We are not alone! The MPI-CBG has initiated and joined a number of networks. We have recognized that no research institution can maintain an international ranking in isolation.
“Where computer science and physics meet biology.”
The Center for Systems Biology Dresden (CSBD) is an initiative of the Max-Planck Society in collaboration with the Technische Universität Dresden (TUD), one of the eleven German Excellence Universities. In 2010, the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics (MPI-CBG) and the Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems (MPI-PKS) started the CSBD with the generous support of the Saxon State Ministry for Higher Education, Research, and the Arts, the BMBF, and the Klaus Tschira Stiftung. The CSBD is housed in a building on the MPI-CBG campus in the immediate vicinity of the University Clinic and the Center for Molecular and Cellular Bioengineering (CMCB) of the TU Dresden.
The center’s vision is to develop theoretical and computational approaches to biological systems across different scales, from molecules to cells and from cells to tissues. Interdisciplinary teams of physicists, computer scientists, bioinformaticians, mathematicians, and biologists work collaboratively to understand complex biological systems and their processes.
The MPI-CBG is member a of DRESDEN-concept, a research alliance of the Technische Universität Dresden together with the four major research institutions – Max Planck, Helmholtz, Fraunhofer, and Leibniz – and the research-active museums. The alliance is aimed at the development and use of synergies in research, education, infrastructure, and administration.
The Center for Advanced Systems Understanding in Görlitz unites the partners Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden – Rossendorf (HZDR), Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), Technische Universität Dresden (Technical University of Dresden – TUD), and Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics (MPI-CBG). This makes it a unique combination of institutes of the Helmholtz Association and the Max Planck Society with the “University of Excellence” Technische Universität Dresden.
CASUS is a joint German-Polish research institute with strong scientific collaboration with Wrocław University, Warsaw University, the International Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology in Warsaw (IIMCB), and the Warsaw University of Technology.
Core for Life was established in 2012 as an Excellence Alliance of Life Science Core Facilities in Europe with the mission to explore the potential of coordinating and bundling core facility expertise and resources across institutes and countries.
Core for Life members today are the MPI-CBG, the Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG) in Spain, the Vlaams Instituut voor Biotechnologie (VIB) in Belgium, the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg, the Functional Genomics Center Zurich (FGCZ), and the Vienna Biocenter Campus (VBC)/Campus Science Support Facilities GmbH (CSF) in Austria.
The Biopolis Dresden Imaging Platform (BioDIP) is a community of core microscopy and imaging facilities on the Biopolis Dresden campus, providing open access to Advanced Microscopy Systems and Image Processing. BioDIP includes members like the MPI-CBG, the Center for Regenerative Therapies Dresden (CRTD), the BIOTEC, the Medical Theoretical Center Dresden (MTZ), and the Dresden partner institute of the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases within the Helmholtz Association (DZNE).
All major research institutions in Dresden form the network Dresden – Stadt der Wissenschaften together. This network also includes the city administration of Dresden, represented by the Deputy of Economic Affairs. “Dresden – Stadt der Wissenschaften” hosts science communication events like the Dresdner Lange Nacht der Wissenschaften (Dresden Science Night) and the Juniordoktor program.