What Centre for Structural Systems Biology does

The Centre for Structural Systems Biology (CSSB) is a non-profit joint research initiative headquartered in Hamburg, Germany, on the DESY campus in Science City Bahrenfeld. Founded in 2015, CSSB is a cooperative arrangement of ten Northern German partner institutions (four universities and six research institutes, including DESY, EMBL, HZI, BNITM, and Universität Hamburg) without its own legal personality. The organization operates four core technology facilities: Electron Cryo-Microscopy (cryo-EM), Advanced Light and Fluorescence Microscopy (ALFM), Protein Production (PP), and Sample Preparation & Characterisation (SPC). These facilities support the Research Hotel program, which grants privileged access to external researchers, PhD students, and postdocs for infection biology research.

CSSB's scientific mission is to investigate the molecular mechanisms of infections through structural systems biology, with current focus areas including bacterial capsule transport, host-pathogen interactions, and malaria parasite membrane protein complexes. The flagship PLASMOFRACTION project combines crosslinking mass spectrometry (XL-MS), size-exclusion co-fractionation mass spectrometry (CoFrac-MS), and AlphaFold-based structural modeling (including the in-house AF3x extension) to map membrane protein complexes in Plasmodium falciparum. Notable recent outputs include the first 3D visualization of the Wza-Wzc bacterial capsule transport channel and a 2026 Nature Communications publication. CSSB also runs the CSSB Seminar Series, summer schools, and international symposiums to support community engagement.

CSSB does not generate commercial revenue. As a cooperative without legal personality, it functions as a research infrastructure hub funded through its partner institutions and external grants. Its customer base is academic: scientists, PhD students, and postdocs from partner and external institutions who access its facilities under the Research Hotel program. The organization employs 51-100 staff representing 39 nationalities, with only 6 administrative support roles; the remainder are research personnel embedded across the partner institutions.

Name

Centre for Structural Systems Biology

Legal name

Centre for Structural Systems Biology (CSSB)

Website

https://cssb-hamburg.de

Company type

Private

Founded year

2015

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

CSSB is a non-profit joint research initiative in Hamburg, Germany, operating cryo-EM, ALFM, protein production, and sample preparation facilities for academic researchers studying the molecular mechanisms of infections through structural systems biology.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Hamburg

HQ country

Germany

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Operations

Revenue model

1. Research Infrastructure Access and Collaboration: CSSB is a non-profit joint research initiative of universities and research institutes. It provides privileged access to high-end research facilities and infrastructure. As a cooperative arrangement without legal personality, all partner institutions act in their own name and responsibility. CSSB does not appear to generate commercial revenue from product sales or services.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

CSSB is a non-profit joint research initiative that provides privileged access to four core technology facilities — cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM), advanced light and fluorescence microscopy (ALFM), protein production, and sample preparation & characterisation — for infection biology research. It also offers the Research Hotel program for visiting researchers and runs the CSSB Seminar Series plus Summer Schools on structural systems biology.

Product overview

Centre for Structural Systems Biology (CSSB) is a research institute organized around four core technology facilities (Advanced Light and Fluorescence Microscopy, Electron Cryo-Microscopy, Protein Production, and Sample Preparation & Characterisation) that provide research infrastructure for infection biology studies. CSSB operates as a collaborative research environment offering the Research Hotel program for privileged access to its facilities, complemented by a regular Seminar Series and Summer School educational programs. The institute does not offer commercial products but rather provides research infrastructure, training, and collaborative research opportunities to the scientific community.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Advanced Light and Fluorescence Microscopy (ALFM) High-end microscopy facility providing advanced light and fluorescence imaging capabilities for structural biology research, available to academic researchers studying cellular interactions and infection processes.
• Electron Cryo-Microscopy (cryo-EM) State-of-the-art cryo-EM facility for high-resolution 3D imaging of protein structures at atomic level, including single-particle analysis and tomography, provided to researchers studying molecular mechanisms of pathogens.
• Protein Production (PP) Protein production facility enabling recombinant protein expression and purification for structural biology studies, supporting infection biology research.
• Sample Preparation & Characterisation (SPC) Sample preparation and characterization facility supporting research with infrastructure for preparing and analyzing biological samples for structural biology studies.
• Research Hotel Privileged access program providing researchers with structured access to CSSB's advanced research infrastructure and facilities for conducting infection biology studies.
• CSSB Seminar Series Regular seminar program featuring international scientific speakers covering topics in structural biology, infection biology, and related fields.
• Summer School Programs Educational programs including the Spring School for introduction to advanced biophysical approaches for Structural Systems Biology and Summer Schools for young researchers.

Quantifiable outcome

• First 3D visualization of Wza-Wzc transport channel for bacterial capsule formation
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers4 records

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability5 records

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Twelve partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine (BNITM)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerOne of six research institute partners in the CSSB joint initiative. BNITM contributes expertise in tropical medicine and infection biology research.
• Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerDESY serves as the host institution for CSSB, providing the physical location (Science City Hamburg Bahrenfeld) and administrative infrastructure. DESY legally hosts the CSSB internet site.
• European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner institution contributing molecular biology expertise. CSSB is co-located with EMBL Hamburg on the DESY campus.
• Research Center Borstel (FZB)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerOne of six research institute partners specializing in infection research and structural biology.
• Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerMajor research partner contributing infection biology expertise. HZI researchers collaborate with CSSB on structural biology projects, including cryo-EM studies on bacterial capsules.
• Leibniz Institute of Virology (LIV)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner institution contributing virology expertise to the CSSB research network.
• Hannover Medical School (MHH)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerOne of four university partners contributing medical and infection biology research expertise.
• Universität Hamburg (UHH)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPrimary university partner providing academic resources and research personnel. Host to multiple CSSB-affiliated research groups.
• University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerUniversity medical center partner contributing clinical research expertise and microscopy facilities.
• Universität zu LübeckcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerOne of four university partners in Northern Germany contributing to the CSSB research network.
• Academy of Sciences and Humanities in HamburgminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaborative partner for public engagement events including panel discussions on synthetic biology and infection research. Co-organizes public science events with CSSB.
• Leibniz-Forschungsinstitut für Molekulare Pharmakologie (FMP) BerlinminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerExternal collaborator in the PLASMOFRACTION flagship project, contributing mass spectrometry expertise for membrane protein studies.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves12 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Others

• Diamond Light Source: Diamond is a UK synchrotron facility that hosts multi-user structural biology beamlines, including cryo-EM and X-ray imaging for life sciences research. As an enabling infrastructure provider rather than a research institute, it is thematically comparable to the synchrotron access CSSB gains via DESY.
• Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI): PSI is a Swiss multidisciplinary research institute that operates the Swiss Light Source synchrotron and hosts structural biology groups using cryo-EM, X-ray, and integrative methods. It is comparable to CSSB as an academic infrastructure hub combining synchrotron access with infection-related structural biology.
• European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF): ESRF is the European flagship synchrotron, providing beamlines and structural biology infrastructure to international researchers. It is comparable to the synchrotron resources CSSB accesses via its DESY co-location, and serves a similar multi-user life sciences community.

Direct peers

• Scripps Research Institute: Scripps is a leading US biomedical research institute with strong structural biology, cryo-EM, and infectious disease programs. Its multi-group structure and combination of structural biology with pathogen research make it a direct functional peer to CSSB.
• Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI): HZI is one of CSSB's ten partner institutions and a leading infection biology research center in Germany. Its research on bacterial capsules and cryo-EM structural work (including work cited in CSSB's Nature Communications publication) makes it both a partner and a directly comparable institute in infection-focused structural biology.
• MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology (LMB): LMB is a globally leading structural biology and molecular biology institute with deep expertise in cryo-EM, protein production, and infection biology. Like CSSB, it operates as a multi-group research infrastructure rather than a commercial entity and publishes landmark structural work in journals including Nature.
• Francis Crick Institute: The Crick is a large interdisciplinary biomedical research institute formed as a partnership of multiple UK universities and research funders, similar in cooperative structure to CSSB. It conducts structural biology, infection biology, and operates shared cryo-EM and light microscopy facilities as multi-user infrastructure.
• European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL): EMBL operates interdisciplinary molecular biology research units across Europe, with its Hamburg unit co-located on the DESY campus alongside CSSB. As a partner of CSSB and an internationally recognized life-sciences research organization, EMBL is the most directly comparable peer in mission, structure, and technology stack.
• Institut Pasteur: Pasteur is a leading infectious disease research institute with deep structural biology capabilities targeting bacterial, viral, and parasitic pathogens — the same focus as CSSB. It combines fundamental research with a consortium-style partnership model and is a natural peer for infection biology infrastructure comparison.
• Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics (MPI-CBG): MPI-CBG is a German research institute combining structural biology, protein production, advanced imaging, and cell biology across multiple research groups. Its mix of cryo-EM, light microscopy, and integrative structural biology directly mirrors CSSB's four-platform technology stack.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses2 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/CssbHamburg
• Facebookde-de.facebook.com/CSSB-Centre-for-Structural-Systems-Biology-347815872087337
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/14056144/admin/feed/posts

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Centre for Structural Systems Biology