Research News and Press Releases

New experimental studies by numerous research groups, including the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology (MPI-EB) in Plön and Kiel University (CAU), suggest that evolutionary medicine could shape the future of gastroenterology. It paves the way for new approaches to treating inflammatory diseases, such as chronic inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD). more

2024 From October 16th to 18th, 2024, the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology in Plön, Germany, hosted a workshop on Evolutionary Graph Theory. The event brought together leading researchers from diverse fields including applied mathematics, theoretical computer science, population genetics, theoretical physics, and experimental evolution. With this cross-disciplinary focus, the symposium provided a unique and focused platform for experts to discuss recent advances and chart a course for the future of this field. more

The Plön section of the Schleswig-Holstein University Society (SHUG) is launching an exciting lecture series in the winter semester of 2024/25, which will begin on November 7, 2024, at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology in Plön. Under the theme "Military Legacy in the North and Baltic Seas," Prof. Dr. Edmund Maser from the Christian-Albrechts-University of Kiel will kick off the series with a lecture on the dangerous remnants of bombs, torpedoes, and other munitions in the sea. This lecture series marks the beginning of a closer collaboration between the SHUG Plön section and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology. more

Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology in Plön and the University of Edinburgh have, for the first time, analyzed the effects of mutation accumulation on various traits, including reproductive fitness, in mammals through a comprehensive study. Over a period of seven years, laboratory mice were examined, whose mutation mechanisms are highly similar to those of humans. more

Vom 24. bis 26. September 2024 fand im Max-Planck-Institut für Evolutionsbiologie in Plön die zweite Fachtagung zum Thema Antibiotikaresistenzen unter dem Titel „Evolutionary biology meets the antibiotic crisis“ statt. Die Tagung, organisiert von Prof. Dr. Hinrich Schulenburg (Kiel/Plön) und Prof. Dr. Jens Rolff (Berlin), brachte rund 40 Wissenschaftlerinnen und Wissenschaftler aus verschiedenen Disziplinen zusammen, um drängende Fragen zur wachsenden Bedrohung durch antibiotikaresistente Krankheitserreger zu diskutieren. more

How different species interact with each other, such as predator and prey, is by no means fixed and can depend on the prevailing environmental conditions. The new DFG research group "DynaSym" is investigating which factors play a role in this process. more

Advances in biological science are leading to a striking new understanding of how organisms evolve. Charles Darwin’s ‘natural selection’ remains the principal mechanism, but which traits are favoured is partly determined by properties of the organism itself, leading to differences between species in the ability to evolve. In a much-anticipated new book that lays out the new perspective, an international team of leading scientists describe how the evolutionary process has itself evolved over time – and continues to do so. more