News

Research teams at the Max Delbrück Center and its partner institutions used almost 17,000 fewer research animals in 2023 than in the previous year. The Center has now submitted these figures to the Berlin State Office for Health and Social Affairs (LaGeSo).

From cell biology to CRISPR gene editing technology – the Life Science Learning Lab at the Berlin-Buch research campus offers both students and teachers the opportunity to immerse themselves in science. This year, “Gläsernes Labor” celebrates its 25th anniversary.

The German Research Foundation (DFG) will fund single-cell scientist Simon Haas in its Heisenberg program. Therefore, the Berlin Institute of Health at Charité (BIH) is establishing a Heisenberg professorship in systems hematology. After five years, the BIH will make the professorship permanent.

Touch is a fundamental, yet scarcely understood, sense. Now, the team led by Gary Lewin at the Max Delbrück Center has discovered a second ion channel associated with touch perception. Elkin1 could be a target for pain therapy, the team writes in “Science”.

This year, young researchers from Berlin were once again drawn to the regional competition "Jugend forscht". Pictures and videos provide insight into the colorful competition on the Berlin-Buch Campus.

At a workshop organized by EARA, researchers, animal welfare officers, and communicators gained insights into how they can communicate more openly and proactively about animal research. The event, with over 80 participants, was held in collaboration with the Max Delbrück Center.

Special receptor cells under the skin enable us to feel pain and touch. But Schwann cells also play a key role in detecting such stimuli, researchers at the Max Delbrück Center report in “Nature Communications.” This discovery opens new avenues for pain therapy.

A new computer program allows scientists to design synthetic DNA segments that indicate, in real time, the state of cells. Reported by the Gargiulo lab in “Nature Communications”, it will be used to screen for anti-cancer or viral infections drugs, or to improve gene and cell-based immunotherapies.

Some hereditary genetic defects cause an exaggerated immune response that can be fatal. Using the CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing tool, such defects can be corrected, thus normalizing the immune response, as researchers led by Klaus Rajewsky from the Max Delbrück Center now report in “Science Immunology.”

On January 29th, the European Animal Research Association (EARA) and Charité –Universitätsmedizin Berlin, in collaboration with the Max Delbrück Center and Freie Universität Berlin, invite those working in the life science sector to discuss the need for greater transparency in animal research.