Cells-in-Motion Cluster of Excellence (EXC 1003 – CiM)

They are tiny but playing a major role in the body: cells in motion. Cell dynamics are essential for the development and maintenance of higher biological functions. They determine development, tissue homeostasis and regeneration but they can also cause diseases. The cluster of excellence focusses on inflammatory processes causing pathologies such as heart attack, multiple sclerosis or rheumatism. To understand cellular behavior in its full complexity the development and application of modern imaging strategies is of great importance. More than 80 research groups from the Medical Faculty, the faculties of Biology, Chemistry and Pharmacy, Physics, Mathematics and Computer Sciences and the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Biomedicine participate in the cluster’s research. With its broad spectrum of imaging strategies allowing to pursue scientific approaches from the biological basis to clinical applications the Cluster of Excellence is nationally and internationally unique.

Website of the Cells-in-Motion Cluster of Excellence
Cells in Motion - the film
Cells in Motion. Podcast.


Image:
Cells in motion: in response to a stimulus from the right hand side, the cytoskeleton (red) redistributes from the margins to the front of the cells, whereas the central portion of the cytoskeleton (green) aligns along the direction of the cell migration to the right. Immuno fluorescence microscopy by Marc Wolf and Johannes Roth.