Welcome to the Leibniz-Institut für Molekulare Pharmakologie (FMP)!
Whether headaches, high blood pressure or infections – simple tablets can help with many complaints. But there is still no cure for many diseases. In the past, new drugs were mostly discovered by chance. Nowadays, however, scientists want to find out what actually happens in the body afflicted with disease and aim to specifically develop drugs in this context.
To this end the FMP investigates the most important building blocks of the body's cells – proteins. These molecules are infinitely changeable – they catalyse reactions, transmit signals and form the basic framework of life. Using highly diverse methods, the scientists at the FMP study the structure of protein molecules, how they work and which drugs are able to influence them. That way the FMP contributes to the future of medicine.
RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS
Stress Receptors: The Slight but Crucial Difference
Receptors possess signal sequences through which the sensors are directed to the right place in the cell membrane. However, one receptor for stress response steps out of line, as the research group led by Ralf Schülein has now discovered.
High Wire Act in the Brain: tuning the speed of glutamate receptors
For the brain to sense the world around us properly, individual nerve cells must transmit thousands of electrical signals per second.
A richer palette of colors for the "histone code"
The Selenko lab makes a breakthrough in deciphering the way cells write and read the information on histones.
100 seconds instead of 1100 years: a breakthrough for new diagnostic procedure
A new kind of MRI approach based on xenon biosensors – that is the vision being pursued by the Schröder lab.
