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Swapping just a single amino acid can play a decisive role in transforming healthy B cells into cancer cells. An international team led by ECRC researcher Stephan Mathas describes in “Nature Communications” how a point mutation in the transcription factor IRF4 profoundly alters gene regulation.

There are few pregnancy diseases as life-threatening as preeclampsia. But the danger doesn’t end after birth: Mothers with preeclamptic pregnancies have a much higher risk of developing cardiovascular disease later in life. Kristin Kräker from the Experimental and Clinical Research Center is working on an early warning system.

At the Max Delbrück Center, Cheryl L. Stucky learned the techniques for studying pain receptors that she now teaches to young scientists as a professor in the USA. On November 8, the alumna will visit her former workplace and give a talk on how skin cells contribute to the sensations of touch and pain.

An afternoon marked by innovation: Berlin's Mayor, Kai Wegner, visited the Max Delbrück Center on October 11, 2023, and subsequently inaugurated the BerlinBioCube innovation center on the Buch research campus. The BioCube, in close proximity, provides state-of-the-art laboratories and offices for life science startups and spin-offs, including those from the Max Delbrück Center.

Campus Berlin-Buch has a new incubator for life science start-ups: 8,000 square meters of state-of-the-art laboratory and office space have been built on the Science and Technology Campus. The BerlinBioCube was ceremonially opened on October 11, 2023 in the presence of the Governing Mayor.

Scientists have created a new zebrafish xenograft platform to screen for novel treatments for an aggressive brain tumor called glioblastoma, according to a new study by the Gerhardt and De Smet labs published in “EMBO Molecular Medicine.”

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.

Young students are fascinated by the experiments they can participate in at the Gläsernes Labor (Life Science Learning Lab). Thanks to a special fundraiser, socially disadvantaged children from the district of Marzahn-Mitte were able to don lab coats and carry out some thrilling research.

The UNIPRENEURS Initiative has recognized the entrepreneurial spirit of 20 professors, among them ECRC researcher Simone Spuler. As a co-founder of the startup MyoPax, she is pioneering stem cell technology to develop regenerative therapies for previously incurable muscle diseases.