The MBC was established on a site where important developments in the early history of modern life sciences started: In 1920 the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Leather Research was founded at Hohe Strasse in Dresden. The first director of this institute, Max Bergmann (1884-1944), was not only a pioneer of applied sciences but he specifically dedicated his work to unravel protein and peptide structures. The Jewish scientist who left Germany in 1933 became later one of the key individuals in protein chemistry at the Rockefeller University- two Nobel Prize winning scientists worked in his world-famous laboratory. The Max-Bergmann-Kreis, an exclusive association of scientists engaged in research on small proteins and small bioactive molecules reminds of Max Bergmann by annually awarding the Max-Bergmann-Medaille to outstanding scientists. Life sciences entered the scenery again when Hans-Jörg Jacobasch (1936-1998) re-founded the Institut für Polymerforschung Dresden e.V. in 1992 after the German unification. He put emphasis on new projects in the field of biomedical polymers and strongly stimulated interdisciplinary activities which eventually lead to the formation of the Max Bergmann Center of Biomaterials Dresden (MBC). MBC-scientists gratefully acknowledge the support by Sächsisches Staatsministerium für Wissenschaft und Kunst and by Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung through-out the recent past which made the vision of a Dresden based research center for biomaterials real. The research at MBC is organized in three different departments:

1. biomaterials (TUD)
2. materials science and nanotechnology (TUD)
3. biofunctional polymer materials (IPF)