Our mission is to transform tomorrow’s medicine through our discoveries of today. We strive to deepen our understanding of biological mechanisms to develop innovative solutions that improve human health.
At the core of our mission is our passion for scientific discovery. Through our academic, clinical, and industrial partnerships, we aspire to transform our biological discoveries into clinical applications that detect, treat, and ultimately prevent disease. We harness interdisciplinary collaboration to decipher the complexities of disease at the systems level – from molecules and cells to organs and the entire organism. Our goal is to create a healthier future through sustainable research in an environment that inspires and nurtures diverse talent.
We have the capacity to unlock the many secrets of biology and, through this process, revolutionize healthcare for people around the world.
Who we are
Our employees
1777
Employees and affiliated personnel
36%
From countries other than Germany
60%
Identify as female
Structure & Units
18
Technology platforms
49
Senior research groups
32
Early career research groups
Our Values
The Max Delbrück Center is a values-driven organization that seeks to expand human knowledge. Our values drive our actions.
We are ambitious.
We are not satisfied with incremental advances. Only with aspirational innovation will we solve the most intractable biological mysteries to improve human health.
We take risks.
To answer complex questions, we embrace the possibility of failure. Unbridled curiosity may not always generate progress, but progress cannot be made without it.
We are collaborative.
No single person, research group or institution has all the answers. By working together, we inspire each other and provide more powerful insights.
We evolve to learn.
The life sciences are dynamic, and we constantly revise our approaches, partnerships, and ways of thinking to innovate in this ever-changing ecosystem.
We lead with integrity.
Exceptional science thrives on a mindset of honesty and transparency. We commit to open and truthful communication based upon ethical principles and always take responsibility for our actions.
We are inclusive.
We treat each other with respect, nurture the next generation of scientists, foster an environment where individual expression is welcomed, and acknowledge and counter our biases to promote diversity.
We are one community.
The success of our scientific mission requires expert administrative and operational support. We acknowledge everyone’s contributions and jointly celebrate our successes.
Our Science
Our research explores the complex interactions within human biology to better understand health and disease. To gain novel insights we adopt an interdisciplinary strategy, integrating experimental and clinical data to pinpoint disease mechanisms. By leveraging innovative experimental approaches and data science, we aspire to advance our understanding of the causes of complex diseases. This holistic approach is poised to catalyze new methods for detecting, treating, and ultimately preventing disease.
Our strategic goals
Integrate insights from mechanistic and highthroughput approaches.
Bolster expertise in emerging fields.
Integrate analyses across model systems to drive clinical translation.
Today’s healthcare faces numerous challenges, including aging populations with comorbidities, a shortage of methods for early disease diagnosis and precise treatments, and rising healthcare costs. However, we find ourselves at an inflection point, at which new technologies and approaches present significant opportunities to address these challenges. To fully leverage these advancements, we must adopt a holistic and integrated approach – systems medicine.
Systems medicine is an interdisciplinary, integrative field that investigates the complexities of human health and disease by examining how biological systems are interconnected. It acknowledges that diseases can be multifactorial, transcending organ and tissue boundaries and disrupting communication pathways that maintain organismal homeostasis. Systems medicine exploits the insights of biology, genetics, physiology, mathematics, computer science, and engineering to understand the underlying mechanisms of bodily processes. This approach, in turn, affords us unprecedented insight into the mechanisms of disease, enabling us to develop innovative, personalized, and predictive healthcare strategies.
The Max Delbrück Center’s approach to systems medicine will integrate studies in cellular models, animal models and humans with advanced predictive data science to define causality in disease processes. Our approach will provide insight into the drivers of disease and identify functionally validated targets to precisely treat diseases at their earliest stages.
Our Impact
To advance systems medicine, we will increase our innovative collaborations and create synergies across scientific fields. As our goal is the expedited development of clinical applications, in partnership with clinician scientists and industry, we are commited to fostering a research culture that transcends disciplinary boundaries and champions team science. To further our mission, we will intensify our active engagement with the public and policymakers and increase our global sphere of influence.
Our strategic goals
Foster a collaborative research environment that transcends disciplinary boundaries.
Accelerate the translation of scientific discoveries into clinical applications.
Maximize the positive societal impact of our research.
Increase international outreach and visibility.
Impactful life sciences research translates fundamental discoveries into clinical applications that improve human health and wellbeing. As a member of the Helmholtz Association, the Max Delbrück Center receives generous funding from the German government to advance innovation at the intersection of basic discovery and clinical translation. Fully capitalizing on this opportunity requires a team science approach, embracing the possibility of failure, and thinking big.
The autonomy of investigator-led research groups has traditionally been the cornerstone of academic research, sparking creativity that has resulted in fundamental breakthroughs. However, as science and technology have evolved, an academic system that exclusively incentivizes and rewards individual achievement over collaborative success is a model that can now hinder interdisciplinary science.
For systems medicine to transform healthcare, approaches from different fields, including computational modeling and data analytics, need to be leveraged to identify fundamental drivers of disease. Innovation in systems medicine necessitates both the spark of individual creativity as a guarantor of transformative research and the collaborative approach inherent to interdisciplinary science.
Our goal is to build a dynamic, self-organizing scientific community that safeguards group autonomy and empowers individuals, but also incentivizes team science, and fully integrates clinicians and industry partners. We will develop inter-institutional strategic partnerships to expand our influence and impact. Moreover, to raise greater awareness of our endeavors, we will intensify efforts to engage with the public and principal stakeholders.
Our Community
The Max Delbrück Center is committed to fostering an environment that nurtures creativity, innovation, diversity of thought, and openness to experimentation. This supportive culture encourages joint problem solving and recognizes that we can learn from failure. Emphasizing inclusivity will enrich our community’s academic and social fabric. In addition, transforming campus Berlin-Buch into a modern, interactive, and lively campus underscores our commitment to community engagement, scientific excellence, and sustainability.
Our strategic goals
Align our community around a shared mission and strategic direction.
Cultivate clear, transparent, and engaging communication to foster understanding and collaboration.
Promote a culture of inclusiveness and respect that encourages initiative and learning.
Develop a vibrant campus that enriches the academic and social experience.
The scientific excellence to which we aspire requires commitment, passion, creativity, and an enduring dedication from every colleague. Promoting a high-performance culture and an inspiring work environment is key to our success.
To achieve these goals, we must actively nurture a vibrant research ecosystem, in which an unwavering dedication to excellence, ambitious science and collaboration unifies a supportive community that inspires a collegial sense of belonging. This culture empowers individuals and interdisciplinary teams, driving experimentation, adaptation, and success. Within this ecosystem, we will create an appealing work environment that supports communication and community.
Our People
Attracting the best talent is pivotal for our success. That means creating a welcoming and nurturing environment, in which everyone can thrive. We will augment the support for early-career scientists and expand professional growth opportunities for all of our staff. We must also embrace and expand the diversity of our community. Everyone should feel they belong at the Max Delbrück Center.
Our strategic goals
Position the Max Delbrück Center as a desired destination for top talent.
Foster and support a diverse faculty.
Equip early-career researchers with the skills needed for diverse scientific careers.
Enhance opportunities for growth and professional development of our staff.
Prioritize our people’s wellbeing.
People are the Max Delbrück Center’s most valuable asset. We recognize that great science is the product of a collaborative mindset, diverse perspectives, and teamwork between excellent scientists and support staff at every level. Diversity in people and teams is crucial to achieve our scientific mission.
The Max Delbrück Center is an international, multicultural, and interdisciplinary research institute, and we are proud of our pioneering spirit. To foster an agile culture that promotes joint problem-solving across the organization, we will create opportunities for professional and personal development for all our employees and create a supportive, stimulating environment that allows everyone to excel.
Our Organization
The pursuit of scientific excellence requires a commitment to organizational efficiencies, continual process improvement, transparent decision-making, and the development of effective leadership at all levels. In this spirit, the Max Delbrück Center has embarked upon a process improvement plan to establish benchmarks that will measure our success. To this end, we aspire to a culture within which leadership is developed, feedback is embraced, and sustainability is paramount. Furthermore, we are committed to the most transparent and reproducible research standards, open science, and a revision of research assessment. These measures will assure our long-term success and impact.
Our strategic goals
Support leadership development at all levels.
Establish effective scientific governance.
Encourage and support joint problem-solving by science and administration.
Strengthen organizational effectiveness through continuous process improvement.
Implement and uphold best scientific practices.
Promote transparency, accessibility, and collaboration in scientific research.
Commit to sustainability.
For every successful organization, long-term success requires purpose-driven governance, a shared value system, individual empowerment, effective communication, transparent policies, processes and procedures, and a commitment to excellence. Furthermore, a research institute must foster an environment that inspires innovation, upholds integrity, rewards achievements equitably, and promotes dialogue across all organizational levels. Finally, embracing open science and sustainability ensures that research practices are accessible, reproducible, and environmentally conscious.
We commit to constantly optimizing the Max Delbrück Center, so it can drive scientific innovation and readily adapt to an ever-changing environment. Purpose-driven leadership, effective scientific management, and administrative efficiency are crucial to our success. We will refine our internal processes, enhance decision-making efficiency, streamline communication, and create a culture of transparency.
Das Dokument ist fertig – doch die eigentliche Arbeit beginnt erst jetzt. Nun gilt es, unsere Vision zu verwirklichen und die klar definierten Ziele zu erreichen.
We have the capacity to unlock the many secrets of biology and, through this process, revolutionize healthcare for people around the world.
Das Dokument ist fertig – doch die eigentliche Arbeit beginnt erst jetzt. Nun gilt es, unsere Vision zu verwirklichen und die klar definierten Ziele zu erreichen.
