21^st April 2013 - ASBMB BMLS Director Ivan Dikic receives William C. Rose Award.

The Award honors the pioneering work of Ivan Dikic in understanding the Ubiquitin code, and his efforts in training and education of young scientists. Link to ASBMB today or read more.

April 2013 – New technology for direct detection of broken DNA. In collaboration with an international team, BMLS scientists published a new technology utilising full genome sequencing for detection of  fragile sites in the human genome in this month's issue of Nature Methods. Read more or link to press release.

19th March 2013 – Festive ceremony for Leibniz Prize Winners. Nine scientists were honoured today with the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize 2013, Germany`s most prestigious scientific award. Amongst them was BMLS director Ivan Dikic, who was recogniozed for his fundamental contribution to decrypting the Ubiquitin code. Link to DFG press release, to the laudatio, and to Dikic's profile.

8th January 2013 – BMLS director Ivan Dikic to receive Ernst Jung Prize for Medicine. The Jung Foundation for Science and Research announced that  Ivan Dikic will receive the Ernst Jung Prize for Medicine 2013 for his groundbreaking work in understanding the role of Ubiquitin in cellular signal regulation. The prize is awarded with 150,000 € and will be presented at a ceremony on 3rd May in Hamburg. Read more.

6th December 2012 – Leibniz Prize 2013 for BMLS director Ivan Dikic. In recognition of his fundamental contribution to decrypting the Ubiquitin code, Ivan Dikic is to receive the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize 2013, Germany`s most prestigious scientific award. The award is funded and presented by the German Research Foundation (DFG). It is the research price with the highest endowment worldwide and comes with a grant of 2.5 M €. Read more.

10th September 2012 - BMLS Group Leader wins ERC Starting Grant. Martin Vabulas was awarded with one of the prestigious grants for early-career researchers, enabling him to carry out his ambitious MetaMeta project. The project studies the metastability of proteins during tumor metastasis and will now be endowed with € 1.4 M for the next 5 years. Link to Goethe University press release and ERC press release.

27th August 2012 - Renaming of the Institute is celebrated in a festive ceremony. As a sign of gratitude to the Frankfurt businessmann and patron Dr. h.c. Josef Buchmann, the Institute has been named Buchmann Institute for Molecular Life Sciences. Josef Buchmann has been a generous supporter of the Goethe University for more than 25 years, and has recently also sponsored the Institute substantially, enabling the recruitment of further young academics to the Riedberg campus. Link to German press release.

10th August 2012 - BMLS scientist Amparo Acker-Palmer elected as new member of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina. Acker-Palmer's research concentrates on the parallels of network formation during vascularization and neuronal development. She was recruited to Frankfurt by the Cluster of Excellence in 2007 and is a group leader in BMLS since 2010. Link to German press release.

18^th July 2012 – A new toolkit for monitoring endogenous Ubiquitin. BMLS scientists developed specific Ubiquitin biosensors for in vivo application. This approach might mark a major technical breakthrough in detection of Ubiquitin signals in living cells. It is published in today’s online issue of Molecular Cell. Link to full article or read more.

15th June 2010 - CEF successful in new round of Excellence Initiative. The Joint Commission of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft and the German Council of Science and Humanities announced today that the Cluster of Excellence Frankfurt Macromolecular Complexes (CEF) will receive funding in the 2nd phase of the German Excellence Initiative. The Buchmann Institute was founded as part of the CEF in 2009, and the continuation of CEF will boost further excellent research at the Institute. Read more.

7th February 2012 – Sponsorship of FMLS by Josef Buchmann sealed. The Frankfurt businessman and patron Josef Buchmann is supporting the FMLS with a substantial donation. As a sign of gratitude and to underscore the important role of Josef Buchmann and his wife Bareket in supporting research at the Goethe University, the FMLS will henceforth be named Buchmann Institute for Molecular Life Sciences. Link to German press release.

February 2011 - Lígia Gomes receives a long-term FEBS fellowship and commences her work within the Dikic/Dötsch group at the FMLS. Her project is focused on the regulation of selective autophagy. FEBS is funding her position for one year, with the option of renewal to up to 3 years.

December 2011 - Award-winning video: PhD student Daniel von Wangenheim from the Stelzer Group wins the 2nd prize in the 2011 Olympus BioScapes Digital Imaging Competition. His video shows a Arabidopsis thaliana lateral root growing out of the primary root. A stack of 233 images was recorded every 15 minutes over a period of 75 hours using light-sheet based fluorescence microscopy (mDSLM). Link to Video.

November 2011 - Simin Rahighi receives an EMBO longterm postdoctoral fellowship; EMBO will fund her work for the next two years. Her proposal is focused on understanding the role of linear ubiquitylation in regulation of apoptotic cell death.

20^th October 2011 - Volker Dötsch elected to EMBO membership: The FMLS Vice Director and Professor at the Institute of Biophysical Chemistry of the Goethe University Frankfurt has been elected by EMBO as one of 46 new members from 14 countries. By awarding life-long membership, EMBO acknowledges the outstanding scientific contribution of Volker Dötsch and his commitment to research excellence. Read more.

August 2011 - Completion of  FMLS building: After only two years of construction time, the new FMLS building has now been finished. Seven groups from a wide range of disciplines have moved in already, creating a vibrant scientific atmosphere. The building offers excellent conditions for cutting edge research in Life Sciences, bridging the gaps between Physics, Biology, and Chemistry. It houses a first-class Electron Microscopy Facility, a dedicated Crystal Facility, and the Frankfurt Centre for Advanced Light Microscopy (FCAM). Link to webcam.

30^th June 2011 – Chaperone system resolved: Newly synthesized proteins are fragile and could never reach their proper functional state and their correct destination without the protection of chaperones. As reported in the latest online issue of Science, FMLS deputy director Volker Dötsch was now involved in solving the molecular mechanisms of one such system. Read more.

26^th May 2011 – New defense mechanism against Salmonella elucidated: After infection with Salmonella, epithelial cells can get rid of the unwanted invader by a process called autophagy. In today’s issue of the journal Science, an international group of scientists around FMLS director Ivan Dikic describes how selectivity is achieved in this process. Read more.

6^th April 2011 - The world’s smallest wedding rings: FMLS scientist Alexander Heckel and his PhD student Thorsten Schmidt succeed in creating two interlocking rings of DNA only 18 nanometers in size. Such a structure is called a catenan, and it sets a milestone in the field of DNA nanotechnology. Read more.

31st March 2011 - A step towards understanding chronic dermatitis: An international team of scientists led by FMLS director Ivan Dikic discovered a novel role for the protein SHARPIN in immune signalling. In today’s issue of Nature, they show how SHARPIN stimulates formation of linearized ubiquitin chains, triggering activation of a central regulator of immune responses. Read more.

21^st March 2011 - Japan Tsunami Appeal: The FMLS & CEF Offices are collecting donations for the Japanese Red Cross Society until the end of March. If you wish to participate in this effort, please visit the office or use the following links to find information of how to donate directly to the Japanese Red Cross or to the German Red Cross.

18^th February 2011 - Fatal quality control in oocytes: Maintaining genomic stability in the female germline is extremely important for all species. Together with others, the group of FMLS scientist Volker Dötsch has now revealed how the activity of quality control factor p63 is regulated in oocytes. Upon DNA damage, conformation of the protein changes to an active tetramer, initiating death of damaged oocytes. Their results are published today in the journal Cell. Read more.

16^th January 2011 - Directing worms with light: FMLS scientist Alexander Gottschalk has shown for the first time how the movement of an animal can be reliably and precisely directed through light impulses. The new technology was published online today in Nature Methods. Read more or watch video.