Jan-Michael Peters elected Scientific Member at the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry
Today, the Max Planck Society announced the election of two new External Scientific Members to the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry (MPIB) in Martinsried near Munich. One of them is the IMP’s Scientific Director, Jan-Michael Peters, the other Cynthia Sharma from the University of Würzburg. The appointment recognizes Peters’ scientific contributions and builds on long-standing collaborations between Peters and several MPIB scientists, including Brenda Schulman, Matthias Mann, Wolfgang Baumeister and Robert Huber. Peters’ appointment aims to strengthen the cooperation between MPIB and IMP and will allow MPIB to benefit from Peters’ scientific and leadership expertise. “The close connection between the MPI for Biochemistry and the IMP offers great synergies in the fields of cell biology and genomics,” Peters says in response to the Max Planck Society’s announcement of his election. “I look forward to building new bridges between Vienna and Martinsried and contributing my experience, including in the strategic development of research infrastructures."
Scientific Members of the Max Planck Society are appointed by the Senate of the Max Planck Society following a rigorous selection process involving the best internal (MPS) and external experts in the respective field. By appointing renowned scientists from Germany and abroad as External Scientific Members, the Max Planck Institutes optimize and strengthen their long-term scientific contacts and opportunities for cooperation. The principal requirement for appointment as an External Scientific Member is the scientific excellence of the candidate.
Elena Conti, the managing director of the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry, emphasizes: "With Cynthia Sharma and Jan-Michael Peters, we welcome two experts whose work will greatly enrich our research profile. They embody innovation, internationalism, and exceptional support for young scientists. We are very much looking forward to working with them in the future.”
About Jan-Michael Peters
Jan-Michael Peters (born 1962 in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany) is a cell and molecular biologist, and the Scientific Director of the Research Institute of Molecular Pathology (IMP) at the Vienna BioCenter. His laboratory investigates the molecular mechanisms of genome folding and chromosome segregation in mammalian cells.
Peters studied biology in Kiel and Heidelberg. He obtained his PhD from the University of Heidelberg in 1991 where he worked with Werner Franke, discovered p97-ATPase and the AAA-ATPase family, and first purified and structurally characterized the 26S proteasome. As a postdoctoral fellow with Marc Kirschner at Harvard Medical School in Boston he discovered the anaphase promoting complex/cyclosome (APC/C) and other enzymes required for chromosome segregation. In 1996 he became Junior Group Leader, in 2002 Senior Scientist, in 2011 Scientific Deputy Director and in 2013 Scientific Director of the IMP in Vienna.
Jan-Michael Peters and his laboratory investigate the molecular mechanisms of genome folding and chromosome segregation in mammalian cells. The team has made important contributions to understanding the molecular mechanisms of genome folding and chromosome segregation, including the discovery that genomes are organised by cohesin-mediated loop extrusion. The loops formed by this process have a universal role in the spatial organization of genomes and have important functions in mammalian development and immunity. Peters discovered that cohesin is required for forming chromatin loops by extruding DNA. His team showed that the cohesin-interacting proteins WAPL and CTCF regulate the length, lifetime and genomic position of chromatin loops. Peters also provided evidence that defects in loop extrusion might be the cause of diseases that are associated with cohesin mutations, such as developmental disorders and cancer.
Peters has authored more than 200 publications and has received a number of awards, including the Wittgenstein Award and two ERC Advanced Grants; he has coordinated several large-scale research projects, such as the European Union projects MitoCheck and MitoSys.
About the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry
The Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry (MPIB) in Martinsried near Munich is one of the leading international research institutions in the fields of biochemistry, cell and structural biology and biomedical research. With around 20 scientific departments and research groups and approximately 750 employees, the MPIB is one of the largest institutes of the Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science. The institute is located on the Martinsried Life Science Campus in the immediate vicinity of the Max Planck Institute for Biological Intelligence, institutes of the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich and the Biotechnology Innovation and Start-up Center (IZB).