August 5, 2025
Stretching the immortal Hydra
PoL Associate and Affiliate researchers from MPI-CBG show how cells can create a new organism from scratch by coordinating their mechanical properties.
News
© Friedrich group / PoL
Publications Friedrich Group
July 9, 2025
Sarcomere Division: A New Mechanism of Muscle Growth Under Tension
Researchers from the Friedrich group at PoL have identified a novel sarcomere division mechanism, explaining how muscles add new contractile units under high mechanical stress.
© Katrin Boes / MPI-CBG
Science Awards Campàs Group
July 1, 2025
HFSP Postdoctoral Fellowship for Augusto Ortega Granillo
Augusto Ortega Granillo, a joint postdoc at Physics of Life and the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, has received a Long-Term Postdoctoral Fellowship from the Human Frontier Science Program.
© TUD / Magdalena Gonciarz
Education Society
June 23, 2025
PoL at the Long Night of Science 2025
With over 50 PoL volunteers taking part in the event, the Dresden Science Night at the CMCB was a resounding success.
© Anna M. Dowbaj, Aleksandra Sljukic et al. Nature (2025) / MPI-CBG
Publications RA6 Associates and Affiliates
June 3, 2025
All-in-one Model Reconstructs Complex Liver Architecture
The research group of Meritxell Huch, a PoL PI and director at the MPI-CBG, has developed next-generation organoid models to better understand liver disease.
© PoL
Education Society Science
May 26, 2025
PoL is Renewed as a Cluster of Excellence by the DFG!
The Cluster of Excellence Physics of Life (PoL) has been officially renewed for a second funding phase, from 2026–2032.
© COSMO Wissenschaftsforum
Education Society
May 12, 2025
The Physics of Life Exhibition at COSMO Wissenschaftsforum!
With over 800 visitors, the Physics of Life exhibition at COSMO Wissenschaftsforum offered plenty of new things to discover!
© Alba Villaronga-Luque, Ryan G Savill et. al / MPI-CBG
Publications RA6 Associates and Affiliates Ebisuya Group
April 17, 2025
Metabolism Shapes Life: How Glycolysis Drives Early Embryonic Cell Decisions
Researchers from PoL (Ebisuya group), MPI-CBG (Veenvliet group), and EMBL Barcelona have uncovered the instructive potential of glycolysis in two novel publications.
© Katrin Boes / MPI-CBG
Science Awards Mateus Group
April 3, 2025
Rita Mateus Receives Funding to Uncover Crystal Formation Inside Cells
PoL PI Rita Mateus and collaborators have received a prestigious HFSP Early Career Grant Award
© Veikko F. Geyer and Martin Striegler
Publications Associates and Affiliates Friedrich Group
March 4, 2025
The Hidden Twist: Scientists Capture Cilia’s Secret Motion
For the very first time, researchers from PoL and B CUBE have captured cilia twisting motions during their beating that may play a key role in coordinating the movement of tiny molecular motors inside cilia.
© Brian Long, University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB)
Publications Campàs Group
February 21, 2025
Turning Robotic Ensembles into Smart Materials that Mimic Life
Through a collaboration between the Campàs group at PoL and researchers at UCSB, scientists have developed robotic materials that can support heavy loads but also reshape, manipulate objects, and even self-heal.
© PoL
Society Science
February 3, 2025
PoL Pushes for Excellence: Reapplying to the DFG for a Second Funding Period
After submitting a renewal proposal to the DFG, PoL scientists travelled to Bonn to defend the renewal of the Cluster of Excellence.
© Julien Marcetteau for the Barriga Lab/PoL
January 17, 2025
Shocking Cues: How Cells Harness Electric Fields to Migrate During Embryonic Development
New findings from the Barriga Group at PoL reveal how electric fields can drive cells of the neural crest to migrate during development.
© Hagen Gebauer
Science Associates and Affiliates
December 19, 2024
The Poetsch Group Becomes Part of a New European Consortium Addressing Leukemia
The group of PoL member Anna Poetsch at the Biotechnology Center (BIOTEC) of TU Dresden has received a grant from the European Partnership for Personalized Medicine to investigate the molecular mechanisms behind leukemia.
© PoL
Education Society
December 11, 2024
Revealing the Winners of the PoL LEGO Competition at Technische Sammlungen Dresden!
At the Physics of Life exhibition in Technische Sammlungen Dresden, young visitors could enter a competition to build animals from LEGO bricks. Now, the 10 winning entries are revealed.
© Sharma et al., PNAS (2024), CC4
Publications RA3 RA4 Friedrich Group
November 18, 2024
How To Achieve Precision in a Noisy Biological System – Scientists Explain the Regular Beating of Sperm Tails
A new study by PoL Professor Benjamin Friedrich and Dr Veikko Geyer from the Diez group at B Cube has revealed how the coordinated efforts of molecular motors can power motile cilia.
© Hagen Gebauer / PoL
Awards Jahnel Group
November 15, 2024
Lukáš Pekárek is awarded the Peter and Traudl Engelhorn Fellowship
With support from the Peter and Traudl Engelhorn Foundation, PoL postdoctoral researcher Lukáš Pekárek will investigate the structure of long RNAs and their changes during phase separation.
© Sven Döring
Awards Associates and Affiliates
November 7, 2024
Otto Bayer Award for PoL member Meritxell Huch
The Bayer Foundation has announced the Science Award winners of 2024
© PoL
Science RA1 Elias Barriga Group
October 29, 2024
Journal Club by Dr. Elias Barriga in Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology
Elias Barriga highlights the invaluable contribution of Zhao and colleagues in a 2006 publication to the field of electrotaxis in a new journal club article.
© TUD
Education RA6 Ebisuya Group
October 23, 2024
Professor Miki Ebisuya’s Inaugural TUD Lecture
Last week, Prof. Ebisuya delivered her inaugural TU Dresden lecture “In search of a global modulator for biological tempo across animal species”
© Toth-Petroczy / MPI-CBG
Science Publications RA3 RA5 Associates and Affiliates
October 17, 2024
Studying Intrinsically Disordered Protein Regions Using SHARK
Researchers from the group of PoL member Agnes Toth-Petroczy have developed a new algorithm to compare structurally disordered protein segments.
© Katrin Boes / MPI-CBG
Education Science RA5
September 27, 2024
Quantitative Biology Takes Center Stage at the “Physical Biology of the Cell” Summer School
Over 100 researchers from PoL and the MPI-CBG attended the interdisciplinary course taught by renowned biophysicist Rob Phillips.
© PoL
Education Society
September 18, 2024
Polina Explains Biophysics: Introducing PoL's New Comic Series!
Explore the fascinating world of biophysics with our new comic series, offering bite-sized insights into cutting-edge PoL research every Wednesday!
©Michael Brand and Evelyn Abraham
Science Publications RA1 Associates and Affiliates
August 27, 2024
Seeing the future: zebrafish regenerates fully functional photoreceptor cells and restores its vision
Research by PoL associate Michael Brand has identified that regenerated photoreceptors in the zebrafish retina regain normal function, allowing complete recovery of vision.