Max Delbrück Center

During project week “Expedition Proteins” at the Gläsernes Labor, students immerse themselves in protein research – isolating samples, loading gels and visiting a real structural biology lab. The week-long workshop gives them a hands-on glimpse into how scientists explore life’s molecular machinery.

A collaboration led by Max Delbrück Center and University of Bath has uncovered how ancient viral DNA controls a gene linked to placenta development and pre-eclampsia, a life-threatening pregnancy disorder. The research, published in “Genome Biology,” could help identify pre-eclampsia risk much earlier.

For a healthy brain and nervous system to form in the embryo, chemical and mechanical signals must precisely guide cell development. Annette Hammes investigates the factors that can disrupt this finely tuned system – to enable the early detection, and potentially the prevention, of brain malformations.

Berlin Science Week 2025 kicks off on November 1. The Max Delbrück Center invites science enthusiasts to talks and tours, a concert, and exhibitions highlighting our research and to join discussions on a wide range of topics.

Researchers at the Max Delbrück Center and Aarhus University have found a mechanism through which the gene variant APOE4, long linked to a high risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease, impairs neuronal function in the aging brain. The research was published in “Nature Metabolism.”

Michael Gotthardt at the Max Delbrück Center and collaborators are developing a drug to treat a common type of heart failure characterized by impaired cardiac filling. In “Cardiovascular Research,” his group and a US team showed the therapy improves cardiac function in a mouse model of the disease.

Epidemiologist Tobias Pischon not only studies the incidence of chronic diseases in populations, but also why they develop. To better predict and prevent these conditions, he searches for molecular markers in the blood and studies the influence of environment, genes, and lifestyle.

U.K.-based Wellcome has awarded over €2 million to an international research effort to uncover how malaria can injure developing babies. Emanuel Wyler at the Max Delbrück Center will play a key role in studying the molecular interaction between the parasite Plasmodium falciparum and the placenta.