Paolo Sassone-Corsi, Donald Bren Professor and chair of pharmacology, has been selected as an external member of the Max Planck Society, one of the world’s most prestigious scientific groups. The society comprises some 80 German institutes conducting basic research in the natural sciences, life sciences, social sciences, and arts and humanities. The institutes are highly esteemed; 32 of their scientists have earned Nobel Prizes. Sassone-Corsi – an internationally recognized geneticist and perhaps the world’s leading expert on circadian rhythms – has been appointed to the Max Planck Institute for Immunobiology & Epigenetics in Freiburg. He said this will allow him to expand research and collaborations between UCI’s Center for Epigenetics & Metabolism, which he recently founded, and the German institute.