Scientific Mission

Cells employ multiple sophisticated levels of gene regulation, which include the organization of chromosomes in the nucleus, epigenetic gene regulation, transcription, post-transcriptional gene regulation and post-translational modifications. The grand challenge and unique Scientific Mission of the “Berlin Institute for Medical Systems Biology” (MDC-BIMSB) is to integrate these levels of gene regulation into comprehensive and predictive models that elucidate their function in health and disease, which is by its nature a truly interdisciplinary endeavour.

Since 2018, this mission has been augmented and now comprises the development, integration and application of cell-based medicine approaches to decipher molecular mechanisms that cause cells to deviate from a healthy to a disease trajectory. The ultimate goal is to use this knowledge to intercept diseases before the onset of pathophysiology and the manifestation of symptoms.

Major diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular, neurodegenerative and metabolic disorders are known to be multifactorial, involving complex interactions between many genes, causes and variants. To extend our understanding of this interplay between regulatory networks in the course of disease, we aim to quantitatively characterize disease relevant events where genes, transcripts, signals, and metabolites interact. To this end, we employ high-throughput quantitative technologies combined with large-scale computational capacities and powerful theoretical approaches, which allow the holistic and quantitative analysis of biological systems. Collecting and analyzing systems-wide quantitative data will allow developing diagnostic and therapeutic concepts for modern biomedicine.

BIMSB is committed to “Breaking Boundaries” - between different scientific disciplines; between different levels of gene regulation; between the MDC, Berlin Universities and other local research institutes; between basic and applied research; between people from different countries and with different backgrounds; between countries by maintaining relationships with international partners; between science, the arts and society.