Speaking and walking are quite natural things to us. But how does a nerve cell know which muscle to stimulate and how to coordinate the movement?

Max Planck scientists found that certain signal substances in nerve cells are not only responsible for the growth of the cells but also for directing them to the right muscle. The axons of nerve cells have highly specific receptors that recognize these signal substances. By binding to the right receptor the nerve cell is induced to grow in a specific direction.

Photo credit: Max Planck Institute for Neurobiology

Immunofluorescent image of the division of a human cel . The chromosomes are shown in blue, the centrosomes in red. Centrosomes, composed of proteins, although only one thousands of a millimeter in size, play an important role in the division of cells by organizing the microtubli cytoskeleton (in green) that pulls the chromosomes apart. Defects in the centrosome can lead to malfunctions in the cell division process and thus in the development of tumor cells.

Max Planck Institute for Biochemistry

This microscopic image is Celladhesion proteins.
The atypical localization of ß-catenin in benign early stages of a human colon tumor is shown in yellow. Normally, this protein is found only at cell boundaries. If it is found also in the core of individual tumor cells it develops new properties. This is a start signal for the transformation of a benign tumor into malignant carcinoma.

Photo credit: Max Planck Institute for Molecular Physiology

Most viruses are structurally complex units composed of thousands of molecules. A team of researchers from the NIH and the Max Planck Institute for Biochemistry succeeded in reconstructing the molecular architecture of the outer layers of an infectious Herpes virus by using cryo-tomographic methods, and learned spikes in the outer membrane of the virus play an important role in the infection process.
Left: Electron microscopic image of Herpes simplex virus 1
Middle: Tomographic reconstruction
Right: 3-D reconstruction

Photo credit: Kay Grünewald, Max Planck Institute for Biochemistry / NIH

The nerve fiber tracks in the brain of a healthy subject. Max Planck scientists created this model using a technique of magnetic resonance tomography that images the motility of water molecules and their preferred direction in the brain. This research visualizes that functionally in the two halves of the human brain is linked. The green fibers are pre-frontal; light blue is pre-motor; dark blue is motorized skills; red is sensory; orange is parietal; violet is temporal; and yellow is occipital.

Photo credit: Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, Göttingen, Germany

Max Planck scientists have developed a new tool to visualize  molecular processes in an isolated nerve cell under an electron microscope by using fluorescent reporter proteins. Synaptic activity regulates the local protein synthesis. Changes in activity and the resulting molecular changes could be responsible for the reorganization and stabilization of synapses. The scientists found evidence that this could be the molecular basis of learning.


Photo credit: Berger, Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology, Tübingen, Germany

A balance of synthesis and degradation of proteins is essential for learning processes and memory capacity.
The hippocampus is a brain structure located inside the medial temporal lobe of the cerebral cortex. It plays major roles in short term memory and spatial navigation. Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Neurobiology discovered that not only is the hippocampus’ activity dependant on proteins, but also that these proteins are an important mechanism for information storage in the brain.


Photo credit: Max Planck Institute for Neurobiology, Munich, Germany

Nerve cells store and transmit information via special contact sites called synapses. This image shows nerve cells with intact synapses. When we learn, both the structure and the functional characteristics of these contact sites change. Scientists are only now beginning to understand the molecular processes that cause this change. The Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology has identified a protein called Staufen2 that is essential for the maintenance of synapses. This discovery could lead to a better understanding of molecular mechanisms, which lie at the heart of the brain’s ability to learn and remember.

Photo credit: Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology, Tübingen, Germany

Every year nearly 10 million people around the world contract Mycobacterium tuberculosis, and about 4,000 patients die from the disease daily. This is the main reason why scientists worldwide have dedicated countless research hours trying to find a cure. Until recently, scientists assumed that mycolic acids (fatty acids that are necessary to preserve the resistance properties of a cell wall), form a thick, closed layer, however the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry used a new technique called cryo-electron tomography to prove that model wrong. This has led to more targeted research, which is also being used in the development of chemotherapeutic drugs.

Top left: Several mycobacteria in the light microscope at about 1,000 x magnification.
Top right: Longitudinal section of a reconstructed bacterial cell recorded in an electron microscope using the technique of cryo-electron tomography.
Bottom: 3-D structure of a section of the mycobacterial cell envelope. The inner and outer lipid bilayer is shown in yellow, the cell wall polymers that bind the mycolic acids are shown in blue.

Photo credit: Hoffmann/Engelhardt, Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry, Munich, Germany

Max Planck scientists have found that the area of the brain responsible for self-control is separate from the area associated with taking action. This research can help explain psychiatric disorders for which self-control problems are prominent, including Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) and substance dependence.

Photo credit: Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany

The brain consists of a hundred billion nerve cells. Each of these cells is linked to its neighbors by many thousands of contact points. During brain development, young nerve cells must come into contact with the correct partner cells so that the brain can carry out its complex functions. In adults, contact between nerve cells is also constantly being set up and then dismantled. It is this continuous restructuring of the brain that allows us to learn and to forget. Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Neurobiology have discovered that nerve cells can also obtain information about their neighbors without being connected, by using calcium signals that save the brain time and energy.

Photo credit: Lohmann and Bonhoeffer, Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology, Munich, Germany

Activity of a tumor suppressor in healthy skin cells. This microscopic image shows three skin cells. In each, the Cyld protein (green) surrounds the nucleus (blue) and prevents oncogene Bcl-3, a gene that can cause leukemia, among other diseases, from entering. The red structure is the cell’s cytoskeleton. The Max Planck Institute for Biochemistry has discovered that a defective Cyld gene may be the root cause of kidney, liver, uterus and large intestine tumors, since it is the cellular mechanism that activates and regulates Bcl-3.

Photo credit: Max Plank Institute of Biochemistry, Munich, Germany