Projects are focussed primarily within the framework of the DFG-funded excellence network program in Homburg (Saar) on "Ca2+signals: Molecular Mechanisms und Integrative Functions" at Saarland University and a new joint multidisciplinary initiative of the University with the Helmholtz Institute of Pharmaceutical Research Saarland in Saarbrücken on natural bioactive compounds including their interactions with their target proteins. These projects involve the structure determination of membrane proteins and soluble proteins.