This was the 2026 Long Night of the Sciences!
On June 6, 2026, we opened the doors to our labs for the 26th time to welcome thousands of curious visitors. We answered questions, conducted experiments together, shared laughter, and explained how our work can shape the medicine of tomorrow. A look back in pictures.
On June 6, 2026, we opened the doors to our labs for the 26th time to welcome thousands of curious visitors. We answered questions, conducted experiments together, shared laughter, and explained how our work can shape the medicine of tomorrow. A look back in pictures.
Anyone who peered into the brightly lit windows of the Berlin Institute for Medical Systems Biology at the Max Delbrück Center (MDC-BIMSB) on Hannoversche Straße shortly before 11 p.m. on Saturday evening would have seen a lecture hall still packed to capacity: nearly every seat was taken, and many faces were smiling. The Science Slam was in full swing, one of many highlights during the Long Night of the Sciences.
More than 1,200 people came to our Berlin-Mitte location over the course of the evening. Nearly 2,400 more took a look behind the scenes at our Berlin-Buch campus — and in the labs of our neighboring research institutions.
That this event was met with such enthusiasm by Berliners speaks to the importance of direct dialogue: “Trust is built through interaction — and that is exactly what is happening here,” said Berlin’s Senator for Higher Education, Research, and Health, Dr. Ina Czyborra, during the opening ceremony at the MDC-BIMSB.
The evening—and a few eye-opening moments along the way—are captured in this photo recap.
Opening Ceremony
“The many exciting experiments and personal encounters with researchers demonstrate once again just how much enthusiasm and innovative spirit Berlin has to offer — a true inspiration for all generations,” said Dr. Ina Czyborra, Berlin Senator for Higher Education, Research, and Health, at the opening of the Long Night of the Sciences.
More than 100 guests from the worlds of politics, business, and research attended the opening ceremony at the Max Delbrück Center. With more than 1,000 events on the program, the Long Night of the Sciences is one of the largest science festivals in all of Germany.
From left to right: Nikolaus Rajewsky, Director of MDC-BIMSB, Olaf Schulz, Board Member of the Berliner Sparkasse, Christina Quensel, CEO LNDW e.V. and Managing Director of Campus Berlin-Buch GmbH, Ina Czyborra, Berlin Senator for Higher Education, Research, and Health, Maike Sander, Scientific Director of the Max Delbrück Center, Kirstin Bodensiek, Adminstrative Director of the Max Delbrück Center, Henry Marx, State Secretary for Science and Research.
Campus Buch
There was plenty to discover in Buch, too: Normally, veins carry oxygen-poor blood back to the heart, usually against gravity. Here, visitors were able to explore a six-meter-long walk-through vein model with guidance from experts and, for example, take a close look at a stent.
Pipetting, weighing, estimating… it’s not as easy as it sounds when you’re actually testing your lab skills in the Lab Olympics.
Not everything is rocket science! Students from Havemann Gymnasium launched their own rockets.
Misfolded proteins are toxic to the brain — visitors to Erich Wanker’s lab observed the effects of misfolded proteins firsthand — in fruit flies. The tube on the left contains flies with a mutation that mimics Huntington’s disease. They crawl up the tube much more slowly than the normal flies in the tube on the right, and have a much shorter lifespan.
Berlin-Mitte (MDC-BIMSB)
“Disordered proteins are a bit like spaghetti in the brain,” say researchers from Melissa Birol’s lab. They are investigating how these proteins form deposits in the brain and thereby impair the function of nerve cells — in Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s disease for example —using brain organoids…
… and modern microscopy. Their questions: Why does the disease keep progressing? What are the driving factors? Can we predict its course?
Modern light microscopy was also the focus of a hands-on station...
… And anyone who wanted could use VR headsets to immerse themselves in the images that Robert Zinzen’s team, in collaboration with other groups — such as those studying brain organoids — produces. Can microplastics accumulate in nerve cells?
In Jan Philipp Junker’s lab, on the other hand, researchers are studying the earliest stages of embryonic development using zebrafish. How does a single fertilized egg develop into a whole organism? How do cells know what tissue to form and where they need to migrate? At this station, visitors took turns guessing which organs were glowing green under a microscope. The heart? Blood cells? Nerves in the spinal cord?
Did you know that a raindrop is about 500 times larger than a cell nucleus? A single microtiter plate contains 384 wells, each holding one such tiny nucleus. Before the genetic material can be sequenced, each cell nucleus requires a minute amount of a solution. This is best accomplished using a pipetting robot, explained researchers from Michael Robson’s lab. They are using single-cell analyses to investigate how healthy muscle cells differ from diseased ones — such as in muscular dystrophy.
Visitors were then invited to try peeling the shiny seal off the plate themselves: ideally in one smooth motion — and without leaving any residue. Not an easy task. “This can be an emotional challenge,” the researchers said. After all, several days and quite a bit of money had already gone into the experiment.
Anyone who needed a break after all these eye-opening experiences could head up to the rooftop terrace to enjoy the electronic music played by DJ d0erte …
… sitting back and relaxing.
The evening wrapped up at the Berlin-Buch campus with a quiz hosted by Tom and Darren.
And with that, we said goodbye to northeast Berlin …
… and from the heart of the capital.
