30 years MDC
1992 — 2022
We look back on three decades of biomedical research on the campus in Berlin-Buch, during which the center has developed and — with its second location in Berlin-Mitte — continued to grow.
In a timeline, we have picked out and illustrated some events from 30 years of MDC history.
Ceremony
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Interview
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1992 — 2002
A historic site: the Central Institutes of the Academy of Sciences in Berlin Buch are the predecessors of the MDC.
In 1991, the Federal Minister of Education and Research assigns Detlev Ganten to reorganize the central institutes. Ganten becomes founding director of the new MDC in 1992. He heads the research center for more than twelve years. Later, in 2004, he is appointed to head the board of the Charité Berlin. As founding director of the MDC, Ganten plays a decisive role in shaping the development of the Berlin-Buch science campus and Berlin as a research location.
The center is named after the geneticist, biophysicist and Nobel laureate and is now officially called the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine Berlin-Buch.
The ceremony is attended by Federal President Richard von Weizsäcker (2nd from left) and Federal Minister for Research Heinz Riesenhuber (left; pictured with MDC Founding Director Detlev Ganten, right).
The MDC becomes a member of the Hermann von Helmholtz Association of German Research Centers. The BBB Management GmbH Campus Buch is founded, a biotechnology park created.
Andreij Timoféeff (b. 1927) is the second son of Nikolaj Vladimirovich Timoféeff-Ressovsky (1900−1981), who founded modern genetics together with Max Delbrück (1906−1981). Andreij visited the MDC in 1996.
In 1999, the life science learning lab is founded on campus and operated by MDC and FMP together with other partners. In 2004, Federal President Johannes Rau and his wife Christina (both on the right in the picture) come to visit the Gläserne Labor.
Since 2000, a memorial by Berlin artist Anna Franziska Schwarzbach commemorates the victims of Nazi euthanasia crimes — scientists at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Brain Research, which was based on today’s campus, were involved in the crimes.
2003 — 2012
The developmental biologist and cancer researcher Walter Birchmeier heads the MDC until 2009, remaining associated with the center as a research group leader thereafter.
The Timoféeff-Ressovsky House is inaugurated. It is home to the MDC and FMP laboratories for medical genome research. The architect is Volker Staab.
The Experimental and Clinical Research Center starts its work. In the ECRC, basic researchers from the MDC work hand in hand with clinicians from the Charité under the leadership of Director Friedrich C. Luft.
2013 — 2022
The EU-LIFE Alliance brings together 13 leading European research centers in the life sciences to promote and strengthen cutting-edge research in Europe. The MDC is the only member from Germany. Since 2021, the alliance has 15 members.
The new laboratory building, named after physiologist Max Rubner, gives the research teams the greatest possible flexibility for their work, and it is also sustainable. Johanna Quandt (1926 — 2015), Max Rubner’s granddaughter and founder of the Charité Foundation, also attends the inauguration.
In the BIH, the MDC and the Charité — Universitätsmedizin Berlin bring together their research. The aim is to strengthen the translation of research findings into clinical practice and pursue a systems medicine approach to research at the same time. Pictured is the BIH founding board (left to right): Prof. Walter Rosenthal (Chairman of the Board and Scientific Director of the MDC), Prof. Ernst Rietschel (Chairman of the Board of BIH), Prof. Karl Max Einhäupl (Chairman of the Board of Charité) and Prof. Annette Grüters-Kieslich (Dean of the Medical Faculty Charité).
The largest health study in Germany is launched. The aim is to track down the causes of widespread diseases such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes, dementia and infections in order to improve prevention and early detection. The first participants are welcomed at the study center in Berlin-Nord. In January 2017, the 5000th participant joins the study (see photo).
Two new drugs are approved: Blincyto and Vonvendi [von Willebrand factor (recombinant)] Both agents are based on research conducted at the MDC.
The German physician and pharmacologist Martin Lohse heads the MDC until 2019.
Captain T‑Cell, a spin-off of the MDC, wins the first competition. The next mulit-million-euro grant for the team, which aims to develop T‑cell therapy against cancer, follows in 2018.
Max Delbrück’s children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren visit the MDC. Here they are standing next to Max Delbrück’s bust: great-grandchildren Jude, Liam, Ewan and their parents Isadora and Robert; in the center, two of Max Delbrück’s children: Nicola and Jonathan; as well as Jonathan’s children Max and Lina and their friend Owen (from left to right).
MDC research teams are taking part in the international project and receive research funding.
A medical history exhibition features masterpieces of microscopy from Berlin manufactures from the 17th century to the present.
Following an art residency in MDC laboratories, Finnish artist Emilia Tikka presents her work on genome editing to the public. The picture shows a detail of the artwork.
The MDC gets a second location in Berlin-Mitte. At the BIMSB, researchers work with single cell methods, organoids and artificial intelligence. (pictured: Chancellor Angela Merkel with MDC Scientific Director Martin Lohse.)
Biologist Thomas Sommer becomes scientific director of the MDC. Since 1993, he has led a research group at the MDC investigating the mechanisms of protein quality control, and since 2009 he has held a chair in Cellular Biochemistry at the Humboldt University in Berlin.
Strengthening Berlin as an international science metropolis is the goal of a joint initiative of the capital’s non-university research institutions. They have joined forces to form BR50 (Berlin Research 50). Thomas Sommer, the Scientific Director (interim) of the MDC, is the founding coordinator of the Life Sciences Section.
The MDC opens its Preclinical Research Center (PRC). Here, the best conditions prevail for making scientifically necessary animal experiments as gentle as possible and reducing them – all in the sense of the 3Rs.
A new form of collaboration with the BIH begins. The BIH is integrated into Charité; MDC and BIH consolidate their collaboration in a privileged partnership.
In the new research program “Systems Medicine and Cardiovascular Diseases”, the MDC teams are dedicated to the topics of genes, cells and cell-based medicine; integrative biomedicine; and molecular processes and therapies.
Federal Minister for Research and Education Anja Karliczek and the Governing Mayor and Senator for Science and Research of Berlin, Michael Müller, attend the opening ceremony. In the new Käthe-Beutler-Haus, research teams are dedicated to translational vascular biomedicine.
The Einstein Center for Alternative Methods in Biomedical Research is launched. The aim of the “Einstein Center 3R” (3R: Replace, Reduce, Refine) is to develop new therapies for human diseases by improving the transferability of laboratory findings to the patient while strengthening animal welfare. The research focus is on 3D models from human tissue cultures to replace animal testing.
For the second time, T‑knife, a spin-off of the MDC and Charité, receives several millions in investment funds on the capital market. The biotech company develops novel immunotherapies against cancer.
