Institute & Campus

In 2024, the Max Delbrück Center published Strategy 2030. With Strategy Lab —our new video series — we check in on the transformation process and ask a simple question: what actually happens next?

HI-TAC’s co-leadership team is complete: Johannes Backs, a physician, is now serving as scientific director of the Helmholtz Institute – alongside Karina Yaniv. Backs studies how the heart communicates with other organs and aims to bring new drugs to patients more quickly.

The European doctoral network ORFeus is welcoming applications from doctoral students who want to help decipher the dark proteome. The Max Delbrück Center will host one student in the lab of Uwe Ohler. The deadline for applying is October 22, 2026.

Since August 2026, Stefanie Seltmann has headed our new Data, Information and Publication Services department. In this interview, she explains what her team does and why our researchers, and science as a whole, stand to benefit.

Around 65 group leaders and PIs have gone through a new instrument developed as part of Strategy 2030: the 360° leadership feedback process. An interview with Group Leader and Associate Director of Talent Management Katja Simon on how to give and receive feedback.

As of August 15, 2026, Kirstin Bodensiek has officially taken the helm as Administrative Director of the Max Delbrück Center. She is stepping into the permanent position after leading the center on an interim basis.

A quiz hosted by the Finance Department, a behind-the-scenes tour of the biobank, and a relaxed lunch on the lawn — Summer Science Day 2026 offered something for everyone. The event brought together employees from across the Max Delbrück Center and offered inspiring glimpses of the center's future.

The German Centre for Cardiovascular Research (DZHK) has elected a new executive board. Our Vice Director Holger Gerhardt will continue to serve as part of the three-member leadership team. Congratulations!

The Helmholtz Institute for Translational AngioCardioScience in Mannheim/Heidelberg has appointed vascular biologist Karina Yaniv from the Weizmann Institute as its new Scientific Director. Yaniv will bridge research across institutes to fast-track therapies for cardiovascular disease.

Families, researchers, and clinicians will gather in Berlin to share knowledge and build momentum toward therapies for NEDAMSS, a rare neurodevelopmental disorder. Jakob Metzger, Group Leader of the Quantitative Stem Cell Biology lab explains why this day matters and what participants can expect.