The cell biologist and chromosome researcher Peter Baumann has been appointed Alexander von Humboldt Professor and GRC fellow in Mainz. He will continue his research on the architecture and dynamics of chromosome ends and the inheritance of genetic information as Professor of Molecular Biology at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz and as Adjunct Director at the Institute of Molecular Biology. His prior appointments were with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Stowers Institute for Medical Research and Kansas University Medical Center, where he made fundamental contributions in the fields of aging, cancer and evolutionary biology. His appointment to the Faculty of Biology contributes to the re-orientation of research in the life sciences in Mainz and will strengthen collaboration between biological and medical research.