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Documentation Clusters with two speakers (LMU and TUM):
Center for Integrated Protein Science Munich
(Film: Proteins – Building Blocks of Life, published in DFG Video portal on the
Excellence Initiative). If you don't have the flash player needed to view
the video, you can download it free of charge from the manufacturers'
website.)
Proteins research is at the heart of the life sciences. These molecules are a cell's most important agents. As key biological macromolecules, proteins determine, among macromolecules, proteins determine, among other things, the structure and function of all organisms. They steer their development and relay reactions to outside influences. Proteins are the key to manifold dynamic networks of molecules and interactions. However, up to now, research has primarily focused on individual proteins and their isolated functions. „But that's no longer enough,“ says Professor Thomas Carell from the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, speaker of the cluster of excellence Munich Center for Integrated Protein Science (CIPSM). „We need to develop a new kind of protein research if we truly want to understand the role of these molecules. We need an integrated perspective of the function of proteins in a natural, living context. For this reason, we have to work at various levels of complexity, from the isolated protein to the protein in a living organism.“
The CIPSM cluster of excellence brings together leading Munich researchers in this area to establish new structures of instruction, service and especially research. One emphasis is on researching protein dynamics. Modern techniques aid the observation of proteins in living cells and various kinds of tissue but also in animals. Different sub-sections focus on the biophysical examination of proteins, protein folding, the structure of protein complexes, the interactions of proteins with nucleic acids, the manipulation of protein functions and neurodegenerative ailments. The cluster involves the two leading Universities in Germany, LMU and TUM, as well as the neighbouring Max Planck Institutes of biochemistry and neurobiology and the GSF, an Institute of the Helmholtz society.
CIPSM recruits most of the involved members from the LMU in Großhadern and the TUM in Garching and Weihenstephan.
Weitere Informationen:
www.cipsm.de
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