Welcome to the website of the Collaborative Research Center (CRC/SFB) 1078, a research platform operating in the field of biophysics.

The Collaborative Research Center (Sonderforschungsbereich, SFB) 1078 "Protonation Dynamics in Protein Function" was a research platform, which was initiated and coordinated by the Freie Universität Berlin (FU). Participating institutions were the Technische Universität Berlin (TUB), the Technische Universität Dresden (TUD), the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (HU), the Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, the Leibniz-Institut für Molekulare Pharmakologie (FMP), the Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen (JLU) and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Israel (HUJI). The SFB was funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) for three funding periods from Jan. 2021 to Dec. 2024.

The central research goal of the SFB 1078 was to identify and understand a new key principal in protein science, namely the control and coordination of complex protein function by protonation dynamics. To this end, the SFB comprised 24 research projects led by 29 principal investigators (PIs) with a diverse expertise in physics, chemistry, and biology over the course of the twelve years. The SFB also hosted an Intergrated Graduate School for the advanced training of PhD students, which led to 73 successfully completed doctorates by March 2025.

Spokesperson of the SFB 1078 were Prof. Dr. Holger Dau (2013 - 2017) and Prof. Dr. Joachim Heberle (FU) (2017 - 2024) with two deputy spokespersons Prof. Dr. Maria Andrea Mroginski (TUB) (2013 - 2024) and Prof. Dr. Holger Dau (FU) (2018 - 2024).

After twelve productive years, the Collaborative Research Centre 1078, ‘Protonation Dynamics in Protein Function’, comes to its natural end on 31.12.2024, marking the culmination of substantial advancements in our understanding of protonation dynamics in membrane proteins. To honor this milestone, we held a Final Symposium from 1 to 3 September 2024 at the Harnack House of the Max Planck Society in Berlin, beginning with a formal opening ceremony at the Humboldt Forum in the Berliner Schloss.

The symposium was enriched by eleven distinguished scientists, each representing our international collaborations and providing insightful perspectives on the state-of-the-art in both targeted protein complexes and advanced biophysical methodologies. This gathering offered a valuable platform for presenting our final CRC 1078 findings within the context of international research progress, spanning proton-coupled electron transfer mechanisms, redox chemistry, and light-driven protein dynamics. The esteemed speakers provided a comprehensive overview of the latest approaches in structural biology, spectroscopy, and computational modeling, underscoring the innovative and interdisciplinary nature of our collective work.

The conference was also a satellite meeting of the EBEC 2024 (22nd European Bioenergetics Conference, 26.-31. August 2024, Innsbruck).