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.
We believe diversity and inclusion leads to the best science.
Research News
Current News and Announcements
A synthetic jasmonate receptor agonist uncouples the growth–defense trade-off in rice. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 122 (24), e2505675122 (2025)
Multiple glutathione-S-transferases detoxify diverse glucosinolate-based defenses of Brassicales plants in a generalist lepidopteran herbivore (Spodoptera littoralis). Communications Biology 8, 931 (2025)
Discovery of iridoid cyclase completes the iridoid pathway in asterids. bioRxiv: the preprint server for biology (2025)
Iulia Barutia, Eduardo Briceño, Dongik Chang and Fortesa Rama received the IMPRS presentation awards
Marianna Boccia received the Beutenberg Campus Prize for the best doctoral thesis
The natural product chemist and Director at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology in Jena has been elected a member of the German National Academy of Sciences.