MDC Berlin

The process of cells multiplying is one of the most well-understood processes in life. When MDC biologists joined forces with a physicist and mathematician, they gained new and unexpected insights about the cell cycle, now published in “Molecular Systems Biology”.

Highly sensitive ultrasound devices, state-of the-art MRI scanners, germ-free climatic chambers: The MDC’s Preclinical Research Center creates the best conditions for necessary animal testing in medical research, making sure animals suffer as little as possible and reducing the number of animals used to a minimum.

A team led by Oliver Daumke at the MDC has determined the three-dimensional structure of the NatC acetyltransferase in an article published in Nature Communications. This enzyme modifies cell proteins to enable them to perform their functions correctly. In cancer cells, however, NatC is often overactive.

Female moles not only have ovarian, but also testicular tissue that produces male sex hormones – which lets them diverge from the categorization into two sexes. A team led by Berlin researchers Stefan Mundlos and Darío Lupiáñez describes in Science which genetic modifications contribute to this singular development.

Researchers from three continents have produced a first extensive draft of a cell atlas of the human heart to understand how this vital organ functions and to shed light on what goes wrong in cardiovascular disease. As the team reports in Nature, it reveals a huge cellular and molecular diversity.

Berlin has a long tradition as a medical metropolis and also the potential to become an international hub for the life sciences, comparable to Boston. On September 28, researchers from both cities will discuss this issue with the Governing Mayor of Berlin, Michael Müller.

Berlin will become one of four new National Center for Tumor Diseases (NCT) locations in addition to Heidelberg and Dresden. This was announced today by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, recognizing the outstanding achievements of Charité, the BIH and the MDC in advancing cancer treatment and research.

Hundreds of researchers, clinicians, industry leaders and policy makers from all around Europe are united by a vision of how to revolutionize healthcare. In a perspective in Nature and the LifeTime Strategic Research Agenda they now present a roadmap of how to leverage the latest scientific breakthroughs and technologies over the next decade, to track, understand and treat human cells throughout an individual’s lifetime.

Two MDC scientists – Kathrin de Rosa and Ilaria Piazza – have earned ERC Starting Grants to fuel their pioneering research. They are seeking answers to questions that may one day change the way we approach vaccines and think about how small molecules influence gene expression and disease.

A new algorithmic approach reveals individual tumors continue to evolve and remodel their genomes, and this occurs across a broad range of tumor types. Identifying changes that benefit tumors and help them metastasize could help with future treatments. Results are published in Nature.

Immunologist Kathrin de la Rosa investigates how the body’s own B cells protect us from infectious diseases. In the laboratory, she hopes to modify these cells in such a way that they produce powerful antibodies against pathogens which have overwhelmed our immune system until now.

Six animal welfare officers ensure that the MDC observes all the rules when conducting animal experiments for medical research. Nadja Daberkow-Nitsche, head of the MDC animal house and her colleagues also help MDC researchers to submit animal experimentation applications to the relevant authorities.

A team at the MDC has answered a question that has puzzled scientists for some 40 years. In the journal Cell, the group explains how cells are able to switch on completely different signaling pathways using only one signaling molecule: the nucleotide cAMP. To achieve this, the molecule is virtually imprisoned in nanometer-sized spaces.

MDC researchers received a $150,000 pilot project grant from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative’s Neurodegeneration Challenge Network to investigate a defining feature of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).