Plants and People Conferences are hosted by the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, and take place on the Max Planck Campus in Potsdam-Golm.
Our institute was established in 1994, with founding director Prof. Dr Lothar Willmitzer and his Department “Molecular Physiology” (1994-2022) focusing investigations on plant central metabolic pathways and analysis of plant gene function. In the years that followed, two further Departments were established: “Metabolic Networks” led by Prof. Dr. Mark Stitt from 2001 to 2021, and “Organelle Biology, Biotechnology and Molecular Ecophysiology” headed by Prof. Dr. Ralph Bock since 2004.
Almost 30 years after its formation, our institute comprises around 300 staff – graduate students, post docs, technicians and support staff, independent and associated group leaders – originating from all corners of the earth. Our current Directors are Prof. Dr. Ralph Bock, Prof. Dr. Claudia Köhler, heading the Department “Plant Reproductive Biology and Epigenetics” (since 2021), and Prof. Dr. Caroline Gutjahr, heading the Department “Root Biology and Symbiosis” (since 2022). Our research focusses on fundamental processes of how plants grow, reproduce and interact with the abiotic and biotic environment, and how they perceive and integrate exogenous and endogenous signals to ensure their health, survival, biomass acquisition and seed formation. We use an interdisciplinary approach combining molecular biology, genetics, genomics, epigenomics, metabolomics, biochemistry, biophysics and microscopy with bioinformatics and modelling.
For more details about the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, our people and our science, please go to the institute website.
The MPI-MP's greenhouse.
Photo: T. Armarego-Marriott
Our institute is one of three Max Planck Institutes on the Max Planck Campus Potsdam-Golm. We are located in the Potsdam Science Park, north-west of Potsdam city centre. The University of Potsdam Campus Golm, two Fraunhofer Institutes, the Brandenburg State Archives and several start-up companies are our direct neighbours.
For more information on how to get to the Max Planck Campus Potsdam-Golm, please see 'Travel Information'.
For a map of the Potsdam Science Park and more details, please go here.
Please see 'Potsdam' for more information about the city of Potsdam.