Co-workers at the Work & Party Day

Welcome to the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology

We investigate how organisms interact with chemical signals.
Experiments with vinegar flies. Photo: Anna Schroll

We do research in the lab to better understand interactions at a molecular level.

Photo: Anna Schroll
Experiments on Solanum plants. Photo: Anna Schroll

We do research in the glasshouse and in the field to better understand interactions and signals in their natural environment.

Photo: Anna Schroll
Logo of the initiative "Weltoffenes Thüringen"

We support the Initiative “Weltoffenes Thüringen”.

We are committed to ensuring that people from different backgrounds live and work together in a respectful manner.
At an event in the seminar room of the institute

Training and international collaborations are key features of our work.

The MPI-CE team participating the company run in Jena.

We believe diversity and inclusion leads to the best science.

Research News

A fire salamander with bright yellow spots on a black body, reflecting in the water under dim light in a dark environment. A turquoise reflection is clearly visible on the underside of its head and belly.
Ultraviolet-induced blue-green biofluorescence reveals a previously undetected trait in a well-studied amphibian.
Ants clustered around larvae on a light surface.
Researchers have discovered a brood pheromone released by larvae of clonal raider ants that temporarily suppresses egg-laying in adult ants.
Fluorescent-stained cells in vibrant colors under a microscope.
An introduced bacterium displaces the sawtoothed grain beetle's symbiotic partner, leading to the complete collapse of a previously stable symbiosis within a few generations.

Current News and Announcements

Publications

Fiori Pereira, C.; Ferrarini, M. G.; Kaltenpoth, M.; Engl, T.: Probing metabolic integration in obligate, intracellular symbioses. Current Opinion in Insect Science (accepted)
Arumugam, S.; Rihani, K.; Venkateswaran, V.; Shiota, Y.; Thiagarajan, D.; Hansson, B. S.; Knaden, M.; Sachse, S.: Effects of elevated ozone on life history traits, olfactory detection, and behavior in Drosophila. Science of the Total Environment 1036, 181864 (2026)
Sun, Z.; Pan, X.; Bi, S.; Zhang, Y.; Dun, J.; Mahesati, D.; Lin, Y.; Fu, Y.; Gao, Y.; Xu, X. et al.; Chen, N.; Xing, J.; Ye, W.; Ji, M.; Baldwin, I. T.; Li, J.: Trichome acylsugar defenses are equally effective against leaf-mining and free-living insects. bioRxiv: the preprint server for biology (2026)

News

Starting May 1, the biochemist and professor of Biostructural Interactions at Friedrich Schiller University Jena will also lead a research group at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology.
The former Max Planck director is honored with the Leibniz-HKI's highest award for his groundbreaking scientific achievements and longstanding support of natural product research.
Postdoctoral researcher honored for breakthrough research on plant-based medicines

Events and Seminars

Various MPI-CE senior scientists

Institute Symposium
Sep 10, 2026 09:00 AM (Local Time Germany)
BGC Lecture Hall

Sigrid Engelbrecht

Älter werden im Beruf: Motivation und Leistungsfähigkeit durch Achtsamkeit erhalten
Sep 17, 2026
Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, Room: Seminar room A1.009 and A1.011
Go to Editor View