Communications

Prof. Dr. Miltos Tsiantis, Director at the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research and head of the Department of Comparative Development and Genetics, receives an Advanced Grant from the European Research Council (ERC). The prestigious funding will support his project CLONAL, aimed at advancing our understanding of clonal reproduction by root sucker formation. [more]

Science stepped out of the lab and into the pub as the international Pint of Science Festival returned to Cologne from 19 to 21 May, bringing cutting-edge research to local audiences in a relaxed and approachable setting. The first evening of the event set the tone for an engaging and insightful series, as three of our PhD-students took the stage under the theme “The Future is Female.” [more]

There has been much rejoicing in Düsseldorf, Gatersleben, Jülich and Cologne today: the German Research Foundation (DFG) and the German Science and Humanities Council (WR) announced that the joint CEPLAS Cluster of Excellence (“SMART Plants in Dynamic Environments”) has also been successful in the current funding round of the Excellence Strategy. In addition to Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (HHU), which is the lead university, and the University of Cologne, which is the co-lead, the Forschungszentrum Jülich, the Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK) Gatersleben and the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research Cologne (MPIPZ) will also be involved in the project. Around 56 million euros in funding was requested for a seven-year period beginning on 1 January 2026.
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Exciting insights into plant research [more]

Marc Somssich receives prize from the German Society for Plant Sciences. [more]

The MPIPZ's main lecture hall has been officially named in honour of renowned plant scientist and former director Jeff Schell, as part of a two-day international symposium on plant science.
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Paul Schulze-Lefert, Jane Parker, Stéphane Hacquard, and Ruben Garrido-Oter “have demonstrated significant and broad influence in their field(s) of research”
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Successful project start of the MSCA-COFUND project Reconstruction Biology in Plant Science Doctoral Training Programme (rePLANT) at the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research. [more]