The Center of Molecular Medicine Cologne (CMMC)

The CMMC has implemented strong governance structures to ensure a regular quality control feedback mechanism aimed at maintaining cutting-edge research and high-level education to remain at the fore-front of molecular medicine research. 

Due to regular external evaluation, the CMMC, the External Advisory Board, and the Board of Trustees regularly review the Center's research profile and supporting research infrastructure along with educational and mentoring activities.

Currently, the CMMC directly supports around 65 principal investigators and additionally hosts over 30 associated principal investigators from about 20 different countries. The majority of junior principal investigators are housed at the CMMC Research Building – the so-called ‘incubator for Junior Faculty‘ while the more senior principal investigators are located in numerous institutes and clinics at the Life Science Campus.

The CMMC provides nine different research funding programs to support researchers and clinician scientists at different career stages from junior to senior faculty for research projects with a disease-oriented focus. Of the nine programs, the Junior Research Group Program (JRGP) and the Individual Project Funding Program (IPFP) are the two most longest-run- ning core programs and receive around 50% and 20% of the Center´s annual budget, respectively.

Interdisciplinary Program Molecular Medicine – IPMM

• joint venture of the Faculty of Medicine and Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences
• aimed at postgraduate life scientists and research-oriented physicians
• provides doctoral candidates with both biomedical research and complementary skills to promote a career in the field of molecular medicine

Brain Gain Program – BGP

• facilitates the recruitment of external excellent Junior Faculty
• provides immediate individual bridge funding support
• funding period of a maximum of 1.5 years

Junior Research Group Program – JRGP

• funds outstanding internationally recruited junior researchers and clinician scientists
• promotes independence and provides a stepping stone for full professorships or equivalent leadership positions by providing mentoring support
• is comparable to the DFG´s Emmy Noether Program and equivalent to a non-tenured assistant professorship with a funding period   of 5 years (+3 years)

Associated Junior Research Group Program – Assoc. JRGP

• supports outstanding internationally recruited junior researchers and clinician scientists with their own third-party junior research group funding
• promotes independence and provides a stepping stone for full professorships or equivalent leadership positions by providing mentoring support
• funding period correlates with third-party junior research group funding

Career Advancement Program – CAP

• supports high-potential mid-career researchers and clinician scientists at the Life Science Campus aiming for full professorships or equivalent leadership positions
• provides mentoring support
• funding period of 3 years (+ 2 years)

Rotating Position Program – RPP

• supports clinician scientists to focus on and advance their biomedical research endeavors
• provides the possibility to integrate into up-and-running biomedical research projects
• funding period of 0.5 to 1 year

Individual Project Funding Program – IPFP

• supports advanced researchers or clinician scientists who have demonstrated scientific excellence (e.g. publication record, third-party funding allocation)
• provides funding for facilitating the development of innovative, long-term, and high-risk / high-gain research projects
• funding period of 3 years

Senior Research Group Program – SRGP

• supports outstanding CMMC members who are now emeriti professors
• provides a supportive research platform
• provides funding for their research projects

Associated Research Group Program – Assoc. RGP

• aims to launch new biomedical research groups
• provides a supportive research platform
• facilitates scientific collaboration and exchange

The CMMC has continually striven to improve and build on its research infrastructure along with administrative and managerial support services to enable cutting-edge biomedical research. The CMMC offers a range of joint central facilities, such as the Comparative Biology and Proteomics Facilities, as well as in-house services, including histology, microscopy, and IT support. The Life Science Campus also has additional core facilities such as imaging, metabolomics, and bioinformatics.

The decade old CMMC Research Building currently houses over 300 researchers, clinician scientists, and support staff and consists of five stories with a total floor space of 13.000 m2 providing 6.000 m2 of state- of-the-art laboratories. These are equipped with the latest instrumentation as well as an iPSCs & Organoid Lab, a Fly Lab, and a S3 & Isotope Lab. The Center also houses seminars rooms with modern digital presen- tation technology and a common recreation area to promote scientific exchange and team spirit. It also regularly hosts scientific and outreach events organized by various groups from the University of Cologne and the University Hospital Cologne.

The CMMC Office plays a central administrative and managerial role and works in close cooperation with the Deans Office of the Faculty of Medicine and the Rectorate of the University of Cologne. The CMMC Office is also responsible for internal and external communication and acts as an interface between all research groups and the different CMMC Boards and Committees.

Finally, the CMMC research groups are also supported by the Human Resources, Third Party Funding, and the IT Departments of the University Hospital Cologne as well as by the 'Regionales Rechenzentrum' and the Technological Transfer, International, and the Gender Equality & Diver- sity Offices of the University of Cologne.

The CMMC offers a wide variety of seminars, workshops, and meetings, including the CMMC Annual Retreat and scientific symposia. All events are not only open to CMMC members, but also to others working at the Life Science Campus, thereby promoting scientific exchange and interdisciplinary cooperation.

A key highlight is the annual international Symposium in Molecular Medicine organized by the CMMC since 2005. These annual symposia bring together over 400 participants, including both Junior and Senior Faculty and other stakeholders in a forum where they keep up with the latest advances in molecular medicine and share new ideas. Every few years, the annual symposium is combined with an innovative outreach event to foster a better understanding of the benefits of basic and translational biomedical research among the general public.

Finally, the CMMC invites national and international biotech and pharma companies to present their latest technologies and products to better fostering interaction between scientists and industrial partners. In addition, the CMMC is a member of the `BioRiver - Life Science im Rheinland` organization, which promotes biotech and life science start-ups and industry in the region. The CMMC also has a long-standing partnership with the Cologne Convention Office to highlight the City of Cologne as one of the largest and most innovative science regions in Europe.

The CMMC recognizes the importance to generate interest and excitement in basic biomedical and translational research. To this end, the Center is actively involved in numerous innovative outreach activities ranging from school students to senior citizens.

For example, the CMMC participates in the ‘Kölner Kinder und Junior Universität‘ as well as Boys and Girls Day. It also provides lab visits for older students and hosts information days for school classes. The Center specifically aims to encourage young people from a non-academic background to take an interest in science and apply to higher education.

Another highlight of the Center’s outreach activities is the Project ‘Die Sonne und Wir‘. This innovative educational outreach project is aimed at children, young adults, teaching staff, and parents, to increase their awareness towards ultraviolet radiation of the sun as a primary preventive strategy to decrease skin cancer rates. Since 2015, this project is a partner in the nationwide skin cancer prevention campaign CLEVER IN SONNE UND SCHATTEN initiated and supported by the Deutsche Krebshilfe among others.

Finally, the CMMC also provides outreach activities for a diverse range of stakeholders, including local companies and public services, who express an interest in the activities of the Center.

Since its foundation in 1994, the CMMC has been solving health problems by bringing together researchers and clinician scientists. At the end of Phase 2 ‘Implementation‘ in 2003, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) acknowledged the successful launch of the CMMC which has since become a world-class biomedical research center.

The CMMC has also played a pivotal role in initiating and supporting key structural as well as strategic scientific developments at the Life Science Campus at the University of Cologne. For example, the Center was the driving force in establishing of the Cologne Center for Genomics (CCG) and IPMM Program based on the interfaculty concept that integrates the Faculty of Medicine and the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences. In addition, it has fostered the further development of  biomedical research in Cologne, for example the establishment of the Center for Integrated Oncology (CIO), CECAD - Cluster of Excellence, and the Max Planck Institute for Biology of Ageing – thereby adding further critical mass and research momentum to the biomedical activities at the University of Cologne.

The opening of the CMMC Research Building in 2008 ushered in a new era of construction activities at the Life Science Campus that have con- tributed and will continue to further provide state-of-the-art-research laboratories as well as research infrastructure, including the Center for Translational Research for Infection and Oncology (TRIO) and the Center for Metabolism Research.

The mission of the CMMC is to advance knowledge in the molecular mechanisms underlying human disease by generating unique opportunities for interactions across disciplines and across faculties. By combining rigorous scientific research and the excitement of discovery with the support of an interactive environment and state-of-the-art core facilities our researchers and clinician scientists have made landmark discoveries which provided profound insights into the pathomechanisms of diseases. Our scientists also translated this new knowledge to develop novel ther- apeutic concepts and new strategies to improve human health.

For complete and detailed information, please visit the CMMC Research Projects.

Importantly, the scientific excellence of the CMMC members has been recognized by numerous national and international prizes and awards, including the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize of the DFG, the Ernst Jung Prize in Medicine, ERC Grant Awards, Heisenberg Fellowships, awardees of the Emmy Noether Program and the Max Eder Program, as well as the Innovation Prize North Rhine Westphalia. Finally, the quality of our Junior Faculty is demonstrated by Human Science Frontier Awards and EMBO Fellowships.

The CMMC members also belong to prestigious national and international research societies, such as American Clinical and Climatological Association (ACCA), American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI), EMBO, and the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina.

A cornerstone of the CMMC is its incubator activities for Junior Faculty to support scientific excellence. This is evidenced by the academic career development of the Junior Research Group Leaders awardees, including the associated ones as well as the CAP awardees. For example, eight out of eleven former Junior Research Group Leader and six out of nine former CAP awardees are now full or endowed professors following their CMMC support.

Finally, CMMC PIs are regularly invited as keynote speakers to leading international meetings, such as FASEB, Gordon, and EMBO conferences, as well as help organize these events, thereby further raising the international visibility of the Life Science Campus.

Over the last 25 years, the life sciences have undergone transformative change due to technological advances such as deep sequencing technologies, ultraresolution imaging, high throughput molecular analyses, and the advent of bioinformatics and systems biology.

Availability of powerful new enabling technologies that can capture the molecular makeup of individual cells in time and space and detect the emergence of disease or therapy resistance much earlier than before lead to breakthrough discoveries and a deep insight into molecular principles of disease. Collectively, these advances have significantly contributed to better diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of many common diseases and have paved the way for targeted therapies and precision medicine strategies.

The CMMC participated in these developments and has played a key role in developing the Life Science Campus in Cologne. The CMMC will continue to promote comprehensive multidisciplinary research approaches both in-house and with its partners. Cross-faculty interdisciplinary research collaborations are a central hallmark of the mission of the CMMC and will be developed further by integrating theoretical disciplines into the life sciences.

Moreover, the Center is delighted with the openings of new buildings such as the Center for Translational Research for Infection and Oncology (TRIO - opened 2024), which is directly linked to the CMMC Research Building, as well as the Center for Metabolism Research (opened 2024) across the street. It is envisioned that the new groups starting there will generate additional research momentum and scientific exchange and collaboration.

The CMMC Symposium ‘25 Years of Progress in Molecular Medicine: From Basic Research to Clinical Application‘ (September 26 to 28, 2021) celebrated the CMMC’s research achievements and symbolically marks both the CMMC’s 25th anniversary and the start of the implementation of the ‘CMMC Agenda 2030‘ which will pave the way to promote integration of theoretical and computational sciences on one hand and the consolidation of translational research on the other.

• Scientific Advisory Board
• Board of Trustees
• Executive Board