Welcome to the first IMPRS-CMB Alumni Day!

This year (2019) we celebrate 18 years of existence (three consecutive funding periods) that started in January 2002. At the time it was clear that to understand complex cellular events the traditional approaches of structural biology, cell biology and biochemistry where not sufficient and that a possible solution could be to borrow tools and methodologies from the neighbouring disciplines of chemistry and physics. A new field was emerging and was named “Chemical Biology”. Rather than to study the chemistry of biomolecules within a living system, Chemical Biology proposed to use chemical probes to manipulate a biological system as a way to understand its properties. With this concept in mind the IMPRS in Chemical Biology was founded to train a new generation of scientists that, guided and mentored in an interdisciplinary environment, would learn to cross the boundary between traditional disciplines (chemistry, biology and physics) and would learn to tackle a biological question combining classical biochemistry with the new concept of applying chemistry to understand biology.

The IMPRS in Chemical Biology (later IMPRS in Chemical and Molecular Biology) started as a collaboration between three institutions (the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Physiology, the Technical University Dortmund and the Ruhr University Bochum) with 10 faculty members and 30 students and it is now more than doubled in size with 35 faculty members and approximately 70 students. Additionally, the partnership now includes all major universities in the Ruhr area as the University of Duisburg-Essen joined the collaboration in 2014.

Since its foundation, more than 150 students graduated, many of which have decided to join us to celebrate. Alumni represent a very precious source for the School: as skilled worldwide professionals they are the perfect ambassadors to promote the School’s visibility and for our current students the perfect networking platform to prepare for their next career step.

With this event we are looking forward to catch up with old colleagues and friends and we hope that it is the perfect setting to meet new friends, find new collaborators and to strengthen the community bonds between past and current members.

The IMPRS ALUMNI DAY 2019 will take place at the MPI of Molecular Physiology on 27 September 2019.
Here you can find the program.

WE HOPE MANY OF YOU CAN JOIN!!!!