The new School will develop advanced AI methods for basic life sciences research. The concept was developed under the coordination of Karsten Borgwardt, Director at the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry.
The new School aims to develop advanced AI methods for basic research in the life sciences while also opening up prospects for later translational applications.
© MPG
To the point
- New graduate programme:
The Max Planck School of Biomedical Artificial Intelligence has been established.
- National network:
Excellent and internationally renowned scientists have been recruited as fellows.
On 9 February 2026, the extended steering committee of the Max Planck Schools made the final selection from the proposals submitted for the fourth Max Planck School, which will focus on artificial intelligence. In response to the 2025 call for proposals, three short concept papers were submitted. Following a selection meeting in autumn 2025, two consortia were invited to submit full proposals.
After thorough discussion, the decision was made in favour of the Max Planck School of Biomedical Artificial Intelligence. "I am very pleased that a fourth Max Planck School is now being established and that we can therefore build another Germany-wide graduate programme - with the participation of excellent researchers," said Patrick Cramer, President of the Max Planck Society. "The chosen subject focus addresses a particular challenge: the interface between biomedicine and artificial intelligence. This is the first initiative to systematically bring together universities and non-university institutes across Germany in a graduate programme focused on AI. This holds enormous potential for better understanding the causes of health and disease and for generating innovations in diagnostics and therapy."
Selection committee and rationale
The first and second selection meetings were attended by the regular members of the cross-organisational Steering Committee of the Max Planck Schools, as well as three external reviewers: David Barber, Professor of Machine Learning at University College London and the Alan Turing Institute; Michael Bronstein, DeepMind Professor of Artificial Intelligence at the University of Oxford and Scientific Director of the AITHYRA Institute in Vienna; and Concha Bielza, Professor at the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid and Co-Director of the Computational Intelligence Group.
The committee expressed clear support for the Max Planck School on Biomedical Artificial Intelligence. "The submitted concept convinced the selection committee with its clear scientific focus and its coherent approach to the qualification of doctoral candidates. This is an environment in which forward-looking research questions can be addressed excellently - interdisciplinarily, across institutions, and within an international network. The consortium has already attracted an impressive group of outstanding and internationally visible scientists as fellows," explained Walter Rosenthal, President of the German Rectors' Conference (HRK), commenting on the decision. "The existing Max Planck Schools will also greatly benefit from the new focus on artificial intelligence." In addition, the concept impressed with its credible and well-founded plans for infrastructure, computing resources, supervision model, and curriculum, as well as with its clearly articulated qualification programme.
Conclusion: The application convincingly places not only the research network but also the idea of qualification at its centre. The concept's translational potential towards clinical applications also lends it long-term strategic relevance for both research and society.
Next steps
Following the selection, the next steps in establishing the School will now begin: the administrative office will be set up, cooperation agreements with the various partner institutions will be signed, and preparations for the application phase will get underway. According to the ambitious plan, the fourth Max Planck School aims to launch its first call for applications for PhD positions on 1 September - mirroring the three existing Schools: Cognition, Matter to Life, and Photonics. The new School will be financed under the funding agreement between the Max Planck Society and the Dieter Schwarz Foundation, as well as through contributions from the participating institutions.
List of participating institutions
1. Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics (Berlin)
2. Technical University of Berlin (Berlin)
3. Max Planck Institute for Security and Privacy (Bochum)
4. Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn
5. Max Planck Institute for Biology of Ageing (Cologne)
6. Technical University of Darmstadt
7. Max Planck Institute for Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics (Dresden)
8. Max Planck Institute for Brain Research (Frankfurt)
9. Leibniz Institute for Virology (Hamburg)
10. German Cancer Research Centre (Heidelberg)
11. Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences (Göttingen)
12. Max Planck Institute for Software Systems (Kaiserslautern and Saarbrücken)
13. Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences (Leipzig)
14. University of Leipzig
15. Max Planck Institute for Dynamics of Complex Technical Systems (Magdeburg)
16. Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research (Mainz)
17. Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry (Martinsried)
18. Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich
19. Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry (Munich)
20. Technical University of Munich
21. Helmholtz Centre Munich (Neuherberg/Munich)
22. Max Planck Institute for Informatics (Saarbrücken)
23. Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen
24. Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics (Tübingen)
