MDC Berlin

What side effects should I expect from the vaccines against the new SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus? Have they been developed too fast? To support a factual debate, our experts from the fields of immunology and RNA biology answered frequently asked questions.

His career brought him to Montreal, Marrakech, Heidelberg, and Berlin. Detlev Ganten is a citizen of the world. His greatest impact has been in Berlin, where he founded the MDC, was the head of Charité, and initiated the World Health Summit. What motivates this determined fighter for science and global health?

Targeted treatment of basal-like breast cancer could be facilitated by YAP inhibitors in the future. As reported by an MDC team headed by Walter Birchmeier in the scientific journal "Cancer Research", this type of cancer requires the support of the YAP protein to stimulate the growth of cancer stem cells.

The Käthe Beutler Building has opened. Germany’s Federal Research Minister, Berlin’s Governing Mayor, the Chairman of the Jewish Community of Berlin and many guests inaugurated it. Around 200 specialists will work at the BIH & MDC Center for Vascular Biomedicine medicine – for the benefit of patients.

Three oscillating proteins cause new muscle cells to emerge from muscle stem cells in a balanced manner. In a paper being published in the journal "Nature Communications", a team led by MDC researcher Carmen Birchmeier explains in detail how this process works.

Erich Wanker wants to find out to what extent misfolded, and hence pathological, amyloid proteins structurally alter other proteins in the neurons – and thus contribute to the progression of Alzheimer’s dementia. He has now received €120,000 in funding from the non-profit "Alzheimer Forschung Initiative" to pursue this research.

Scientists must decide on the right experimental method for each and every research question – including whether or not to use animal experiments. Here we provide an overview of what alternative methods can achieve in biomedicine, how they are used at the MDC and where their limits lie.

The Immunology and Inflammation (I&I) Virtual Symposium on COVID-19 on March 3rd will feature an international panel of scientists who will share their latest research on the pandemic, coronaviruses, variants, vaccines and treatments. Registration is free.

A year ago, BIH, MDC and Charité launched the joint research focus "Single Cell Approaches for Personalised Medicine". Its aim is to use innovative single cell technologies to answer clinical questions. This aspiration will be put into practice by four new junior research groups, which have now started.