Center For Integrated Protein Science Munich
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The Center for Integrated Protein Science Munich (CIPSM) is a cluster of excellence in sciences located in
Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...
. It is an association of research groups of the
Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich, LMU or LMU Munich; ) is a public university, public research university in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Originally established as the University of Ingolstadt in 1472 by Duke ...
, the
Technical University of Munich The Technical University of Munich (TUM or TU Munich; ) is a public research university in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. It specializes in engineering, technology, medicine, and applied and natural sciences. Established in 1868 by King Ludwig II ...
, the Helmholtz Center Munich, and the Max Planck Institutes of
biochemistry Biochemistry, or biological chemistry, is the study of chemical processes within and relating to living organisms. A sub-discipline of both chemistry and biology, biochemistry may be divided into three fields: structural biology, enzymology, a ...
and
neurobiology Neuroscience is the scientific study of the nervous system (the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nervous system), its functions, and its disorders. It is a multidisciplinary science that combines physiology, anatomy, molecular biology, ...
in
Martinsried Martinsried is a village in the municipality of Planegg in Munich district, Bavaria, Germany. It is one of Munich's two science suburbs. Martinsried is best known as the location of the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry, the Max Planck Inst ...
. Research at the center expands from isolated proteins up to proteins in living organisms applying methods of
biophysics Biophysics is an interdisciplinary science that applies approaches and methods traditionally used in physics to study biological phenomena. Biophysics covers all scales of biological organization, from molecular to organismic and populations ...
,
biochemistry Biochemistry, or biological chemistry, is the study of chemical processes within and relating to living organisms. A sub-discipline of both chemistry and biology, biochemistry may be divided into three fields: structural biology, enzymology, a ...
,
medicine Medicine is the science and Praxis (process), practice of caring for patients, managing the Medical diagnosis, diagnosis, prognosis, Preventive medicine, prevention, therapy, treatment, Palliative care, palliation of their injury or disease, ...
, and
biology Biology is the scientific study of life and living organisms. It is a broad natural science that encompasses a wide range of fields and unifying principles that explain the structure, function, growth, History of life, origin, evolution, and ...
.


Goals

Protein Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residue (biochemistry), residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including Enzyme catalysis, catalysing metab ...
s are as biological
macromolecules A macromolecule is a "molecule of high relative molecular mass, the structure of which essentially comprises the multiple repetition of units derived, actually or conceptually, from molecules of low relative molecular mass." Polymers are physi ...
a cornerstone of life. However, their functional importance and structural effects are not yet fully understood in every detail. Investigation of isolated proteins up to living organisms (e.g.
zebra fish The zebrafish (''Danio rerio'') is a species of freshwater ray-finned fish belonging to the family Danionidae of the order Cypriniformes. Native to South Asia, it is a popular aquarium fish, frequently sold under the trade name zebra danio (and ...
, ''
Drosophilidae The Drosophilidae are a diverse, cosmopolitan family of flies, which includes species called fruit flies, although they are more accurately referred to as vinegar or pomace flies. Another distantly related family of flies, Tephritidae, are true f ...
'', ''
Caenorhabditis elegans ''Caenorhabditis elegans'' () is a free-living transparent nematode about 1 mm in length that lives in temperate soil environments. It is the type species of its genus. The name is a Hybrid word, blend of the Greek ''caeno-'' (recent), ''r ...
'' or ''escherichia coli'' bacteries), especially with regard to interactions, structural complexities (e.g. protein folding, structures of protein complexes, interactions between proteins and
nucleic acid Nucleic acids are large biomolecules that are crucial in all cells and viruses. They are composed of nucleotides, which are the monomer components: a pentose, 5-carbon sugar, a phosphate group and a nitrogenous base. The two main classes of nuclei ...
s, and manipulation of protein functions) and neuro-degenerative diseases, promises to furnish basic knowledge of these macromolecules. This very knowledge could contribute to advances in biomedicine and biotechnologies.


Organization

The cluster is divided into six main areas of research. Each research area (A-F) is being represented by two coordinators who, in cooperation with the executive board, decide on the appointment of new professorships and elect the executive board of four researchers and one member responsible for family and gender support. The main responsibilities of the board members are research, teaching and support of junior academic staff. The board members represent the interests of the cluster towards the directorate of the respective university. The speaker of the board and his deputy take special care of the supervision and recruitment of junior professorships. Research group leaders (principal and associate investigators) meet annually to decide on budget allocation. Leading the research group still is the individual task of the research group leader at own responsibility. Regular meetings between group leaders and coordinators ensure efficient guidance of the cluster. The speaker represents the cluster and thus negotiates with the universities participating in the cluster of excellence on matters like teaching as well as on financial and personal issues. Administration and supervision of financial endorsements of each fiscal year, personal recruitment, management of all cluster issues, procurement of larger tools, and organizing activities such as symposia, conferences and workshops (see Events and Conferences) are part of the job of the cluster CEO, who further takes care of applications and publicity work.


Gender Support Program

Female scientists of CIPSM are supported by a program called AFF (''Ausschuss für Familien- und Frauenförderung''; committee for family and gender support). The program was created to get more researchers with children and habilitated females into professorships or leading positions. The committee is being led by a member of the board who is especially responsible for family and gender support. The support program is intended to counter barriers in the academic career resulting from parental leave. For this purpose, junior researchers with child or children can be allocated a technical assistant for support of their research. Furthermore, a domestic aid can be granted on request. For researchers' children up to the age of three years, CIPSM runs its own day nursery. Additionally, a mentoring program was created to support successful employment of female scientists and symposia with high ranking female scientists should give researchers opportunities to obtain insight into careers, gain experiences and enhance scientific interaction.


Endowment

Financial endorsements of CIPSM are provided by the
Federal Republic of Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen constituent states have a total population of over 84 ...
, the
states of Germany The Federal Republic of Germany is a federation and consists of sixteen partly sovereign ''states''. Of the sixteen states, thirteen are so-called area-states ('Flächenländer'); in these, below the level of the state government, there is a ...
and the
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft The German Research Foundation ( ; DFG ) is a German research funding organization, which functions as a self-governing institution for the promotion of science and research in the Federal Republic of Germany. In 2019, the DFG had a funding bu ...
in the course of the
German Universities Excellence Initiative The Excellence Initiative of the German Council of Science and Humanities and the German Research Foundation (DFG) aims to promote cutting-edge research and to create outstanding conditions for young scholars at universities, to deepen coopera ...
and distributed orientated on demand. Individual financial support of scientists of the cluster includes project-related funding of PhD and Postdoc positions, procurement of larger tools, financial support of events and conferences, and gender support.


Research highlights and achievements

The CIPSM cluster has been elected landmark in the German "country of ideas" initiative honoring the achievements of CIPSM researchers, who have been awarded several prizes for their work conducted with CIPSM: * Thomas Carell received the Otto-Bayer-Prize 2008 of the Bayer Science & Education Foundation. *
Patrick Cramer Patrick Cramer (born 3 February 1969) is a German chemist, structural biologist, and molecular systems biologist. In 2020, he was elected an international member of the National Academy of Sciences. He became president of the Max Planck Society ...
has been awarded the
Philip Morris Research Prize Philip, also Phillip, is a male name derived from the Greek (''Philippos'', lit. "horse-loving" or "fond of horses"), from a compound of (''philos'', "dear", "loved", "loving") and (''hippos'', "horse"). Prominent Philips who popularized the n ...
for the detailed elucidation of the RNA polymerase II structure in 2007. * Magdalena Götz received the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize 2007 of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft in recognition of her work in the area of brain development. * Elena Conti received the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize 2008 of the
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft The German Research Foundation ( ; DFG ) is a German research funding organization, which functions as a self-governing institution for the promotion of science and research in the Federal Republic of Germany. In 2019, the DFG had a funding bu ...
for "fundamentally new knowledge of intracellular RNA transport and of RNA metabolism" together with Elisa Izaurralde of Max Planck Institute of Developmental Biology Tübingen. * Stephan Sieber and Thomas Böttcher have been rewarded the ''Innovationspreis der BioRegionen in Deutschland'' 2008 for their research on beta-lactones for the treatment of diseases, which are resistant to common
antibiotics An antibiotic is a type of antimicrobial substance active against bacteria. It is the most important type of antibacterial agent for fighting pathogenic bacteria, bacterial infections, and antibiotic medications are widely used in the therapy ...
. * Horst Kessler has been awarded the
Josef Rudinger Award Josef may refer to *Josef (given name) *Josef (surname) *Josef (film), ''Josef'' (film), a 2011 Croatian war film *Musik Josef, a Japanese manufacturer of musical instruments {{disambiguation ...
of the European Peptide Society for his contributions to peptide chemistry in 2008. * Heinrich Leonhardt has received the Binder Innovation Award for the development of fluorescent
antigen In immunology, an antigen (Ag) is a molecule, moiety, foreign particulate matter, or an allergen, such as pollen, that can bind to a specific antibody or T-cell receptor. The presence of antigens in the body may trigger an immune response. ...
-bonding
nanobodies A single-domain antibody (sdAb), also known as a Nanobody, is an antibody fragment consisting of a single monomeric variable antibody domain. Like a whole antibody, it is able to bind selectively to a specific antigen. With a molecular weight of ...
, which can be expressed in living cells, in 2008. * Thomas Cremer has been awarded the 2009
Schleiden Medal The Schleiden Medal is an award given by the Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, the National Academy of Germany, to honour outstanding achievements in the field of cellular biology. The award is named after botanist Matthias Jakob Schleiden. Recipien ...
of the
German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina The German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina (), in short Leopoldina, is the national academy of Germany, and is located in Halle (Saale). Founded on 1 January 1652, based on academic models in Italy, it was originally named the ''Academi ...
in honor of his work in the area of nucleus architecture. Furthermore, the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research supports the cooperation "experimental and theoretical methods for dissecting the dynamics of epigenetic gene silencing in living cells" between the CIPSM groups Leonhardt and Schotta and the
University of Heidelberg Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg (; ), is a public university, public research university in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Founded in 1386 on instruction of Pope Urban VI, Heidelberg is List ...
.


Events and conferences

* ''Graduate School Life Science Munich'' (LSM): An international support program for extraordinary Diploma or Master absolvents in the field of anthropology, biochemistry, cell biology, ecology, evolution, genetics, microbiology, plant sciences, systematics, and zoology including lectures, seminars and workshops. * ''CIPSM-Harvard Young Scientists' Forum'' (YSF): An annual meeting on a CIPSM initiative for interdisciplinary exchange between PhD students and Postdocs of
Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...
and Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich. * CIPSM gala in the
Deutsches Museum The Deutsches Museum (''German Museum'', officially (English: ''German Museum of Masterpieces of Science and Technology'')) in Munich, Germany, is the world's largest museum of science museum, science and technology museum, technology, with a ...
on May 4, 2009, in course of the "country of ideas" initiative with lectures about current highlights of the cluster's protein research. * ''Elmau Conference'' 2008 and ''Monastery Irsee Conference'' 2009: Conferences on current topics in protein research in cooperation with
Bayer Schering Pharma AG Bayer AG (English: , commonly pronounced ; ) is a German multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company and is one of the largest pharmaceutical companies and biomedical companies in the world. Headquartered in Leverkusen, Bayer's a ...
. * CIPSM lecture of Prof. Martina Havenith in course of the Gender Support Program (2009). * ''Alpenforum'' 2009: CIPSM has been supporting the "Alpenforum" of the GDCh young scientists Munich since 2008. The forum is held annually in Oberammergau to give students and doctorands of chemistry and related sciences the chance to collect information on possible careers in chemistry, to get into contact with companies and to get to know interesting employers. * ''FRAU 2.0 "frau & mutter & wissenschaftlerin wie geht das überhaupt?" (''Woman 2.0 "woman & mother & scientist how can this work?"'' 2009): information event for students of sciences, especially chemistry, biology and pharmacy, on possible careers and perspectives for female scientists at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich in course of the Gender Support Program. * ''CIPSM Trainees' Minisymposium'': Lecture and discussion event at the Technical University of Munich on trends and novel developments in protein sciences. * ''Synthesefest'': lecture event at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich on organic chemistry with international lecturers of science and industry. * in course of the lecture series „Innovation Management and Global Challenges“ (November 2009 to January 2010), Dr. Wolfang Plischke, member of the
Bayer AG Bayer AG (English: , commonly pronounced ; ) is a German multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company and is one of the largest pharmaceutical companies and biomedical companies in the world. Headquartered in Leverkusen, Bayer's ...
board of management, has been invited to lecture and thus give master and PhD students insight into how their research might impact on the chemical industry. Furthermore, the CIPSM cluster organized * the ''Chromatin Assembly and Inheritance of Functional States, 2nd Transregio 5 Symposium'' (2007), * the ''European Cooperation in the Field of Scientific and Technical Research "COST Meeting"'' (2008), * the ''EMBO Workshop "Gene Transduction in Yeast"'' (2008), * the ''16th Lecture Conference ORCHEM 2008'' in cooperation with the Gesellschaft Deutscher Chemiker and the Liebig-Vereinigung für Chemie, * the ''4th International Conference on the Hsp90 Chaperone Machine'' (2008).


Science Comment

The project ''Science Comment''Homepage Science Comment
/ref> has been established in 2009 to comment objectively on and to discuss publications in well reputed scientific journals of chemistry, biology, pharmacy and medicine. This internet forum was intended to facilitate international communication of research results. The registered user can, referring to a certain publication, criticise or discuss this publication in public. Science Comment serves its purpose as data base for the quality assessment of a publicized result prior to its application. The possibility to check the feasibility of the result saves the users' time and resources.


References


External links

* Nature Spotlight on Germany; ''Nature'' 2007, Nature Jobs, 452-453 and 485 (publicized November 19, 2007) * Allowing an élite; ''Nature'' 2007, ''450'', 452-3 (publicized November 15, 2007)
"Hier geht was"; Financial Times Germany, September 10th 2008, p. 28 (pdf file)
{{authority control Culture in Munich Medical research institutes in Germany Medical and health organisations based in Bavaria Research institutes in Munich