About

Our department develops and applies methods of mass spectrometry (MS)-based proteomics in a variety of biological areas. Most of these projects are performed within the department but some are also done in long-term collaboration with other groups. In the last two years we have published more than 50 papers and we are one of the most highly cited research groups in Europe and world-wide according to the Institute for Scientific Information.

Highlights during the last two years have been the development of methods in proteomic sample preparation (Wisniewski et al. Nature Methods 2009) and in computational proteomics, in particular the MaxQuant family of algorithms, which are now widely used (Cox and Mann, Nature Biotechnology, 2008). These developments have led to the first identification and quantification of a model system proteome, of the yeast model system (de Godoy et al. Nature 2008). As we have argued recently, these developments now put proteomics on an equal footing with other genomics and post-genomics technologies (Cox and Mann, Cell, 2007). Unlike genomics technologies, however, proteomics can directly and quantitatively determine the modification state of proteins. During the last few years, we have described a plethora of phosphorylation sites (Olsen et al. Cell, 2006), lysine acetylation sites (Choudhary et al. Science 2009) and glycosylation sites (Zielinska et al. Cell 2010) in the human proteome.

The department of proteomics and signal transduction was established in July 2005 and currently comprises ca. 45 people from over 12 different countries – the working language of our department is English. It is led by Prof. Matthias Mann, who moved here from earlier stations at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) and from the University of Southern Denmark (SDU), where he was director of the Center for Experimental BioInformatics (CEBI). He is also affiliated with the NNF Center for Protein Research (University of Copenhagen).

Students interested in joining the group, should normally apply through the International Max Planck Research School (IMPRS - http://www.imprs-ls.de/. We also welcome applications for post-doctoral research. This often involves application of our proteomics technology to an area of biological or medical research in which the applicant has demonstrated expertise. We strongly encourage application for postdoctoral fellowships although this is not a strict requirement.