The MTZ®-MPI-Award

PhD students and postdocs until 2 years after completing their PhD exam can be fostered. Excellent scientific achievements in the form of a publication will be fostered. The publication should be based on results achieved at the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Biomedicine.

The MTZ®-MPI-Award consists of a prize money of € 2,500 and a certificate.
The Board of Trustees, which is composed of the directors of the institute, nominates the candidate(s) and evaluates the submitted works

The Max Planck Institute for Molecular Biomedicine

The Max Planck Institute was founded on August 1st, 2001. At this time, Professor Dr. Dietmar Vestweber was appointed as director of the first department (Vascular Cell Biology). Since April 2004 Professor Dr. Hans Schöler is director of the second department (Cell and Developmental Biology) after having relocated his laboratory group from the United States to Münster. Prof. Dr. Ralf H. Adams is appointed third director of the institute, retrospectively from October 1st 2007. He was recruited jointly by the University of Münster and the Max Planck Society, and will move with his laboratory from the Cancer Research UK London Research Institute to Münster in Summer 2008.

The Max Planck Institute employs an international team: A total of 150 researchers – including biologists, physicians and physicists – and support staff from 15 countries are working here. The Institute consists of three departments and a further five research groups. Each department is headed by a director, who is autonomous in his research activity. The position of Managing Director of the Institute rotates among the directors; current Managing Director is Hans Schöler. All three Institute directors are members of the medical faculty of the University of Münster and hold a professorship there.

The research at the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Biomedicine

The Max Planck Institute for Molecular Biomedicine is devoted to basic science aiming at investigating the molecular mechanisms that form the basis of pathophysiological processes leading to disease. The research objects involve several aspects of the cell biology of the endothelium, developmental biology and cell-renewal, development of the vascular system, and structural biology. The research of the three Departments aims at understanding, employing models of structure-function relationships, the mechanisms that allow steering and controlling the regeneration of healthy tissue, especially of blood vessels, thereby laying the ground for the establishment of fundamentally new approaches to cure diseases.

The focus of research in the Department of Prof. Dr. Ralf H. Adams is to elucidate which molecular signals regulate the development of blood vessels in the body.

Prof. Dr. Rui Benedito's new department is developing novel genetic technologies to understand how genetic mutations alter the function of individual cells and cause disorders such as cardiovascular disease and cancer. The aim is to precisely analyse disease-relevant genetic changes and make their biological consequences traceable in living organisms.

Scientists in the Department of Prof. Sara Wickström, MD, PhD are investigating which processes of stem cell regulation are tissue-specific and which are more general and thus apply to most, if not all, mammalian cell types. In addition, one goal is to apply the findings to the engineering of organs such as skin in vitro.

Prof. Dr. Hans R. Schöler, at first together with Dr. Thomas Rauen and a team of seven scientists, continues doing research in his MPG White Paper Emeritus group with since November 1, 2021.

Prof. Dr. Dietmar Vestweber was granted emeritus status on January 1, 2025 and continues his research in the Vascular Cell Biology Emeritus Group.