Max-Planck-Institut für Immunbiologie und Epigenetik

The Max-Planck Institute (MPI) of Immunobiology and Epigenetics in Freiburg is an interdisciplinary research institution of the Max-Planck Society. Immunology is the traditional focus of the institute, but the establishment of epigenetic research in 2008 promises to widen the collaborative opportunities quite significantly as well as it made a clear commitment to foster epigenetic research in Germany. The MPI uses state-of-the-art technologies to cover a wide scope of different aspects of science ranging from modern immunobiology and developmental biology, including the evolutionary origin of the immune system to the development of the lymphoid organs, signaling through antigen receptor complexes, host-pathogen interactions, developmental signaling pathways, regulation of gene expression and chromatin structure, and finally cell-cell interactions and cell differentiation. The research should help to unravel the mechanisms by which the immune system and other biological structures are generated and function. Notably, of all branches of medicine, the translation of results obtained from immunological research over the last two centuries into the practice of medicine and public health has arguably had the most significant impact on human life expectancy.