News

Many researchers in the Berlin-Brandenburg region are studying the microbiome, the community of microorganisms that reside on and in our bodies. Sofia Forslund from the Experimental and Clinical Research Center now hopes to improve networking among them by establishing a virtual microbiome institute.

A data gap that threatens timely diagnosis and treatment for half the population, the visibility of female researchers in Wikipedia, and myriads of microbes in and on our bodies – the Max Delbrück Center's program for the Berlin Science Week 2023 is focused on dimensions of diversity.

People with Huntington’s disease lose control of their bodies and minds. The symptoms are caused by protein clumps in the nerve cells. Supported by a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship, Andrea Quezada aims to create atomic models of these fibrils at the Max Delbrück Center.

On August 1, 2023, Sofia Forslund will take up a W3 Professorship in Applied Microbiology at Charité. She will continue her scientific work at the ECRC, which involves close collaboration with researchers from the Max Delbrück Center and Charité.

The Arl8b protein provides new insights into the mechanisms underlying Alzheimer’s disease. It also has the potential to function as a diagnostic marker. The scientists behind this discovery, a team led by Erich Wanker from the Max Delbrück Center, have published their findings in “Genome Medicine”.

The mucus in the airways is not as sticky, inflammation in the lungs significantly reduced: the positive effects of triple combination therapy in patients with cystic fibrosis are supported by researchers from Charité and the Max Delbrück Center in the “European Respiratory Journal”.

Neuroblastoma is the third most common malignancy in children. 16 labs at the Max Delbrück Center and other Berlin-based researchers will investigate how they originate and grow in a new Collaborative Research Centre. The project, supported by the German Research Foundation (DFG), has been granted approximately €13.5 million.

A Berlin-based team led by ECRC researcher Dominik N. Müller is analyzing how inflammation of the intestinal mucosa affects blood vessels. They are still looking for study participants – especially people with inflammatory bowel diseases, multiple sclerosis, high blood pressure and diabetes.

Berlin-based research project MSTARS is entering its second round. Matthias Selbach and Fabian Coscia explain how the Max Delbrück Center is contributing, why the collaboration with Charité is so important, and how studying proteins in cells can help identify the best therapy for a patient.

For nearly two decades, Oliver Daumke has been working to solve the mystery of how a molecular machine remodels cellular membranes. His team has now found the answer with the help of cryo-electron tomography. They report their findings in the journal “Nature Communications”.