Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology


The Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology is located on Beutenberg Campus in Jena, Germany. It was founded in March 1996 and is one of 80 institutes of the Max Planck Society. Chemical ecology examines the role of chemical signals that mediate the interactions between plants, animals, and their environment, as well as the evolutionary and behavioral consequences of these interactions. The managing director of the institute is David G. Heckel.
About 175 scientists, among them many PhD candidates and students, do their research in five departments and three research groups.
The International Max Planck Research School "The Exploration of Ecological Interactions with Molecular and Chemical Techniques" is a graduate program jointly organized by the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, the Friedrich Schiller University Jena and the Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology in Jena. The IMPRS spokespersons are Jonathan Gershenzon and Ralf Oelmüller. The IMPRS is part of the "Jena School for Microbial Communication", which was founded in 2006 and consists of three graduate schools.