MDC Berlin

Thomas Blankenstein receives an ERC Advanced grant for cancer research. The scientist wants to find out if T cells control the development of cancer by a process called immunosurveillance. For this purpose he now proposes a new research model.

In light of the pandemic, the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) is pooling together its resources for projects that advance the understanding of SARS-CoV-2, while scaling down its regular research operations to a minimum. Here’s an overview of the MDC’s current collaborations and plans.

On Wednesday, 18 March 2020, 8 a.m., the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association (MDC) will go into emergency operation. Corona research will be intensified.

Perceiving warmth requires input from a surprising source: cool receptors. The finding published in Neuron by neuroscientists at the MDC challenges the theory that dedicated neurons convey either warm or cool sensations to the brain.

For the first time ever, researchers are looking at the molecular processes in the cell’s skeleton – the cytoskeleton – from a bird’s eye perspective. These processes are important for cell movement and cell shape formation. In Nature Cell Biology, an MDC team shows how cells coordinate such processes at the right place and time.

Researchers at the MDC have developed a new online tool that displays the development of the COVID-19 epidemic in Germany clearly and by individual state as well as worldwide. The map and timeline showing the spread of the coronavirus are freely available on the internet.

Biologist Holger Gerhardt studies how blood vessels form and grow. He is currently working with clinicians in Berlin to develop new methods for preventing and treating cardiovascular diseases and cancer.

What goes on inside and between individual cells during the very earliest stages of tumor development? Single cell sequencing technologies and a mouse model have enabled researchers to comprehensively map the cellular diversity of whole salivary gland tumors and trace the path of cancer stem cells.

Scientists at the MDC have discovered stem cells responsible for the most common form of kidney cancer. The team of Walter Birchmeier has found a way to block the growth of these tumors in three models of the disease.

PCAWG, the largest cancer research consortium in the world, has set itself the task of improving our understanding of genetic mutations in tumors. A new study by the international research group, to which the MDC substantially contributed, is now being published in the journal Nature.

Professor Udo Heinemann serves alongside Jens Reich as Ombudsperson for Good Scientific Practice. He was elected by the Scientific Council in September 2019. We spoke with him about rules and misconduct in research and how he perceives his role as an adviser in conflict situations.

MDC researchers established a new model to study neuromuscular development and disorders. For the first time two distinct human tissues co-developed in the lab from one progenitor cell type and self-organized into a complex, functional neuromuscular organoid.

Grizzly bears spend many months in hibernation, but their muscles do not suffer from the lack of movement. In the journal “Scientific Reports”, a team led by Michael Gotthardt reports on how they manage to do this. The grizzly bears’ strategy could help prevent muscle atrophy in humans as well.

Scientists have discovered a new subtype of muscle stem cells. These cells have the ability to build and regenerate new muscles, making them interesting targets for the development of gene therapies.

50 years ago today, on December 10, 1969, a reserved and modest man accepted the Nobel Prize for Medicine in Stockholm. This man was Max Delbrück, a native of Berlin. An article by Detlev Ganten.

Normally, bird flu viruses do not spread easily from person to person. But if this does happen, it could trigger a pandemic. Researchers from the MDC and RKI have now explained in the journal Nature Communications what makes the leap from animals to humans less likely.

Ahead of the European Council negotiations on the next Multiannual Financial Framework, academic and industry leaders supporting the LifeTime initiative, have called members of the European Union into action. They ask to preserve the existing Horizon Europe budget and put forward ten recommendations to strengthen EU health research.