Grosswendt Lab

Cells communicate with their neighbors to shape gene expression and cellular decisions. Our team of wet lab and computational biologists aims to decode the language of cells by addressing four central questions: (1) Which cells are neighbors? (2) How do they communicate? (3) What are the consequences? (4) Can we build cell interactions?

We develop single-cell- and spatial transcriptomics-based genomic strategies to investigate how cells interact, focusing on the communication patterns that instruct neural crest cells in the mouse embryo. Furthermore, we develop strategies in complex in vitro systems and reconstruct interactions bottom-up. Ultimately, we aim to understand how cell interactions are organized and collectively instruct cells.

The group is part of the joint 'Single Cell Approaches for Personalized Medicine' Research Focus Area of the Berlin Institute of Health (BIH) at Charité and the Max-Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC). Our lab is located at the Berlin Institute of Medical Systems Biology of the MDC, and we closely collaborate with the clinical Department of Pediatric Oncology and Hematology at the Charité.