Straight talk with... Martin Stratmann.

The 83 institutes and research facilities of the Max Planck Society, established in 1948, include some of the world's leading scholars in the life sciences, including 17 Noble Prize winners, and publish 15,000 research papers annually. For the past 18 years, biologists have stood at the helm of the prestigious German organization. But last month, an electrochemist and materials scientist, Martin Stratmann, began a six-year term as president of the Munich-based society.Stratmann, who is 60, served as the director of the Max Planck Institute for Iron Research in Düsseldorf since 2000, where he helped develop self-healing coatings that can protect steels and other metals from rust. Stratmann spoke with David Levine about his vision for the Max Planck Society and about what the change of guard will mean for biomedical research. The conversation has been edited for clarity.