New Max Delbrück Center focus on bioengineering
Two research projects proposed by Max Delbrück Center researchers have been chosen by the Helmholtz Association to be funded through its new Biomedical Engineering initiative. Professor Oliver Daumke and Professor Mikhail Kudrayashev will coordinate a multicenter research project to develop bioengineered mini-proteins to treat specific types of cancers that stop responding to existing drugs.
Dr. Ralph Kühn will participate in a second project that will explore gene therapy to treat rare genetic diseases of the nervous system that cause severe neurodevelopmental deficiencies and early death.
“Biomedical engineering is transforming how we develop new medicines. By combining biomedicine, engineering, and artificial intelligence, we can move more quickly from fundamental discoveries to therapies that are more precise and ultimately more effective for patients,” says Professor Maike Sander, Scientific Director of the Max Delbrück Center.
Sander, who is also Vice President of Helmholtz Health and Chair of the bioengineering Coordination Unit, played an integral role in spearheading the Biomedical Engineering initiative. The Coordination Unit is in charge of strategic alignment, network expansion, and identifying future funding opportunities for all participating Helmholtz Centers.
Improving cancer treatment and gene therapy
Daumke and Kudrayashev’s Prothera project will use generative artificial intelligence to engineer small, custom-made proteins that can attach to newly identified sites on a cancer-relevant protein that is frequently altered in non-small cell lung cancer. While targeted drugs can significantly extend the life expectancy of patients with these cancers – and in some cases offer a cure – many develop resistance over time and stop responding to these medicines. With the help of engineered mini-proteins, the team hopes to develop new treatment options for these patients. Partners include researchers at the Forschungszentrum Jülich, Medical Center University of Freiburg and the Center for Advanced Systems Understanding and HZDR.
The second project, ENGENED, is being coordinated by Professor Gil Gregor Westmeyer at the Technical University of Munich and will focus on developing a new gene therapy method. Gene therapy has already cured many patients with genetic diseases that affect blood cells and the immune system. But there remain technical and safety issues with existing methods.
The ENGENED team – which includes Kühn, Dr. Pawel Lisowski at MDC-BIMSB and Professor Markus Schülke-Gerstenfeld at Charité Universitätsmedizin among other partners – aim to overcome these limits and to expand the application of gene therapy to cure other types of genetic diseases. They will experiment with packaging gene editing tools inside enveloped virus-like particles – a system that has been patented by Helmholtz Munich – to treat genetic neurological diseases such as SYNGAP1 encephalopathy and NEDAMSS syndrome.
Bioengineering takes center stage
The two projects are part of a broader effort at the Max Delbrück Center to harness the power of bioengineering to turn biomedical discoveries into the medicine of the future. Last year, the Helmholtz Association approved €30.8 million in funding for the Center for AI-Accelerated Molecular Innovations in Medicine (AI2M) to be located at the Max Delbrück Center. AI2M and will form part of a bioengineering hub in Buch and support our research in the area. It will also further our efforts in precision prevention and AI strategies.
Additionally, over the past two years the center has welcomed Professor Karen Christman from the University of California, San Diego and Professor Milica Radicic from the University of Toronto as Stiftung Charité Visiting Fellows. Both are internationally recognized leaders in bioengineering and are helping to strengthen this growing focus.
Last month, the Helmholtz Association announced that it would be dedicating 36 million euros to three new research initiatives – one of which is biomedical engineering – as part of Germany’s High-Tech Agenda, a federal effort to boost national innovation, competitiveness, and sovereignty by investing in key technologies. The effort also prioritizes transfer from research to application, reducing bottlenecks and bureaucracy, and strengthening European technological independence.
Text: Gunjan Sinha
Further information
- Helmholtz new 2026 research initiatives
- Helmholtz Bioengineering Initiative
- News on Karen Christman
- News on Milica Radicic
- Opinion piece by Maike Sander
- AI-Accelerated Molecular Innovations in Medicine (AI2M)
Contact
Prof. Dr. Misha Kudryashev
In Situ Structural Biology
Max Delbrück Center
mikhail.kudryashev@mdc-berlin.de
Prof. Oliver Daumke
Group Leader
Structural Biology of Membrane-Associated Processes
Max Delbrück Center
oliver.daumke@mdc-berlin.de
Dr. Ralph Kühn
Group Leader
Genome Engineering and Disease Models
ralf.kuehn@mdc-berlin.de
Gunjan Sinha
Editor, Communications
Max Delbrück Center
+49 30 9406 – 2118
Gunjan.Sinha@mdc-berlin.de or presse@mdc-berlin.de
- Max Delbrück Center
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The Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association lays the foundation for the medicine of tomorrow through our discoveries of today. At locations in Berlin-Buch, Berlin-Mitte, Heidelberg, and Mannheim, interdisciplinary teams investigate the complexity of disease at the systems level – from molecules and cells to organs and entire organisms. Together with academic, clinical, and industry partners, and as part of global networks, we turn biological insights into innovations for early detection, personalized therapies, and disease prevention. Founded in 1992, the Max Delbrück Center is home to a vibrant, international research community of around 1,800 people from over 70 countries. We are 90 percent funded by the German federal government and 10 percent by the state of Berlin.
