Lise Meitner Groups

Lise Meitner group Evolutionary Diversification and Innovation
Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology, Plön, Germany
There is an extraordinary diversity of life on earth. Yet, a closer look reveals that some traits readily evolve time and again, while others seem difficult if not impossible to evolve. Nathalie Feiner and her team aim to unravel what makes biological systems evolvable. Using lizards as study systems, they take an integrative approach to decipher the developmental rules that underpin evolutionary diversification and the emergence of novel colours, patterns and shapes.

Lise Meitner Group Non-Hermitian topological phenomena
Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light, Erlangen, Germany
In my theory group, we study non-Hermitian topological phenomena. In particular, we investigate models that describe real-world setups, which explicitly take into account the effects of their surroundings. The lens through which these models are studied is that of condensed matter physics and topology, which is a branch of mathematics studying the properties of objects. It turns out that the environment can have a dramatic impact on the features of a system, and typically results in exotic phenomena far beyond conventional cases. The study of such setups is a new and exciting interdisciplinary research field with applications both in classical and quantum physics. In my group, we study open quantum systems, non-linear optical setups as well as quantum materials highly relevant for solid state physics.

Lise Meitner Group Bacteriophages
Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry, Martinsried, Germany
Our research group focuses on studying the viruses of bacteria, called bacteriophages, which stand as the most abundant and diverse biological entity on our planet. Many enzymes, which are conserved in cellular organisms such as, for example, RNA polymerases, are not conserved in bacteriophages and therefore exhibit unique properties. Investigating the diversity of molecular machines and processes that have evolved in bacteriophages provides valuable insights into the evolution and offers a source of new biotechnological tools. Currently, our research is focused on understanding the mechanisms of transcription by unusual phage RNA polymerases, their coupling to the translocation of phage DNA into the host cell, and the mechanisms of the translation of phage genes.

Lise Meitner Group Cognitive Neurogenetics in a social context
Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
How does the structure of the human brain support its functions? The answer to this question lies at the intersection of gene-environment interactions and a refined balance of stability and plasticity. The social environment may be particularly relevant due to the prolonged human neurodevelopment and the ongoing influence of social learning upon the human brain. Sofie Valk and her team combine insights from neuroscience, social psychology, evolutionary biology, and genetics and employ advanced computational techniques to connect biology and the mind across systems and scales.

Lise Meitner Group BirthRites: Cultures of Reproduction
Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
The ways we construct and organize biological reproduction are at the heart of human social life. And the demographic outcomes of these structured cultural worlds in turn shape the contours of evolution. A century of anthropology has uncovered immense variation in the motivations and institutions regulating reproduction. We know almost nothing about how these features coevolve with demographic structures or how they scale up to generate macro demographic patterns. The aims of this interdisciplinary group are: to better understand the relationship between culture and demography in the past, present and future; to develop theoretical models of reproductive dynamics grounded in the field of cultural evolution, and to draw together research practices from the humanities and sciences.

Lise Meitner Group Organic Bioelectronics
Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research, Mainz, Germany
Electronics have evolved in only a few decades from being bulky and slow to becoming light-weight and an integral part of our daily lives in multiple ways. But how will future electronics look like? Ulrike Kraft and her team are investigating  a new class of flexible and stretchable organic electronic materials, specifically conducting polymers and their potential applications in electronic devices such as transistors and biosensors. Due to their printability on elastic substrates, mechanical flexibility, biocompatibility and softness (in compliance with biological tissues), these novel organic electronic materials and devices offer the potential of revolutionizing personalized medicine and health monitoring applications.

Lise Meitner Group Coded Objects
Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz – Max-Planck-Institut, Florence, Italy
The design and distribution of information has gained increasing importance in global politics and economics. And yet, the formal and material implications of “codes” often remain unnoticed or unexamined —just as the reverse  impact of objects  on design processes  in our environments. We therefore propose to look at the space of coding not as abstract technology or remote activity, but at the cultural, social, and aesthetic programming of objects through design. What would it mean to take "Coded Objects" not as stable denominator of things, but as a methodological investigation of form-giving operations and the materiality of design? Taking "Coded Objects" as method of refraction, our multi-disciplinary research group will question any assumptions of "neutral" technology or immaterial bureaucracy. Instead, we seek to investigate how values are concretely shaped through aesthetic and material means , thereby unveiling uncomfortable friction and productive affinities necessary for our research to bear on the present.

Lise Meitner Group Endangered objects: decay, loss and conservation in art history
Bibliotheca Hertziana – Max-Planck-Institut für Kunstgeschichte, Rome, Italy
We want artworks to last as long as possible. We safeguard them from natural decay, wars, vandalism. We study the original condition at the time of their creation, but we also know that changes are inevitable. Francesca Borgo and her group investigate what happens to ageing artefacts over time. To better understand the mechanics of decay and loss, they focus on how the physical instability of objects defines the way they are treated.

Lise Meitner Group In search of a new, light physics
Max Planck Institute for Physics, Munich, Germany
We still don’t know what the Dark Matter of the universe is made of. Presumably, novel types of elementary particles form this mysterious cosmic substance. Up until to now, it has only been possible to detect it indirectly through gravitation – the mutual attraction of masses. Babette Döbrich and her group are also involved in the worldwide search for a concrete trace of Dark Matter. They collaborate in experiments to discover new, light particles of which it might consist.

Lise Meitner Group Spin3D: three-dimensional magnetic systems
Max Planck Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids, Dresden, Germany
Magnets are omnipresent in our everyday lives: they have a key role to play in energy generation and data processing. Yet the physics of magnets and the search for how to harness them beyond known applications remain mostly two-dimensional. Claire Donnelly and her group are applying new techniques to push into the third dimension. With their 3D experiments, they seek to lay the foundations for more environment-friendly and more powerful magnetic devices.

Lise Meitner Group Active Sensing
Max Planck Institute for Biological Intelligence, Martinsried, Germany
Our eyes are constantly on the move. However, we rarely take note of this consciously because the brain partially suppresses visual perception as these movements occur. Lisa Fenk and her team are seeking to understand how the brain filters visual features as relevant (or irrelevant), thereby determining what we actively and consciously see. They use fruit flies as a model organism: these can move their retina via tiny muscles, and the resulting eye movements are surprisingly similar to our own.

Lise Meitner Group Language and Computation in Neural Systems
Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen, Netherlands
Are we humans still superior to artificial intelligence? In the field of language and its processing, this is clearly the case. Only human beings can understand and name things they have never heard of before. Our stored linguistic knowledge in our brains goes far beyond learned knowledge and distributional information gained from experience. Andrea Martin and her group are investigating how the brain can store and use both structured and statistical linguistic information.

Lise Meitner Group Genome organization and regulation
Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences, Göttingen, Germany
The ability of cells to precisely regulate the activity of their genes enables the development of complex organisms with hundreds of specialized cell types which all share the same DNA sequence. In her research, Marieke Oudelaar investigates the molecular mechanisms by which gene activity is regulated during development. In particular, her group focusses on the spatial organization of the DNA within cells and how the resulting 3D structures are related to the activity of the genes they contain.

Lise Meitner Group Social Behaviour
Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, Jena, Germany
Living in groups comes with both advantages and disadvantages. For example, group-living enables division of labor, which can increase efficiency; on the other hand, it can facilitate the spread of infectous diseases. Yuko Ulrich and her team are investigating the causes and consequences of social behavior, and whether there may actually be forms of social organisation that can reduce disease transmission, using ants as an experimental system.

Lise Meitner Group China in the Global System of Science
Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Berlin, Germany
China has become the world’s largest producer of scientific articles and a fast climber in global university rankings. The Chinese government is promoting this rise, differentiating strongly between the natural and the social sciences, and aiming at a political control of science. Anna Ahlers will elaborate a sociology of science with her research group that focusses on the political regime and societal values as environmental factors for science in China and for the global system of science.

Lise Meitner Group Cellular computations and learning
Max Planck Institute for Neurobiology of Behavior - caesar, Bonn, Germany
Cells process information in real-time and respond to combination of chemical signals that vary both in space and time. Such information processing dynamically resembles the sensory computations of the neural microcircuits in the cerebral cortex. Aneta Koseska wants to develop a generic theory of computations and learning on the level of biochemical networks in single cells.

Lise Meitner Group Technological Primates
Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig
Tool use paved the way for human development in an evolutionary trajectory. Surprisingly, very little is known regarding the origin and evolution of human tool use. Lydia Luncz studies non-human primates as a model for potential tool behaviour of early hominins. Comparisons between species help to expand our knowledge regarding the adaptive significance of tool use and substantially further our understanding of the cultural and behavioral evolution of humans.

Lise Meitner Group Metal-Organic Framework and Nanoparticle Catalysis
Max-Planck-Institut für Kohlenforschung, Mülheim / Ruhr, Germany
The research topics in my group are clustered around problems that, if solved, would either enable or significantly improve the sustainable production of vital resources. The design of a catalyst that can selectively activate a stronger bond in the presence of a weaker bond, or the development of a catalyst support material that can direct the course of a chemical transformation would enable more straight-forward synthetic routes to important commodity products.
www.neumannlab.science

Lise Meitner Group Galactic nuclei
Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, Heidelberg, Germany
Nadine Neumayer and her research group are investigating the role black holes play in the evolution of galaxies. At what point in the development of a galaxy and under what conditions is a massive black hole formed? Do all galaxies have a central black hole? To answer these questions, she systematically studies those galaxies that are still in an early stage of development. The findings provide insights into how galaxies evolve and how matter is distributed in the universe. more