News from the RTG
Pioneering Women: Exhibition in Halle (Saale)
We are pleased to announce that BEAM’s “Pioneering Women” exhibition is now on display at the Stadtwerke Customer Center in Halle (Saale).
The exhibition celebrates pioneering female scientists whose achievements have shaped the natural sciences but have often remained overlooked. Featuring AI-assisted portraits by science photographer Gesine Born, it brings their stories and contributions into the spotlight.
The exhibition can be visited at BornknechtstraĂźe 5, Halle (Saale), from September 1, 2026.
Congratulations to Dr. Mariana Schuster on receiving an ERC Starting Grant!
We are delighted to congratulate Dr. Mariana Schuster, Principal Investigator at BEAM, on being awarded a prestigious ERC Starting Grant for her project FRONTERA.
With €1.5 million in funding over five years, Dr. Schuster and her team will investigate how the targeted cleavage of membrane proteins regulates plant immune responses. Through FRONTERA, they aim to uncover a largely unexplored regulatory mechanism in plant immunity and advance our understanding at the interface of plant biology, biochemistry, and immunology.
ERC Starting Grants are among Europe’s most competitive research awards, supporting outstanding early-career researchers in pursuing ambitious and innovative research.
Congratulations, Dr. Mariana Schuster, on this outstanding achievement!
Read more about her research and the FRONTERA project in the IPB press release. https://www.ipb-halle.de/fileadmin/OEffentlichkeit/2020_ONLINE_Newsletter/2026_9_PM_Mariana/2026_9_pm_erc.html
Current Research
Anna Luisa Upterworth, Tom Erik Steinkopf, Daniel Sebastiani
Front Cover: Molecular Origins of Philicity: How Atomic Interactions Determine Miscibility and Diffusivity (ChemPhysChem 13/2026)
Abstract (click here)
Anna Luisa Upterworth and Daniel Sebastiani
From Atomic Interactions to Molecular Miscibility and Philicity: Deciphering Enthalpic Driving Forces
Abstract (click here)
Sebastian Michler, Christian Schwieger, Florian Arndt Schöffmann, Dariush Hinderberger
Functional thermodynamics govern the ligand binding to human cytosolic transport proteins
Abstract (click here)
Upcoming Events
- CMM 1: How we can use and model symmetry
Event Date: tbd
What are groups, where do they naturally appear? How do we mathematically model symmetry and what does it have to do with groups? Motivation, examples from own research environment? - CMM 2: NMR spectroscopy for biomolecular and materials characterization
Event Date: tbd
This module provides a conceptual and hands-on introduction into the basic principles of NMR spectroscopy, focusing on technical aspects and options beyond simple high-resolution spectra interpretation. - CMM 3: Fluorescence Correlation Spectroscopy (FCS)
Event Date: tbd
Fluorescence Correlation Spectroscopy (FCS) Giant Unilamellar Vesicles (GUVs) - CMM 4: Applications of EPR in soft matter: from polymers to proteins
Event Date: tbd
tbd - CMM 5: GC MS and LC MS analytics for low and medium throughput
Event Date: tbd
Insides into the usage of mass spectrometry (MS) to analyse enzyme variants to advance biocatalysis for chemical applications. - CMM 6: Molecule Mass Spectrometry
Event Date: tbd
tbd - CMM 7: Computational Chemistry Tutorial
Event Date: tbd
tbd - CMM 8: Fundamentals of Chemical Probe Technologies
Event Date: tbd
The lecture is intended to provide an overview of modern chemical probes as tools in chemical biology. - Workshop: Good Scientific Writing
Event Date: 15. – 16.09.2026
The principles of good scientific writing • cultural differences in how academic papers are written • how to structure research articles • how to build effective paragraphs and sentences • communicating voice and attitude in a text • incorporating narrative into academic texts • abstracts and introductions • punctuation • editing techniques - Workshop: Predator Publishig and AI in Science (mandatory, mark your calendar)
Event Date: 24.09.2026
Predator Publishing + Fake Science: How to Recognize and avoid them AI in the Context of Academic Work (e.g., use in research and the writing process, guidelines from MLU and major publishers/funding agencies, etc.) - Workshop: Follow me – women only
Event Date: 02.10.2026
A seminar around strengths & resource efficiency and leadership in science Contents: – Being able to define and name self-efficacy and strength orientation in one’s own profile – Develop leadership competence and leadership profile – To work out own patterns of success in the leadership context This seminar will be conducted in English, all materials will be written in English. - BEAM-Coloquium: Rheological Tunability of Self-Healing Polymers and Bacteria Biofilms
Event Date: 08.10.2026
tbd