The research focus of the institute is in the field of molecular pharmacology and toxicology. We investigate how the body's own signalling molecules and exogenous active substances or toxins affect human cells and are particularly interested in the molecular mechanisms of signal transduction at cell membranes and the transport of macromolecules across cell membranes.

We investigate the interplay of proteins in functional complexes that mediate the transport of proteins and peptides across cell membranes. Bacterial toxins, which have a modular structure and functional subunits for receptor binding and membrane transport via which an enzymatically active subunit is transported into the cytosol of human cells, serve as ideal models of highly specialised and extremely efficient protein transport machines. The aim of the work is to elucidate how such toxins enter the cell interior and how they act there. This fundamental research has pharmacological applications in the identification and characterisation of novel inhibitors against medically important bacterial toxins and in the development of molecular transport systems for the targeted introduction of macromolecular agents (proteins, enzymes, peptides) into the interior of immune and cancer cells.