Welcome to the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology
We investigate how organisms interact with chemical signals.
We do research in the lab to better understand interactions at a molecular level.
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
We support the Initiative “Weltoffenes Thüringen”.
We are committed to ensuring that people from different backgrounds live and work together in a respectful manner.
Training and international collaborations are key features of our work.
Photo: Anna Schroll
We believe diversity and inclusion leads to the best science.
Photo: Jürgen Scheere
Research News
Current News and Announcements
Innexin expression and localization in the Drosophila antenna indicate gap junction or hemichannel involvement in antennal chemosensory sensilla. Cell and Tissue Research (2024)
A rationale for chemical defense mixtures in spruce oleoresin: most monoterpenes are highly toxic to either bark beetles or to their symbiotic fungi, but not both. Research Square (2024)
Highjacked by a pseudoenzyme: How eudicot plants make indole. bioRxiv: the preprint server for biology (2024)
At the 39th Annual Meeting of the International Society of Chemical Ecology (ISCE), currently taking place in Prague, Jonathan Gershenzon, Managing Director of our Institute and Head of the Department of Biochemistry, was awarded the Society's Silver Medal.
Jonathan Gershenzon, Head of the Department of Biochemistry, has been elected to membership of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO). This prestigious honor recognizes his outstanding contributions to the life sciences.
Andrea Müller from the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology receives the Beutenberg Campus Award for the best doctoral thesis.