Institute News
Our BBO lab is part of the new Max Planck – Yonsei IBS Center for Deep Tissue Nanoscale Control
Excerpt from the press release by the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research (July 28, 2025)
Scientists at the Max Planck Institutes for Medical Research in Heidelberg with its new departments based in Heilbronn, and for Neurobiology of Behavior – caesar in Bonn, and at the Institute for Basic Science at Yonsei University in Seoul will pool their expertise in future. The aim of the new Max Planck Center is to visualize cellular processes deep within human tissue and influence them in a targeted manner — without damaging the tissue.
The new ‘Max Planck – Yonsei IBS Center for Deep Tissue Nanoscale Control’ will begin operations on August 1, 2025. The aim of the partnership is to develop new technologies at the interface of nanoscience, synthetic cell biology, and neuroscience. These are intended for use in areas such as immunotherapy. The research program is interdisciplinary and focused on long-term exchange. It is the second Max Planck Center with a partner in South Korea and one of four currently with Asian participation.
“This collaboration offers us the opportunity to solve a very challenging scientific problem that is of great importance in the field of medical research and its potential applications: the non-destructive investigation and manipulation of cellular processes deep within tissue from the outside,” says Joachim Spatz, Managing Director at the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research. “The expertise of the Institute for Basic Science at Yonsei University is crucial in this regard. Our two new departments on the ‘Bildungscampus’ in Heilbronn will advance the center's research projects with visiting scientists from South Korea at our new location and then further develop them for potential medical applications as part of our ‘First in Translation’ concept.”
"Gaining understanding of how the brain controls behavior requires tools that work deep in in the brain, without disrupting natural function, while the animal is free to behave. This collaboration makes that vision scientifically exciting," says Jason Kerr, Director at the Max Planck Institute for Neurobiology of Behavior – caesar in Bonn.
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Read the full press release by the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research
Max Planck scientists are using magnetic nanoparticles to study how physical forces influence the way new blood vessels grow. In this microscope image, tiny blood vessel sprouts (red with blue cell nuclei) are seen growing out of 3D spheroid tissue models.
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Scientific Director, current Managing Director