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 institute team at the company run in 2024

We believe diversity and inclusion leads to the best science.

Research News

Matilde Florean
A catalytically inactive enzyme enables the formation of free indole for plant defense and communication
Bark opening from which spruce resin emerges.
These conifers produce various monoterpenes to defend themselves against both bark beetles and microbial pathogens.
Sage-leaved alangium (Alangium salviifolium) and ipecac (Carapichea ipecacuanha)
The elucidation of the biosynthetic pathway of ipecacuanha alkaloids shows how two distantly related plant species could develop the same substance independently.

Current News and Announcements

Publications

Bui, V.-H.; Vu, A. H.; Buell, C. R.; Li, C.; Caputi, L.; Dang, T.-T. T.: Single cell mass spectrometry reveals intercellular compartmentalization of camptothecin biosynthesis in the tree Camptotheca acuminata. bioRxiv: the preprint server for biology (2025)
Taylor, C. H.; James, D.; Watson, G.; Skelhorn, J.; Bell, D.; Burdett, S.; Codyre, A.; Cooley, K.; Davies, J. R.; Dawson, J. J. et al.; D’Cruz, T.; Gandhi, S. R.; Jackson, H. J.; Lowe, R.; Ogilvie, E.; Pond, A. L.; Rees, H.; Richardson, J.; Sains, J.; Short, F.; Brignell, C.; Davidson, G. L.; Rowland, H. M.; East, M.; Goodridge, R.; Gilbert, F.; Reader, T.: Mapping the adaptive landscape of Batesian mimicry using 3D-printed stimuli. Nature (2025)
Choung, S.; Lee, G.; Kang, M.; Park, K.; Park, E.; Lee, S.; Song, J.; Goldberg, J. K.; Baldwin, I. T.; Joo, Y. et al.; Kim, S.-G.: MYC2 and MYC3 orchestrate pith lignification to defend Nicotiana attenuata stems against a stem-boring weevil. New Phytologist (2025)

News

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.

Events and Seminars

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