dynamics with tools from those disciplines.
  Read more on the Project Homepage
  
  
  
• Research Group "Mathematical Biology" (Dr. Angela Stevens), MPI for Mathematics in the Sciences, Leipzig:
  The emergence of structures and pattern formation in developmental cell systems reveals important information on underlying functional mechanisms. By means of mathematical modeling, analysis and numerical simulation the research group aims to detect and understand these in specific biological examples.
  (Project homepage in preparation)
  
  
  
• Department of Protein Evolution (Prof. Andrei Lupas, PhD), MPI for Developmental Biology, Tübingen:
  In essence, life results from the chemical activity of proteins. We work to understand the evolution of proteins in the context of living systems. Our main foci of research are the origin of folded proteins and a natural classification for proteins.
  Read more on the Project Homepage
  
  
  
• Research group "Molecular mechanisms of endocytosis and endosome biogenesis" (Prof. Dr. Marino Zerial), MPI of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, Dresden:
  This group is interested in the molecular mechanisms of endocytosis, an essential function of all eukaryotic cells. In particular, the focus is on three aspects: 1) the mechanisms underlying endosome biogenesis, 2) how endocytic transport regulates and is modulated by intracellular signalling and 3) the regulation of endocytosis in polarised cells, such as epithelial cells and neurons.
  Genome-wide data are collected for the endocytic machinery to build mathematical models of endocytosis and signal transduction. A central objective is to use a systems biology approach to model the biogenesis and maintenance of endocytic organelles (endosomes) on the basis of experimental data.
  Read more on the Project Homepage
  
  
  
• Research group "Transcriptional regulation and Networks" (Prof. Dr. Martin Vingron), MPI for Molecular Genetics, Berlin:
  The Regulation Group uses statistical methods and comparative genomics to define regulatory networks and combinatorial control mechanisms based on sequence information. These predictions are refined using additional information from other postgenomic data sources, such as expression data and protein interactions. We support various experimental groups through definition and annotation of promoter regions.
  Read more on the Project Homepage
  
  
  
• Research group "Bioinformatics" (Dr. Ralf Herwig), MPI for Molecular Genetics, Berlin
  The group is composed of mathematicians, physicists, biologists and computer scientists and performs statistical analysis, methods and tool development for functional genomics and medical applications. In particular, the group works on integrated systems for the correlation and exhaustive mining of heterogeneous data (genomics, proteomics, patient data, physiological data) and the integration of this data into models of complex biological systems such as gene regulatory motifs, metabolic networks and signal transduction pathways. Particular applications consist of cancer, type-2 diabetes and gene regulatory processes in early development.
  Read more on the Project Homepage
  
  
  
• Department of Computational Biology and Applied Algorithmics (Prof. Dr. Thomas Lengauer, PhD), MPI for Informatics, Saarbrücken:
  Our research focuses on the analysis of biological sequences, the analysis and prediction of protein structure and function, the analysis of intermolecular interactions and interaction networks, gene and protein expression patterns, genetic variations, and computational drug screening and drug design.
  Read more on our projects on Bioinformatics for HIV (AIDS), Medical Bioinformatics, Metabolic Networks, and Gene Expression Data