The profile area Structure and Dynamics of Life (SDL) explores the fundamental building blocks of life from single molecules and macromolecular complexes to organelles and cells. A central aim is to understand how these components self-organize into higher-order structures and, through their coordinated interactions, drive biological processes.

This self-organization must be precisely coordinated in space and time; Lack of coordination is often linked to cellular dysfunction and disease. Investigating such dynamic processes therefore requires advanced technologies to manipulate, measure and visualize biological systems with high spatial and temporal resolution. 

The Faculty of Biosciences contributes strongly to SDL through its broad expertise in molecular, cellular, developmental, and systems-level biology as well as neuroscience. Several departments are actively involved in one or more of the key SDL research areas, fostering interdisciplinary collaboration and driving technological and conceptual advances:

1. Subcellular architecture of life, centered on the Cluster of Excellence SCALE (co-speaker Michaela Müller-McNicoll, PIs: Amparo Acker-Palmer, Jasmin Hefendehl, Eric Helfrich, Virginie Lecaudey, Till Stephan, Yvonne Stahl) and the RTG Imol (PIs: Amparo Acker-Palmer, Francesco Pampaloni)
2. RNA-based processes with the SFB/TRR440 smART (PI: Michaela Müller-McNicoll)
3. Membrane and organelle dynamics with the SFB 1507 (PIs: Amparo Acker-Palmer, Till Stephan)
4. Neuronal molecular and cellular architecture (Amparo Acker-Palmer, Jasmin Hefendehl)
5. Light-based tools (Virginie Lecaudey, Yvonne Stahl, Till Stephan)
6. Selective autophagy with the SFB1177 (PI: Stefan Eimer)

In this way, Faculty 15 plays a key role in organizing SDL as a dynamic and inclusive profile area of Goethe University.

The Sustainability & Biodiversity Profile Area at Goethe University Frankfurt brings together outstanding research and teaching addressing the major challenges of global environmental change. Its activities focus on sustainable development, biodiversity conservation, planetary health, and Earth system dynamics. The Profile Area is characterized by a strong interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary approach, integrating expertise from the biological sciences, geosciences, social sciences, and economics. Together with numerous national and international partners from academia, government agencies, industry, and civil society, it develops scientific foundations and innovative solutions to societal challenges, including biodiversity loss, chemical pollution and sustainable transformations. Research activities are organized within the four thematic fields Sustainability, Biodiversity, Planetary Health, and Earth System Sciences, complemented by the cross-cutting theme Chemical Pollution, Biodiversity Loss & Society.

The Faculty of Biological Sciences (FB15) represents one of the key pillars of the Profile Area and substantially shapes its scientific profile. This is reflected by its co-leadership of the Profile Area, its leadership of the research fields Biodiversity and Planetary Health, and its coordination of the strategic focus area Chemical Pollution, Biodiversity Loss & Society. Researchers from FB15 are actively involved in numerous strategically important collaborative initiatives, including the Leibniz strategic expansion initiative “Anthropocene biodiversity loss” the major European networks PARC and NORMAN, the Water Competence Center Hessen (KWH), the Cardio-Pulmonary Institute (CPI) Cluster of Excellence, the German–Costa Rican biodiversity research network GeCoBio, the groundwater monitoring initiative gwTriade, as well as several international projects addressing biodiversity- and health-relevant environmental stressors. A particularly important role within the Profile Area is played by the excellence network RobustNature, which connects multiple faculties and non-university research institutions

The profile area "Science for Health" showcases excellent research in cardiology, oncology, neurosciences, and pharmaceutical research.