# Friedrich Miescher Laboratory of the Max Planck Society

The Friedrich Miescher Laboratory (FML) of the Max Planck Society is a biological research institute located on the Society's campus in Tübingen, Germany, named after Friedrich Miescher, founded in 1969 to offer highly qualified junior scientists in biology an opportunity to establish independent research groups and pursue their own line of research within a five-year period. There are currently four research groups studying evolutionary genetics, systems biology of development, and the biochemistry of meiotic recombination.

## Profile

The Friedrich Miescher Laboratory (FML) of the Max Planck Society is a biological research institute located on the Society's campus in Tübingen, Germany, named after Friedrich Miescher. It was founded in 1969 to offer highly qualified junior scientists in the area of biology an opportunity to establish independent research groups and pursue their own line of research within a five-year period.
The FML was a bold experiment by the Max Planck Society, in response to the brain drain, to place more resources in the hands of junior scientists and make Germany a more attractive research destination.

## Group Leaders

The group leaders are elected by a committee of scientists from diverse areas and institutions on the basis of a public tendering procedure.
Since 2005 the FML has been represented by a managing director in order to relieve the group leaders of administrative burdens and to allow them even more time to focus on their research.
There is no specification as to which kind of biological research should be conducted at the FML, and the focus of research changes with the appointment of each new group leader. While at the FML, they can use modern, well-equipped laboratories and work in teams tailored to their ideas. Each group leader is free to allocate their resources as they choose, and in addition there is a central budget for the FML, managed jointly by the group leaders.
| | Years active at FML | Current Affiliation |
| Luisa Pallares | 2022 – present | The Friedrich Miescher Laboratory (FML) of the Max Planck Society |
| John Weir | 2017 – present | The Friedrich Miescher Laboratory (FML) of the Max Planck Society |
| Patrick Müller | 2014 – 21 | University of Konstanz, Germany |
| Felicity Jones | 2012 – 23 | University of Groningen, Netherlands |
| Frank Chan | 2012 – 23 | University of Groningen, Netherlands |
| Wolfram Antonin | 2006 – 17 | RWTH Aachen University, Germany |
| Michael Hothorn | 2012 – 14 | University of Geneva, Switzerland |
| Silke Hauf | 2005 – 13 | Virginia Tech, West Virginia, USA |
| Dmitri Ivanov | 2005 – 11 | |
| Gunnar Rätsch | 2005 – 11 | ETH Zurich, Switzerland |
| Anne Spang | 1999 – 06 | Biozentrum, University of Basel, Switzerland |
| Gudrun Schwarzer | 2000 – 03 | University of Giessen, Germany |
| Andreas Mayer | 1997 – 03 | University of Lausanne, Switzerland |
| Christoph Schuster | 1996 – 03 | University of Heidelberg, Germany |
| Ralph Rupp | 1993 – 99 | Adolf Butenandt Institute, University of Munich, Germany |
| Alexander Borst | 1993 – 99 | Max Planck Institute for Biological Intelligence, Martinsried, Germany |
| Martin Bähler | 1991 – 97 | University of Münster, Germany |
| Christian Lehner | 1990 – 96 | |
| Stefan Jentsch | 1988 – 93 | Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry, Martinsried, Germany |
| Jürgen Bolz | 1987 – 93 | University of Jena, Germany |
| Claudia Stürmer | 1986 – 90 | University of Konstanz, Germany |
| Peter Ekblom | 1984 – 90 | University of Uppsala, Sweden |
| Walter Birchmeier | 1982 – 88 | Max Delbrück Center, Berlin, Germany |
| Rolf Kemler | 1981 – 87 | |
| Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard | 1981 – 85 | Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology, Tübingen, Germany |
| Matthias Wabl | 1978 – 84 | University of California, San Francisco, USA |
| Heinz Wässle | 1977 – 81 | Max Planck Institute for Brain Research, Frankfurt, Germany |
| Wilfried Seifert | 1975 – 82 | |
| Reinhard Kurth | 1975 – 81 | Robert Koch Institute, Berlin, Germany |
| Wolfgang Hennig | 1974 – 78 | |
| Dieter Oesterhelt | 1973 – 74 | Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry, Martinsried, Germany |
| Günter Gerisch | 1969 – 75 | Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry, Martinsried, Germany |
| Uli Schwarz | 1969 – 74 | Shanghai Institute for Advanced Studies, China |
| Rolf Knippers | 1969 – 73 | University of Konstanz, Germany |
| Friedrich Bonhoeffer | 1969 – 72 | Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology, Tübingen, Germany |