It had undergone a continuous evolution manifested through an expanding range of core subjects and work areas such as neurobiology, biochemistry, and molecular biology.

Four researchers working at the institute – Stefan Hell, 2014; Erwin Neher and Bert Sakmann, 1991; and Manfred Eigen, 1967 – were awarded the Nobel Prize.

Although the institute was dedicated to basic research – by virtue of the charter of the Max Planck Society – its policy was to encourage the transfer of numerous technological innovations to the marketplace.

Research at the institute focuses on the fundamental mechanisms that regulate and control life processes: How is genetic information correctly translated into proteins?

On the organismal level, researchers at the institute study the circadian rhythms of the vertebrate, or differentiation and development in multicellular organisms.

The focus of this association is the development and application of spatially resolved NMR techniques for non-invasive studies of the central nervous system in animals and humans.

A third graduate school, the IMPRS for Physics of Biological and Complex Systems, was opened in 2008 (in cooperation with the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization).