What do we offer?
An overview
The International Max Planck Research School (IMPRS) on Cellular Biophysics (IMPRS-CBP) is an international doctoral training program hosted by the Max Planck Institute of Biophysics, Goethe University Frankfurt and Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz. Biophysics is an interdisciplinary science that applies the theories and methods of physics to understand biological phenomena. Our mission is to train graduate students to tackle one of the ultimate biological challenges: to gain a complete molecular-level understanding of the cell.
We seek to attract students with background in life sciences who are interested in biological and biomedical research.
The Faculty of the IMPRS-CBP consists of about 30 highly committed principle investigators from mainly three institutions: Goethe University Frankfurt (GU), Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) and the Max Planck Institute of Biophysics (MPIBP). There are eight institutes associated with four faculties at GU involved the IMPRS-CBP. These institutes, as well as the Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies (FIAS) and MPIBP are already located at the heart of “Science City Frankfurt Riedberg”, a high-performance center of the Rhine-Main knowledge region. On the Riedberg Campus, research is being conducted today on the chemical, biochemical and physical applications of tomorrow. In the future, all natural science departments and disciplines at GU will find their place here.
At JGU two institutes associated with two faculties are involved in the IMPRS-CBP. Due to the geographical as well as thematic proximity between the research groups located in Frankfurt and Mainz, close collaborations and a vivid research environment have already been established between the two sites.
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The program offers training in concepts and techniques to explore the structure, function, and interactions of macromolecules, the regulation of cellular processes at the molecular and genome-wide levels, as well as the development of methods to image and model these processes. In addition, the curriculum covers a wide array of transferable skills and includes multi-step career mentoring, specifically aimed at preparing our doctoral students for the challenges of a professional career on the global market, whether that be in academia, industry.
The teaching concept is based on the three fundamental pillars of graduate training:
1) Training through research
2) Courses and workshops on technical and transferable skills
3) Networking in an international community of scientific experts
The program is structured in an introduction training immediately after recruitment consisting of a three-week training block, followed by a series of three lab rotations (Phase 1). Phase 2 comprises PhD thesis research, professional networking, and regular progress reviews (Thesis Advisory Committee (TAC) meetings), as well as additional technical or transferable skills courses and optional teaching experience.
Key Features
