Science

The coronavirus challenges people around the world every day. Here at the MDC, we are giving our best to help fight the pandemic. Some of our scientists took the time to think about a few of the questions surrounding SARS-CoV-2.

It’s been a bit of a mystery: is a particular family of proteins responsible for cell survival or cell death in the intestinal lining? A new mouse model developed at the Max Delbrück Centre for Molecular Medicine (MDC) provides clear evidence and a potential treatment target for inflammatory bowel disease.

Anton Henssen works as a paediatrician and researches rare tumours at the Max Delbrück Center. Incidentally, he’s also a conceptual artist with way more to his paintings than meets the eye.

A chlamydia infection triggers an inflammatory response at the cellular level. MDC researchers conducted experiments in cell cultures to examine the role that the enzyme GBP1 plays in this response. They have now published their findings in Cell Reports.

Three minutes – that’s all the time FameLab contestants have to present their research in a dynamic and engaging way. On May 14, 2020, Ian Stewart, a scientist in James Poulet’s lab at the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC), will be taking part in the competition’s national final.

Jan Philipp Junker creates cell lineage trees. He wants to understand the different paths that lead to a functioning organism. Perhaps one day, this knowledge will also reveal how organs are able to regenerate.

The neuroscientist Dr. James Poulet has been appointed to the W3 professorship for Systems Neuroscience at Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin in cooperation with the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association (MDC). Professor Poulet took up the post on April 1, 2020.

Ilaria Piazza’s journey into science began with the game of Lego and has evolved into an investigation of the building blocks of life: human cells. Piazza will join the MDC on May 1 to establish her own junior research group, the Allosteric Proteomics Lab. It will focus on using the proteomic technologies she has developed to study the molecular mechanisms of diseases.

Researchers at the ECRC have successfully used RNA molecules to treat a dangerous pregnancy disorder called preeclampsia. They were able to alleviate common symptoms of the disorder, like maternal high blood pressure and fetal undernutrition, with virtually no side effects.

Strategies for treating multiple sclerosis have so far focused primarily on T and B cells. A group of MDC researchers has now unveiled a new approach in Nature Immunology – one that seeks to increase treatment effectiveness by selectively targeting another type of immune cell called monocytes.