News

A team led by Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, German Rheumatology Research Center and the Max Delbrück Center have defined key cells behind severe kidney damage in lupus. The research, published in “Nature,” can inform future antibody therapies.

Simon Haas receives a Proof-of-Concept Grant from the European Research Council in the amount of €150,000. Immunotherapies use the immune system to fight against cancer. Haas' team from the joint single-cell focus of Max Delbrück Center, BIH, and Charité is developing methods to predict the efficacy of immunotherapies.

Captain T Cell, a spin-off from the Max Delbrück Center, raised €8.5 million in startup funding. The startup focuses on developing T cells to target solid tumors. The funds are intended to move a new generation of T cell therapies towards the clinic.

Cell-based immunotherapies, particularly lab-produced immune cells known as CAR T cells, show promise in treating various cancers. But how do we produce effective ones? Gaetano Gargiulo from the Max Delbrück Center will develop a novel screening tool, supported by an ERC Proof of Concept Grant.

From 2024, the Federal Government and the State of Berlin will fund the establishment of the National Center for Tumor Diseases (NCT) Berlin. The new site is a cooperation between DKFZ and Charité, BIH, and Max Delbrück Center aimed at closely integrating clinical and translational cancer research.

The Berlin biotech Glycotope and the Max Delbrück Center have signed an agreement to explore the potential of combining Glycotope’s tumor-specific antibodies with CAR technology developed by the Max Delbrück Center. Their common goal: advancing immunotherapies against solid tumors.

After spending many years researching together, a group of scientists has founded CARTemis Therapeutics, a spin-off from the Max Delbrück Center. Uta Höpken, Armin Rehm, Anthea Wirges, and Mario Bunse want to use novel CAR T-cell therapies to help patients with cancers that are currently untreatable.

Bartter syndrome type 3 is the result of several structural variants in the genome. By using long-read sequencing, Janine Altmüller and her team from the Max Delbrück Center, the BIH and University Hospital Cologne mapped out the rare disease in unprecedented detail. They have now reported their findings in “Genome Medicine.”

Michael Bader’s lab and six other European research groups are working to develop new methods to diagnose and monitor the progression of two kidney diseases. Both disorders are caused by an overactive unit of the body’s immune system. The researchers will receive €1.9 million for the project.

While CAR-T cells have proven successful in treating certain types of leukemia and lymphoma, these immunotherapies can become even more effective. A clinical trial run by Charité and the Max Delbrück Center has been awarded a grant of several million euros to test a new approach.