The Molecular Basis of Touch Sensation

MDC Researchers Identify New Function of a Well-Known Gene

A gene known to control lens development in mice and humans is also crucial for the development of neurons responsible for mechanosensory function, as neurobiologists of the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) Berlin-Buch have now discovered. They found that in mice in which they had removed the c-Maf gene in the nerve cells, touch sensation is impaired. This similarly applies to human carriers of a mutant c-Maf gene. People with such a mutation suffer already at a young age from cataracts, a clouding of the lens which typically affects the elderly. The patients, as demonstrated by Professor Carmen Birchmeier and Dr. Hagen Wende in collaboration with Professor Gary Lewin and Dr. Stefan Lechner, have difficulty holding objects such as a sheet of paper as a consequence of this mutation. (Scienceexpress, 16 February 2012 / Page 1 / 10.1126/science.1214314)*.

New MDC Research Report Published

The Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) Berlin-Buch, which celebrates its 20^th anniversary this year, has published its latest research report. In the 298-page book that is primarily written in English, all of the 67 research groups of the MDC and the clinical groups in the Experimental and Clinical Research Center (ECRC) of the MDC and of the Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin give an overview of their work in 2010 – 2011. Research activities at the MDC focus on cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, cancer, diseases of the nervous system and systems biology.

MDC Researcher Zsuzsanna Izsvák Receives European Research Council (ERC)

Grant Worth EUR 1.94 Million

Dr. Zsuzsanna Izsvák, research group leader at the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) Berlin-Buch, has been named recipient of a European Research Council (ERC Advanced) grant worth EUR 1.94 million for her research on “jumping genes” (transposons). With the aid of the ERC grant, in the next five years she will focus on investigating how mobile DNA elements (transposons) influence the pathogenesis of cancer and other diseases in the human genome. Altogether, nine MDC researchers, including Dr. Izsvák, have received grants of more than one million euros from the ERC.

MDC Researchers Reveal Molecular Mechanism Underlying Severe Anomalies of the Forebrain

Researchers of the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) Berlin-Buch have now identified and described a molecular mechanism underlying the most common malformation of the brain in humans. In holoprosencephaly (HPE), the forebrain (prosencephalon) is only incompletely formed. Here a binding site (receptor) for cholesterol plays a key role. If this receptor is defective, specific signals cannot be received, and the forebrain cannot separate into two hemispheres, as Dr. Annabel Christ, Professor Thomas Willnow and Dr. Annette Hammes have now shown in mice (Developmental Cell, DOI 10.1016/j.devcel.2011.11.023)*.

How Immune Cells Destroy Cancer Cells – MDC Researchers Elucidate Mechanism

Comparison of Adoptive T-Cell Therapy with Drug-Based Cancer Treatment

In the treatment of large tumors, how effective is adoptive T cell therapy in comparison to drug-based cancer treatment? To answer this question, Dr. Kathleen Anders and Professor Thomas Blankenstein of the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) Berlin-Buch and researchers of the Beckman Research Institute of the City of Hope Cancer Center in Duarte, California, USA designed and carried out a study comparing the two methods. Based on a mouse cancer model, the researchers elucidated the mechanisms of the two different treatments. The researchers showed that both forms of therapy are highly effective against large tumors. However, the T cells not only kill cancer cells – they additionally destroy the tumor blood vessel system, thus impeding the supply of nutrients to the tumor. Consequently, quasi as a side effect, “escapee” mutant tumor cells are eradicated that have become resistant to drug-based treatment and are responsible for tumor recurrence. The researchers hope that their insights in defining optimal conditions for T cell therapy may help improve future clinical trials and thus the treatment of cancer patients (Cancer Cell, doi10.1016/j.ccr.2011.10.019)*.

Rapid Diagnosis of Acute Kidney Injury – New Biomarkers Tested

How does a doctor determine whether or not an emergency-room patient has acute kidney injury? Using tests currently available in the hospital, this question is often difficult to answer. In many emergency cases, however, early diagnosis of the severity of the disease picture is crucial. A large multicenter study by clinicians of the Experimental and Clinical Research Center (ECRC), a joint cooperation between the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) Berlin-Buch and the Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, the Helios Hospital Berlin, and two hospitals in the U.S. has now shown that a urine test for proteins excreted by a damaged kidney helps to swiftly identify high-risk patients (Journal of the American College of Cardiology, online, 9. January 2012)*.