The Institute of Molecular Biology (IMB)

Welcome to IMB! We are a modern research centre that brings together leading scientists from all over the world. Our researchers tackle ambitious projects at the interface of epigenetics, genome stability, ageing & RNA biology.

About us
Who we are, where we are & what we do...
Research
Our scientists & what they are working on...
Core Facilities
State-of-the-art technologies & services...
Students & Postdocs
Training programmes we offer junior researchers...
Seminars & Events
Conferences, meetings, workshops & more...
Careers
Current opportunities at IMB...

The Luck lab identified over 1,000 deleterious human genetic variants in intrinsically disordered protein regions.

Check out this new paper by Maximilan Reuter, one of our Team Leaders, in Nature Communications!

The grant will fund his work developing techniques to visualise proteins at nanometer-level resolution inside living cells in real-time.

07 Sep - 09 Sep 2026
Meeting & Symposium
RNA Modification and Processing
5th Symposium on Nucleic Acid Modifications
10 Sep 2026
Seminar
Fine-tuning homologous recombination and replication fork stability in chemosensitivity and resistance
SFB 1361 & 4R Seminar
Prof. Arnab Ray Chaudhuri
10 Sep 2026
Seminar
The two faces of R-loops: Shaping DNA and RNA methylation in neurological disease
4R & SFB 1361 Seminar
Dr Vivian G Cheung
12 Sep - 13 Sep 2026
Outreach
Science Market of the Mainz Science Alliance
16 Sep 2026
Seminar | 4R-RTG R-loop Club
Dominant mutational scanning of DNA repair proteins to guide mechanistic insights and inhibitor discovery
Dr Peter Stirling
22 Sep 2026
Seminar
Research road bumps? You are not alone
Postdoc Appreciation Week 2026

Access the full IMB events calendar by clicking here

Recent Publications

Aug 2026 | Nat Commun | Baumann | Schweiger
RTEL1 mutation modifies dyskeratosis congenita caused by a telomerase RNA template mutation.
Aug 2026 | Nat Commun | Niehrs
Haemodynamic control of zonated liver function via instructive vascular Wnt signalling.
Aug 2026 | Curr Opin Struct Biol | Dormann
Dual roles of condensates in protein misfolding and aggregation.
Aug 2026 | Int J Food Sci Nutr | Vieira-Silva
Modified homogalacturonan-rich citrus pectin as potential next-generation prebiotics.
Aug 2026 | Microbiol Spectr | Luck
Short linear motifs - underexplored players driving Toxoplasma gondii infection.
Jul 2026 | Nat Struct Mol Biol | Luck
Variant characterization in the intrinsically disordered human proteome.
Jul 2026 | Nat Commun | Ulrich
Mechanisms of MCM2–7 helicase activation and initial DNA melting at near base-pair resolution.
Jul 2026 | J Am Chem Soc | Lemke
Bis-tetrazine fluorogenic (silicon)-rhodamine dyes for live-cell labeling.
Jul 2026 | Adv Sci (Weinh) | Dormann | Stelzl | Lemke
A phosphorylation-induced micellization switch in the low-complexity domain of TDP-43.
Jul 2026 | Adv Sci (Weinh) | Wittmann
Current challenges of transcription compartmentalization research.

A centre for basic & clinical research on ageing & age-related disease
with Mainz University & its Medical Center, the Leibniz Institute for Resilience Research & TRON
A joint initiative on the mechanisms underlying robustness & longevity
with groups at Mainz University
A joint PhD programme to discover new ways to understand & treat age-related diseases
with Mainz University & its Medical Center
A joint PhD programme to understand why diseases are more common in old age and how we can age healthily
with Helmholtz Munich, the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Leipzig University, Greifswald University Hospital, and Mainz University's Medical Center
The largest network on DNA repair & genome stability in Germany
with groups in Mainz, Darmstadt, Frankfurt & Munich
An initiative bridging the polymer & life sciences to understand biological processes such as ageing
with Mainz University, its Medical Center & the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research
IMB’s flagship PhD training programme on epigenetics, genome stability & ageing
with Mainz University & its Medical Center
A DFG-funded PhD programme on how RNA processes contribute to robustness & resilience
with groups from Mainz University & its Medical Center
A DFG-funded PhD programme on the evolution of gene regulatory networks underlying phenotype & lifespan
with Mainz University’s Faculty of Biology

News

Researchers uncover hidden disease mechanisms in the disordered human proteome

Scientists pinpoint where cells first begin copying DNA

Edward Lemke awarded an ERC Advanced Grant

Upcoming Events

07 Sep - 09 Sep 2026

10 Sep 2026

10 Sep 2026

12 Sep - 13 Sep 2026

16 Sep 2026

22 Sep 2026

Joint Research Initiatives

A centre for basic & clinical research on ageing & age-related disease

A joint initiative on the mechanisms underlying robustness & longevity

A joint PhD programme to discover new ways to understand & treat age-related diseases

A joint PhD programme to understand why diseases are more common in old age and how we can age healthily

The largest network on DNA repair & genome stability in Germany

An initiative bridging the polymer & life sciences to understand biological processes such as ageing

IMB’s flagship PhD training programme on epigenetics, genome stability & ageing

A DFG-funded PhD programme on how RNA processes contribute to robustness & resilience

A DFG-funded PhD programme on the evolution of gene regulatory networks underlying phenotype & lifespan