MDC Berlin

The anaplastic large cell lymphoma is a type of leukaemia whose development is significantly influenced by the transcription factor BATF3 and its target genes. An international research team, including scientists from Berlin, has now described a new approach to therapy in Nature Communications.

EMBL (European Molecular Biology Laboratory) and the six Helmholtz Centers of the Research Field Health (Helmholtz Health) are expanding their collaboration. The two research organisations are cooperating to expand the frontiers of health research and advance scientific progress for human health.

Dr. Dieter Beule, who has led the joint Core Unit Bioinformatics of BIH, MDC, and Charité since 2015, has been appointed a lifetime W2 professorship in Translational Bioinformatics at the Berlin Institute of Health at Charité (BIH).

A team led by MDC researcher Marina Chekulaeva has figured out why protein production slows down in the nerve cells of people suffering from Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease. This discovery could lead to a new therapeutic approach, the scientists report in the journal "Nucleic Acids Research".

The severity of COVID-19 is primary result of a dysregulated immune response. A cellular stress response mechanism plays a major role in the derailed immune response: senescence, report Clemens Schmitt and his colleagues in “Nature“. This suggests novel treatment path.

It’s a small switch with a big impact: the operon has the ability to turn genes on and off. Cell and developmental biologist Michael Levine will talk about the crucial role it plays in mutation occurrence and thus in evolution during his keynote lecture at our EMBO workshop running from September 13 to 17.

If the cerebral hemispheres of the forebrain fail to divide properly in an unborn child, this results in holoprosencephaly. An MDC team led by Annette Hammes has discovered candidate genes that can positively influence the severity of this congenital malformation of the forebrain, as the researchers now report in the journal Development.

Stiftung Charité Foundation and the Berlin Institute of Health at the Charité are continuing their format for recruiting outstanding female scientists. MDC researcher Kathrin de la Rosa is among the four new Johanna Quandt Professors. The immunologist will continue to lead her research group here.

After providing funding for single-cell analysis of adult hearts, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative is now supporting the creation of a cell atlas of children’s hearts. An international team led by Christine Seidman of Harvard University and Norbert Hübner of the MDC is again among the funded networks.