Exciting times ahead! Mainz @unimainz.bsky.social has entered Germany's top tier of research universities through its alliance with Frankfurt @goetheuni.bsky.social and Darmstadt @tuda.bsky.social bringing substantial research funding, prestige & opportunities for collaboration from 2027 onward!

Rhein-Main-Universitäten@rheinmainunis.bsky.social · last mo.

Bild: RMU / Patrick Bal

Great pleasure to welcome @lennarthilbert.bsky.social in Mainz and dive into the exciting field of the 3D organization of the cell nucleus which resonates so strongly with our network. We truly enjoyed the exchange! Grateful to @wittmann-lab.bsky.social for making this connection happen!

Lennart Hilbert@lennarthilbert.bsky.social · last mo.

Great to visit @imbmainz.bsky.social via invite of Sina Wittmann @sfb1551.bsky.social yesterday. My impression was that we are really going after the same questions, Wittmann lab via super strong reconstituted molecular biology, and us top-down by embryo and simulations. Fantastic discussions!

📢 Coming up soon: Peptide Self-Assembly Conference 2026! Join the international supramolecular science community in Mainz, Germany, from 10–12 August 2026 for 3 days of cutting-edge research on peptide self-assembly, biomaterials, catalysis, sustainable chemistry, & more. www.psacon2026.com

Check out "Mission DNA" outreach initiative from @koenig-lab.bsky.social in Würzburg! Let's keep inspiring the future generation of scientists! Well-done!

König Lab@koenig-lab.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Today, researchers from @nucleate-cluster.bsky.social, TRR 319, @sfb1551.bsky.social, and @sfb1361.bsky.social visited a primary school in Würzburg to show the fascinating world of DNA! 🧬 Thanks to the great team from the König and @zarnack-group.bsky.social labs at @uni-wuerzburg.de! #MissionDNA

👏👏👏Congratulations to SFB 1551 group leaders Edward Lemke @lemkelab.bsky.social and Andreas Walther @waltherlab.bsky.social at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) @unimainz.bsky.social @imbmainz.bsky.social on being awarded prestigious European Research Council (ERC) Advanced Grants.

Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz@unimainz.bsky.social · 4mo ago

#ERCAdG für zwei Forschende der #UniMainz: Biophysiker Edward Lemke und Chemiker Andreas Walther erhalten Förderung in Millionenhöhe von der EU 👉 presse.uni-mainz.de/erc-advanced-… #ERCAdvancedGrant #Biophysik #Biomaterialien @imbmainz.bsky.social #ERC @erc.europa.eu @waltherlab.bsky.social

It was a pleasure to close the 3-day SFB1551 First International Symposium in Mainz—what an enriching scientific exchange! Grateful to our distinguished speakers and everyone who joined this unique event. See you again in four years—stay tuned!

Congratulations to SFB1551 @dormannlab.bsky.social and @lemkelab.bsky.social at JGU Mainz for being awarded the platinum level of certification by My Green Lab! Together with @landfesterdept.bsky.social, the SFB1551 has now 3 labs actively working toward making their science more sustainable! 🌱🌱🌱

SFB1551 socks: whatelse! 🧦😍 Thanks @waltherlab.bsky.social and wish you a nice trip!

Andreas Walther@waltherlab.bsky.social · 11mo ago

Taking my @sfb1551.bsky.social socks for another spin to visit Silvia Vignolini at the MPI in golm. A long trip…

Congratulations to Andreas Bock, from University Medical Center Mainz and associate member of the SFB1551, on being awarded the ERC Consolidator Grant for his project "CLARITY" on "Elucidating the Role of Subcellular GPCR Nanoswitches in Signaling Specificity" Well done!

European Research Council (ERC)@erc.europa.eu · 11mo ago

The results of the ERC Consolidator Grant call have been announced! 📣 349 researchers have been selected for funding. Congratulations to all! #ERCCogG! 👉 buff.ly/uu62uFV #FrontierResearch #EUfunded #HorizonEurope @scienceinnovation.ec.europa.eu

Registrations are now open for the 1st International Symposium on Polymer Concepts in Cellular Function 📍Venue: Gonsberg Lounge, Mainz 📅 Dates: 4–6 Mar. 2026 🗓️ Registration & Abstract Submission Deadline: 15 Jan. 2026 Register: crc1551.com/sfb1551-inte... We look forward to welcoming you in Mainz!

🎉Publication alert🎉 Congratulations to @lemkelab.bsky.social, @wittmann-lab.bsky.social, Girard Lab & their teams on their new Nature Communications publication. This work showcases the active cross-disciplinary dialogue that lies at the heart of our network. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Differential conformational expansion of NUP98-HOXA9 oncoprotein from nanosized assemblies to macrophases - Nature Communications

Some transcription factors can organize into different structural states, from small nanoscale clusters to macrophases. Here authors show that NHA9 undergoes differential conformational expansion acro...

nature.com

🎉👏 A huge thank you to everyone who joined our Annual Retreat! Over three inspiring days, more than 100 colleagues from 16 Research Projects and 4 Service Projects filled the rooms with ideas, data, and great discussions. Here’s to another year of discovery and collaboration! 🚀

🖥️ New Publication Alert Congratulations to Eric Schumbera, @dormannlab.bsky.social, @waltherlab.bsky.social & @miguelandrade66.bsky.social on their recent publication in BMC Genomics #RGmotifs #IDRs #LLPS #HumanProteome #ComputationalMotifAnalysis bmcgenomics.biomedcentral.com/articles/10....

Computational investigation of the sequence context of arginine/glycine-rich motifs in the human proteome - BMC Genomics

Arginine-glycine (RG)-rich motifs are among the most prevalent RNA-binding elements within intrinsically disordered regions (IDRs) of proteins and play crucial roles in RNA metabolism, gene regulation, and the formation of membraneless organelles via liquid phase separation (LLPS). Despite their biological relevance and implication in neurological disorders and cancer, the sequence features and context dependencies that define functional RG motifs remain poorly characterized owing to their disordered nature and sequence variability. In this study, we present a computational framework to dissect the sequence and structural context of RG motifs across the human proteome. By contrasting a functionally defined positive dataset—enriched for RNA-binding and phase-separating proteins—with a negative dataset of RG motif proteins lacking these annotations, we identified distinct compositional and contextual signatures. RG motifs in the functionally defined positive dataset show increased enrichment of phenylalanine, tyrosine, aspartic acid, and asparagine, both within and around the motif, as well as nonrandom spatial relationships with structured RNA-binding domains. Notably, phenylalanine and tyrosine exhibit divergent positional and functional profiles, suggesting distinct mechanistic roles. Our analysis highlights the potential of sequence-based approaches to uncover functional determinants in disordered protein regions and further advances our understanding of the properties of RG motifs, offering a transferable framework for the study of other low-complexity motifs.

bmcgenomics.biomedcentral.com

🚨 Publication Alert 🚨 Congratulations to Weixiang Chen from @waltherlab.bsky.social Andreas Walther Lab on their recent publication in #NatureCommunications! 🎉👏 #SyntheticNuclearArchitectures #TranscriptionalCondensates #DNAProtonucleus #BiomolecularCondensates #PhaseSeparation #SFB1551 #UniMainz

Andreas Walther@waltherlab.bsky.social · last yr.

🚨Miao's and Weixiang's work on RNA transcription in DNA based condensates as nucleus mimics is now out in @natcomms.nature.com www.nature.com/articles/s41... #syncell #DNA #condensate #LLPS. Great work to understand transcription and LLPS in #crowded #viscoelastic environments @sfb1551.bsky.social

Last week we attended a fantastic meeting of the SPP2191 and GBM Compact on Condensates! Congrats to members of the Dormann Lab, Yelyzaveta Zadorozhna and Fatmanur Tiryaki, for giving great talks, and to Saskia Hutten for winning a poster award 🎉! @spp2191.bsky.social @sfb1551.bsky.social

SPP2191 - Molecular Mechanisms of Functional Phase Separation@spp2191.bsky.social · last yr.

📢 Registration is open for the GBM Compact: Focus on Condensate Biology & SPP2191 Satellite Meeting! This is sure to be an incredible event diving into the latest in phase separation research with leading scientists. 📍 Frankfurt am Main 📅 Sept 16–19, 2025 🌐 shorturl.at/ZGQch @gbmev.bsky.social

SFB1551 group leader Michael te Vrugt was featured in Nachrichten aus der Chemie! At @pintofscience.de, he wowed the audience with a creative "zombie apocalypse talk"—playfully testing models that also apply to real epidemics like rabies & COVID-19🧪🍺🧟 Check👇 onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Auf ein Bier mit einem Zombieforscher

Ende Mai erhaschten Interessierte weltweit einen Blick in den Elfenbeinturm: In 27 Ländern gleichzeitig fand das Pint-of-Science-Festival statt, bei dem Forschende in Kneipen und Cafés ihre Erkenntni....

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

🚨🚨IDPSeminars is BACK 🚨🚨 Season 19 (!) gets underway next week with @rohitpappu68.bsky.social and Meredith Jackrel! Date: Thur. Sept 4th Time: 1 pm EST [USA] / 7 pm CET [Europe] If you've previously signed up, you should be good to go, otherwise, please sign up at idpseminars.com

✨ Polymers: The Hidden Heroes of Life ✨ Thrilled to share that our science outreach chapter has just been published in the Springer Series "Science for a Better Tomorrow"! A true example of how collaboration and curiosity can drive meaningful science communication! link.springer.com/book/10.1007...

Science for a Better Tomorrow

This book explores how biosciences, AI, and IT can innovate biomedicine and health, expanding on the discussion held at the Curious2024 Conference.

link.springer.com

Fresh in Nature Communications: a big update from the international biocondensate community featuring SFB1551 spokespersons @dormannlab.bsky.social and @lemkelab.bsky.social Read more 👉 www.nature.com/articles/s41... Congrats to all authors!

🎉 Congrats to @kgaurav.bsky.social, Lukas Stelzl & @reneketting.bsky.social (SFB1551) on their new Biophysical Journal paper! #MUT16 #PhaseSeparation #MutatorFoci #SmallRNA #GeneRegulation #Celegans #ProteinAssembly #RNAResearch #MultiscaleSimulations Great teamwork👏👏👏 www.cell.com/biophysj/ful....

Multi-scale Simulations of MUT-16 Scaffold Protein Phase Separation and Client Recognition

Phase separation of proteins plays a critical role in cellular organisation. How phase separated protein condensates underpin biological function and how condensates achieve specificity remain elusive...

cell.com

Shout-out to all the students in our network! 💪 Check out the EMBL courses and conferences for 2026! The SFB1551 Integrated Research Training Group is here to support your journey with top-notch training to boost your project. #EMBL #research #training #lifesciences #molecularbiology #bioinformatics

EMBL Events@events.embl.org · last yr.

Ready to explore what's next in the life sciences? 🧬🔍 Then check out our new 2026 EMBL Annual Poster 👉 s.embl.org/2026-poster Join us for another year of asking the big questions in the life sciences. See you in 2026? #EMBL #lifesciences #molecularbiology #bioinformatics

What an amazing crowd we had at the recent SPP2191 & SFB1551 joint retreat at Basecamp Bonn! We can’t wait to see everyone again in September at the GBM Compact: Focus on Condensate Biology & the SPP2191 Satellite Meeting in Frankfurt. Early registration ends today!

🚨Publication alert🚨 "Molecular simulations of enzymatic phosphorylation of disordered proteins and their condensates" by Emanuele Zippo, @lstelzl.bsky.social, @dormannlab.bsky.social & Thomas Speck. Congratulations!! 📄 www.nature.com/articles/s41... #TDP43 #CK1δ #ALS #biophysics #proteincondensates

Molecular simulations of enzymatic phosphorylation of disordered proteins and their condensates - Nature Communications

Here, the authors implement molecular dynamics simulations to model ATP-driven enzymatic reactions, revealing how the enzyme CK1δ phosphorylates condensates of the neurodegeneration linked protein TDP...

nature.com

#PintOfScience Mainz 2025 with a full house at Wallenstein! 🧬🧟‍♂️Glad to hear Michael te Vrugt from SFB1551 @unimainz.bsky.social connecting zombie outbreaks with real-world challenges like pandemics! Huge thanks to the organizers & congrats to all speakers on a great night! #pint25 @pintofscience.de

ChiaraG@chiaragaly.bsky.social · last yr.

Warum Zombies erforschen? Das erzählt uns jetzt Michael fürs #pint25de 🤓😲 Michael ist Juniorprofessur an der @unimainz.bsky.social, und nutzt die Dynamik einer Zombie-Apokalypse als Epidemiologische-Model 🧟‍♂️ @sfb1551.bsky.social #pint25 @pintofscience.de

How often do you hear about zombies & physics? If you are in Mainz, you just can’t miss Michael te Vrugt‘s talk on Monday, 19 May at 18h, downtown at the Wallenstein Cafe! Come and get sip of science with your friends. Get your tickets here: www.pintofscience.de/events/mainz

Mainz

Explore Pint of Science Deutschland events in Mainz

pintofscience.de

ChiaraG@chiaragaly.bsky.social · last yr.

Michael ist Physiker am @unimainz.bsky.social. Er wird darüber sprechen, wie die Zombie-Forschung und helfen kann, take Probleme zu lösen 🧟‍♂️😎 Karten: www.pintofscience.de/events/mainz #pint25de #wisskomm #Physik #scicomm #Epidemiologie #mainzerleben #mainz

We are thrilled to announce that registration has officially opened for the GBM Compact 2025 and SPP2191 International Symposium, which will take place as a satellite meeting! Save the dates 16-19 September & register in the link below👇

GBM (Gesellschaft für Biochemie und Molekularbiologie)@gbmev.bsky.social · last yr.

GBM Compact: Focus on Condensate Biology - Registration is open www.idw-online.de/-DQBMAA

Some of our researchers took part in the workshop 'Using AI Assistants to Increase Productivity' by Daniel Mertens. We're grateful to the trainer for the insightful content & to the co-organizers for making it possible @sfb1361.bsky.social, @imbmainz.bsky.social @4r-rtg.bsky.social, SFB1552 & GenEvo

SFB1361@sfb1361.bsky.social · last yr.

(1/2) Have you thought about using AI Assistants? How and where can these tools help us? Our researchers were surely excited to explore! We jointly organised a 2-day workshop on "Using AI Assistants to Increase Productivity" to provide the initial stepping stones to use these tools. #training #AI

Join us from May 19–21 for an exciting series of science talks in the heart of Mainz. Meet brilliant researchers, explore topics from physics to genetics, and enjoy your favorite drink in a relaxed atmosphere. Bring your friends, save the dates, and secure your spot! #pint25 #pint25DE #pintDE

Uni Mainz - Veranstaltungen@unimainz-events.bsky.social · 2y ago

KARTEN RESERVIEREN: Pint of Science Mainz - Science Talks mit Mainzer Wissenschaftler*innen am 19,. 20. & 21. Mai 2025 in Locations in der Mainzer Innenstadt 👉 pintofscience.de/events/mainz @sfb1361.bsky.social @sfb1551.bsky.social @imbmainz.bsky.social @mpip-mainz.mpg.de #pint25 #pint25DE #pintDE

🎭Wrapped up the Laboratory of Theatrical Practices w/ actress & director Sofia Cabrita @unimainz.bsky.social An IRTG workshop exploring where performance meets research — embodiment, attention & improvisation in action. Thanks to all who brought the energy! 🙌 #ArtAndScience #training #communication

📢 We are thrilled to announce our International Symposium on Polymer Concepts in Cellular Function, happening from 4-6 March 2026! 📍It will take place in Mainz, Germany, at the @mpip-mainz.mpg.de on the @unimainz.bsky.social campus. 🌐 Find more information here: crc1551.com/sfb1551-inte...