For immediate release                                               

JUPITER, Fla. (June 26, 2009) – Florida Atlantic University (FAU) President Frank Brogan and Max Planck Florida Institute’s Dr. Claudia Hillinger officially signed the sublease and use agreement for approximately 40,000-square-feet on the MacArthur Campus in Jupiter to be used as temporary administrative and laboratory space by the nonprofit research organization. The document was signed at FAU’s monthly board of trustees meeting. Max Planck Florida Institute will move into the space, which was previously occupied by Scripps Florida, on July 6 and begin research this summer.

Bert Sakmann, M.D., Ph.D. will serve as the inaugural scientific director of the Max Planck Florida Institute. Dr. Sakmann is the 1991 recipient of the Nobel Prize in Medicine and was previously director at the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research in Heidelberg. Dr. Sakmann and his group will lay the foundation of the Institute´s scientific work focused on studying the arrangement of nerves in the brain, which could lead to a better understanding of brain degenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s.  

The organization plans to build a 100,000-square-foot biomedical facility and laboratories on six acres on FAU’s MacArthur Campus, adjacent to Scripps Florida. Construction is expected to begin in the Spring 2010, and is scheduled for completion by Fall 2011. For more information, visit www.maxplanckflorida.org .

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