Scientists at a desk laughing
© Katharina Bohm / MDC

Success stories

Breaking down barriers in molecular medicine

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The Max Delbrück Center is one of the world’s leading biomedical research institutes. The extent of its scientific success can be seen in just a few selected highlights.

ERC Grants: The most prestigious research grants in Europe

European Research Council (ERC) views the recipients of its highly sought-after funding as pioneers venturing into uncharted territory. The selection process for the grants is based on a single criterion – scientific excellence – and researchers are not constrained by any thematic or policy priorities. That's why receiving an ERC grant is a great honour and valuation of one's work.

Most of our researchers are biologists or chemists, while others are bioinformaticians, mathematicians, physicians, or physicists. For these experts, molecular medicine is about combining the different perspectives of physicians and scientists. Their findings should improve diagnoses and therapies, and help healthy people avoid getting ill

Examples of recent significant scientific discoveries

Noteworthy discoveries made by MDC research groups are featured in our Research Highlights.

Research leading to better therapy and diagnoses

Our scientists have founded a number of spin-offs. Furthermore, our researchers are making important contributions to the development of pharmaceuticals and technologies.

A steadily rising number of publications

The immediate result of a scientist's work are research papers which are published in scientific journals. These articles serve a central aspect of science: spreading knowledge across the world. Other researchers subsequently re-use and cite the results in their own work.

Publications 2014-2018
  Total Number of publications in journals with impact factor > 10 Average impact factor
2020 567 122 7,63
2019 449 84 7,57
2018 475 98 7.11
2017 448 98 7.47
2016 490 77 6.39
2015 432 68 6.32
2014 402 67 6.54

Calculations are based on publications of MDC research groups, guest groups, technology platforms and ECRC groups with a stated ECRC affiliation.
Some 65 percent of all publications were co-authored by researchers from other countries.

Our scientific publications

Related news

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© Ariana Rauch, Max Delbrück Center
Press Release No. 28

Gut microbiome influences location of immune cells

Researchers at the Experimental and Clinical Research Center of Max Delbrück Center and Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin have found that microbial communities in the mouse GI tract are unevenly distributed, which influences immune cell populations. The work was published in “Gut Microbes.”
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Wissenschaftler*innen haben ein Zwischenprodukt eines Serotoninrezeptors 5-HT3A identifiziert (blau). In der engültigen Form kommt eine fünfte Untereinheit dazu (grün). Das Zwischenprodukt könnte eine neue Zielstruktur für Medikamente sein.

© Max Delbrück Center
Press Release No. 27

A new drug target for psychiatric disorders

Misha Kudryashev’s lab at the Max Delbrück Center has identified a molecular intermediate of a serotonin receptor that is involved in diseases such as depression and schizophrenia. Published in “The EMBO Journal,” the study points to a potentially new target for therapeutics.
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Press Release No. 25

New clues on how the heart makes arteries

A team in the labs of Holger Gerhardt and Norbert Hübner at the Max Delbrück Center has elucidated how new arteries form, potentially helping to improve therapies aimed at regenerating heart muscle after a heart attack or stroke. The research was published in “Circulation Research.”
Scientific image

Healthy organoids (left) show an organized neurogenic zone (shown in yellow) and neural progenitor cells (shown in red/pink). Huntington’s Disease organoids (right) exhibit almost no neural progenitors (red) and also show defects in cellular polarity (yellow). These defects have been described in the literature in human fetuses with Huntington’s disease.

© Selene Lickefett, Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf, Werner Dykstra, Max Delbrück Center
Press Release No. 24

A new culprit in Huntington’s disease

Researchers in Berlin and Düsseldorf have implicated a new gene in the progression of Huntington’s disease in a brain organoid model. The gene may contribute to brain abnormalities much earlier than previously thought. The study was published in “Nature Communications.”