{"id":87,"date":"2020-10-27T16:23:04","date_gmt":"2020-10-27T16:23:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/about\/info\/mmpu\/?page_id=87"},"modified":"2025-05-26T07:39:31","modified_gmt":"2025-05-26T07:39:31","slug":"history","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/about\/info\/mmpu\/history\/","title":{"rendered":"History"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n
\n\n

At present<\/strong>, more than 120 international researchers, physicians and technicians from different University institutes and different EMBL Units work in nine groups on important molecular medicine topics, focussing on common diseases and rare diseases with a particular medical need.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most research activities are financed by grant support from several research agencies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In April 2025<\/strong>, after 23 years, the founders of the MMPU Andreas Kulozik and Matthias Hentze passed on the torch of directorship. They remain group leaders in the MMPU. Carsten M\u00fcller-Tidow, Director of the Department of Internal Medicine V, Hematology, Oncology and Rheumatology becomes new co-director of the MMPU together with Wolfgang Huber, co-director since 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anthony D. Ho retired and left the MMPU after 15 years of successful scientific collaborations and mutually rewarding relationships with colleagues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

End of February 2025<\/strong>, MMPU group Chronic Kidney Diseases left the MMPU because the co-PIs focus on other scientific topics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In February 2025<\/strong>, the MMPU underwent its 6th external scientific review.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In April 2024<\/strong>, the second research group between the Medical Faculty Mannheim and EMBL, led by Michael Platten and Alba Diz-Mu\u00f1oz, joined the MMPU. The group\u2019s research focuses on the extracellular matrix (ECM) in brain tumours<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In April 2024<\/strong>, Misha Savitski, EMBL Team Leader and Head of Proteomics Core Facility, joint group Chronic Kidney Disease<\/a> as co-PI.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In September 2023<\/strong>, the first research group between the Medical Faculty Mannheim and EMBL, led by Matthias Ebert, Tianzuo Zhan and Michael Zimmermann, joined the MMPU. The group\u2019s research focuses on the interactions between drug metabolism of microbiota, and cancer therapies<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In January 2023<\/strong>, Junyan Lu, leader of the Computational Omics and Precision Oncology group at University Hospital Heidelberg, joined group Systems Medicine for Cancer Drug as a co-PI.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since March 2022, Matias Simons joined group Chronic Kidney Disease as co-PI and brings an even stronger focus on the clinical side of chronic kidney diseases. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On January 1, 2022<\/strong>, Wolfgang Huber started in his new role as MMPU co-director, taking over from Jan Korbel who stepped down from this role after four years due to additional responsibilities he had recently accepted. Wolfgang\u2019s expertise in data science complements that of the MMPU co-directors Matthias Hentze and Andreas Kulozik who are the leadership since its founding 20 years ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With Christoph Merten becoming an Associate Professor at the Ecole Polytechnique F\u00e9d\u00e9rale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland, he left the MMPU group Chronic Kidney Disease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In summer 2021<\/strong>, the MMPU underwent its fifth external scientific review by an international panel of experts. The MMPU faculty and all members are happy that it has been described as “outstanding at the highest international level\u201d and that both its scientific achievements and the training of PhD and MD students\/ postdocs have been judged as \u201cexceptional”. This outcome now forms a basis to enter into the next ambitious phase of MMPU activities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2021<\/strong> a new group Heart Development and Diseases<\/a> was formed between Eileen Furlong and Johannes Backs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2020<\/strong> the MMPU Group “Cancer Early Detection\u201d led by Peer Bork and Magnus von Knebel Doeberitz left the MMPU after 14 years of very successful membership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With Paul Heppenstall becoming a Professor at the Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati in Trieste, Italy, Group Chronic Pain<\/a> left the MMPU. His former Co-PIs Rohini Kuner and Jan Siemens joint Robert Prevedel and Theodore Alexandrov to form a new MMPU Group Chronic Pain & Homeostasis<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A new group Stem Cell-Niche Networks<\/a> was formed between Caroline Pabst, Carsten M\u00fcller-Tidow and Judith Zaugg, Anne-Claude Gavin and Anthony D. Ho (as Emeritus Group Leader), the latter two having been the Co-PIs of the former research group Stem Cells and Ageing<\/a>. Another new Group Chronic Kidney Disease<\/a> was formed between Christoph Merten, Rainer Pepperkok and Julio Saez-Rodriguez. As John Briggs accepted a position as Research Leader at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, UK, his and Hans-Georg Kr\u00e4usslich\u2019s Group HIV<\/a> left the MMPU.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2019<\/strong> Anne-Claude Gavin became Louis-Jeantet Professor at the Centre Medical Universitaire, Department of Cell Physiology and Metabolism, Geneva, Switzerland and left the MMPU.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2018<\/strong> Carsten Schultz accepted a position as Chair of Physiology and Pharmacology at the Portland School of Medicine at OHSU (Oregon Health & State University), USA, Marcus Mall was recruited as Head of the Department of Paediatrics, Division of Pneumology and Immunology at Charit\u00e9 University Hospital Berlin and their Group Cystic Fibrosis<\/a> left the MMPU.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2018<\/strong> the MMPU establishes an external Advisory Board that meets annually to advise the MMPU leadership and faculty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With Wolfgang Huber and Sascha Dietrich joining for the new MMPU Group Systems Medicine for Cancer Drugs<\/a> in October 2016<\/strong>, the Partnership grows to nine groups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2016<\/strong> the panel of international experts congratulates the two host institutions on a well-designed joint venture to foster interdisciplinary research. They believe that \u201cthis unique operation involving world-class scientists from several disciplines can serve as a model for other academic institutions\u201d. The MMPU plans to enhance collaborations and tie-ins with biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In June 2015<\/strong> the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) and the Medical Faculty \/ University of Heidelberg renewed the successful Molecular Medicine Partnership Unit (MMPU) agreement until 2025. The two complementary research institutions continue to share data and resources for ten more years with the aim to achieve scientific and medical breakthroughs that each individually may not be able to make.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With Jan Korbel and Andreas Kulozik joining for the new MMPU Group Molecular Pediatric Oncology<\/a> in October 2014<\/strong> the Partnership is back to eight groups altogether.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2014<\/strong> Heiko Runz accepted a position as Director Research\/Science at Merck, Boston, USA and his and Rainer Pepperkok\u2019s Group Cholesterol Regulation<\/a> left the MMPU.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2013<\/strong> Jan Siemens joined Rohini Kuner and Paul Heppenstall as Co-PI to head the group Chronic Pain<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2012<\/strong> MMPU\u2019s directors Andreas Kulozik and Matthias Hentze acquire funds for a new initiative, the Heidelberg Research Center for Molecular Medicine (HRCMM)<\/a>, an instrument of the Excellence Initiative of Heidelberg University, which is funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (German Research Foundation) DFG. From 2013 \u2013 2019 the HRCMM assigns different fellowship opportunities for outstanding physicians or MD students who wish to pursue careers in translational medicine. The fellowships aim at providing exceptional career development opportunities in top-level international research.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2012<\/strong> the external reviewers evaluated the MMPU as a highly successful venture, which also fosters more collaborations between EMBL and Heidelberg University in general. The committee recommended the development of a financial support and mentoring system for medical students and clinical researchers to be able to spend time on research.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2011<\/strong> the MMPU moves into common space provided by the University of Heidelberg, the Otto-Meyerhof-Zentrum (OMZ), Im Neuenheimer Feld 350. Three further groups join the MMPU: Anne-Claude Gavin and Anthony Ho study early warning signals of aging<\/a>, John Briggs and Hans-Georg Kr\u00e4usslich look how to interfere with the assembly and maturation of infectious HIV-1<\/a>, and Paul Heppenstall and Rohini Kuner search for molecular mediators of chronic pain<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 2008<\/strong> external expert reviewers considered the \u201cvision of creating the MMPU as an resounding success\u201d. The MMPU was strongly encouraged to foster branding and to look for shared laboratory facilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2007<\/strong> a fifth group joins the MMPU: Heiko Runz and Rainer Pepperkok, studying the mechanisms of cellular cholesterol regulation<\/a>. Andreas Kulozik and Matthias Hentze receive the Manfred Lautenschl\u00e4ger Research Prize<\/a> of Heidelberg University for their successful work on diseases of RNA metabolism and for establishing the MMPU as a paradigm for the cooperation between clinical medicine and basic science.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2006<\/strong> the MMPU is joined by three new groups: Marcus Mall and Carsten Schultz studying cystic fibrosis<\/a>, Martina Muckenthaler and Matthias Hentze studying iron overload and deficiency diseases<\/a> and Magnus von Knebel-Doeberitz and Peer Bork looking at the identification of cancer markers<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2004<\/strong> the MMPU is reviewed by an external panel of international experts and is considered to be ‘first rate, extremely impressive and clearly internationally competitive\u2019. The success of this first MMPU group motivates an expansion of the MMPU to further strengthen the link between basic and translational research in molecular medicine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first group<\/a> is that of the founders of the MMPU, Andreas Kulozik from the Medical Faculty of the University of Heidelberg and Matthias Hentze from EMBL. They had previously collaborated successfully on RNA metabolism in blood diseases for many years so that the idea of pursuing basic research related to medicine and vice versa inspires them to this pilot project with the philosophy: From bench to bedside \u2013 and back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The interdisciplinary cooperation combines the respective strength in medical science and know how, access to patients, and molecular life sciences know how to undertake basic disease-related research for the elucidation of biological mechanisms of diseases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In January 2002<\/strong>, the Medical Faculty of the University of Heidelberg and the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) establish the Molecular Medicine Partnership Unit, a novel partnership in which a research team is jointly headed by cooperating principal investigators (PIs) from the EMBL and the Medical Faculty and composed of an international team of molecular research-oriented MDs, PhDs, PhD-students and technicians of both institutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Flyers and brochures archive<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n
\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
\n
\n\n

MMPU flyer 2025 (May)<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

MMPU flyer 2025 (March)<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

MMPU flyer 2024 (June)<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

MMPU flyer 2024 (February)<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

MMPU flyer 2023 (November)<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

MMPU flyer 2023 (January)<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

MMPU flyer 2020<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

MMPU flyer 2019<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

MMPU brochure 2010<\/a><\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\n
\n
\n

Also in this page:<\/h3>\n