Press releases - News from the MPI of Biochemistry

Prof. Matthias Mann

Matthias Mann Receives Louis-Jeantet Prize for Medicine - Award for new methods to analyze proteins
Every cell has a vast number of proteins at its command which are involved in practically all biological processes. Every protein undertakes specified tasks and they all need to work together harmoniously. Matthias Mann, director at the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry in Martinsried near Munich, Germany, is to receive the Louis-Jeantet Prize for Medicine 2012 for his work on the development of mass spectrometric procedures for protein analysis. The award comes with 700,000 CHF prize money (about 540,000 Euros) and will be presented on April 19, 2012 in Geneva, Switzerland. More ...
25.01.2012

Reconstruction of the 26S proteasome: The Regulatory Particle (in blue) detects the proteins tagged with ubiquitin and prepares them for degradation. The Core Particle (in red) breaks the proteins down into their single components. Picture: Julio Ortiz / Copyright: MPI of Biochemistry

How Cells Dispose of Their Waste - Max Planck researchers reveal the structure of the cellular protein degradation machinery
Defective proteins that are not disposed of by the body can cause diseases such as Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s. Scientists at the Max Planck Institute (MPI) of Biochemistry recently succeeded in elucidating the structure of the cellular protein degradation machinery (26S proteasome) by combining different methods of structural biology. The results of a collaboration with colleagues from the University of California, San Francisco and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH Zürich) represent an important step forward in the investigation of the 26S proteasome. The findings have now been published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences PNAS. More ...
24.01.2012

Prof. Matthias Mann

Matthias Mann Receives Ernst Schering Prize 2012 - In recognition of new methods for protein analysis
Proteins are the molecular building blocks and machinery of cells, and are involved in practically all biological processes. Matthias Mann, Director at the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry (MPIB) in Martinsried, is to receive the Ernst Schering Prize 2012 for his seminal work exploring the proteome – the entirety of proteins of an organism. The award comes with 50,000 Euros prize money and will be presented on September 10, 2012 in Berlin. Matthias Mann has revolutionized the methods that are used for the identification and characterization of proteins, by successfully transferring methods of the physical sciences – such as mass spectrometry – to the area of molecular biology. More ...
18.01.2012