International Max Planck Research School - From Molecules to Organisms at University of Tübingen

About

The special feature of our PhD programme in the life sciences is its emphasis on interdisciplinary interactions. We want to endow the next generation of scientists with the skills and knowledge to study complex biological processes that cannot be adequately understood within the limits of a single discipline. Projects and training are offered by around 25 faculty members selected from the Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology, the Friedrich Miescher Laboratory, and the University of TÃ¼bingen. The projects and training span several levels of biological organisation - from molecules to organisms and even through to ecosystems. Supporting courses and events allow students and faculty working at these different levels to interact and make cross-connections. Traditionally separate fields covered by the programme include structural, molecular, and cellular biology; biophysics, biochemistry, and genetics; animal and plant development; computational biology; bioinformatics, genomics and proteomics; microbiology and microbiome science; ecology; and evolutionary biology. Our concept is supported by the facilities available at the participating laboratories, including platforms for NMR, X-ray crystallography, and cryo-EM; our "Genome Center" with its next-generation sequencing technology; and the Proteome Center TÃ¼bingen, equipped with three high-accuracy Orbitrap mass spectrometers. Microbiological and microbiome research are supported by biosafety level II laboratories for research on bacterial pathogens, a gnotobiotic mouse facility, and anaerobic glove boxes. State-of-the-art plant growth and animal facilities, excellent electron microscopy and light microscopy resources, and the large computer clusters of our high-performance computing facilities are further resources available to all IMPRS students who are thus encouraged to formulate innovative and exciting research projects and to consider multiple approaches to their research questions.