Max Planck Junior Scholars
The time window for the next Junior Scholars Program is:
June 26 - September 01, 2023.
The call for applications is now open.
The Max Planck Junior Scholars Program offers summer internships to excellent high-school students to gain research experience at the Max Planck Institute for Brain Research (Frankfurt am Main), the Max Planck Institute of Biophysics (Frankfurt am Main) or the Max Planck Institute for Heart and Lung Research (Bad Nauheim) and to become enthusiastic for a future career in the natural sciences. Students currently enrolled in grade 10 or 11 are eligible to apply. Applicants from abroad need to be 18+ years.
Our program includes a summer internship in a host laboratory (minimum of two weeks) in the period from June 26th till September 1st, 2023, which can be followed by weekly visits to the lab (1-2 hours each) during the new school year. During this time the scholar will work together with a mentor (either a research assistant, graduate student or a postdoctoral fellow) on a scientific project which can be presented during a lab meeting or as a report. Please note, those candidates who have maximal availability will have a better chance in being selected.
We look forward to receiving your complete and conclusive application documents by March 31st, 2023 on our application platform. You can expect to hear back from us in April. Please note, that there is only a limited number of slots available.
"We signed up for this course not knowing what to expect, but with the help of our mentor (...) we were able to explore subjects in science that we never thought we would touch on".
Starting with one student in 2012, we had twenty three students at the Institute in the summer of 2019. Anna Buskhrikidze and Maddie Dawson, two students from New York taking part in 2016, wrote us the following feedback: "Through out our past experience with science classes in New York public schools, there were limitations to most of our experiments. We signed up for this course not knowing what to expect, but with the help of our mentor, Robert Naumann, we were able to explore subjects in science that we never thought we would touch on. For example, observing a perfusion on a lizard, calcium staining, and in situ hybridization. The Max Planck Institute members were very welcoming and were very patient with us. They were kind enough to share their projects with us and in some cases allowed us to contribute. The Junior Scholar Program helped us gain a better perspective on our possible careers in the future and understand the field of science in a more detailed way."
Max Planck Junior Scholars
Participating Labs
Connectomics – Moritz Helmsteadter
The Helmstaedter Lab develops and applies high-throughput methods for measuring communication maps of neuronal circuits in order to decipher how the cerebral cortex stores sensory experience and uses it to detect objects.
Neural Systems and coding – Gilles Laurent
The Laurent Lab is interested in the behavior, dynamics and emergent properties of networks of interacting neurons or neuron populations, and focuses principally on olfactory and visual systems.
Synaptic Plasticity – Erin Schuman
The Schuman Lab investigates how the cell biological mechanisms at the synapses, points of contact and communication between neurons, transmit information and modify circuits to store information.
Social Systems and Circuits - Alison Barker
The Barker Lab studies neural mechanisms for the processing and production of socially meaningful communication, with a particular focus on vocal communication.
Memory and Navigation Circuits - Hiroshi Ito
The Ito Lab investigates neural circuits for spatial navigation behaviors, interested in how animals can choose an optimal route to the goal location.
Instinctive Behavior Circuits - Vanessa Stempel
The Stempel Lab studies the neural mechanisms that underlie the flexible implementation of instinctive behaviours, with a focus on the synaptic and cellular correlates of behavioural flexibility in defined neural circuits.
Neurovascular Interface – Amparo Acker-Palmer
The Acker-Palmer Lab aims to elucidating molecular pathways involved in crosstalk between vessels and nerves in order to find out the role of neurons, endothelial cells and astrocytes at the neurovascular interface.
Theoretical Biophysics – Gerhard Hummer
The Hummer Lab uses computational methods to explore the structure, dynamics, and function of biomolecules and their complexes.
Molecular Sociology - Martin Beck
The Beck lab investigates the structure, function and assembly of very large macromolecular complexes in the context of living cells using integrative, in situ structural biology techniques.
Developmental Genetics – Didier Stainier
The Stainier Lab investigates questions related to organogenesis including cell differentiation, tissue morphogenesis, organ homeostasis and function, as well as organ regeneration.