News

He is a molecular biologist and physician, a GDR civil rights activist and bioethicist, a person with integrity and a sense of community. Until 2022, he was an ombudsman at the Max Delbrück Center. We celebrate the 85th birthday of Professor Jens Reich.

Their research is outstanding, and they’re also committed to the Max Delbrück Center and engaged in our community — Manqiang Lin and Artsemi Yushkevich wrote the best papers in 2023; Hendrik Bartolomaeus, Eleonore Adami and Ulrike Löber received the Postdoc Awards for 2023.

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.

NOVA University and Max Delbrück Center are jointly establishing the NOVA Institute for Medical Systems Biology (NIMSB). Both institutions have developed a shared vision to push the boundaries of precision medicine. “Insights” spoke to the three project leads in Lisbon and Berlin.

During three campaigns in December 2023, employees of the Max Delbrück Center took the opportunity to donate to good causes. This resulted in more than 300 gifts for children and more than 1,400 euros for the 'Kältebus' (cold bus) for homeless people in Berlin. We spoke with the organizers.

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.”

Melissa Birol of the Max Delbrück Center is looking to understand early stages of Alzheimer’s disease. Her focus is on the interplay between the lipid metabolism of nerve cells and the spread of tau protein. The Alzheimer Research Initiative is funding her work with 193,500 euros.

A tumor often arises when cancer genes multiply. In this process, additional genes act as hitchhikers, potentially creating previously unknown vulnerabilities that open the door to new therapeutic approaches. This finding is reported by a team led by ECRC-scientists Anton Henssen and Jan Dörr in "Cancer Discovery."

Diseases can emerge when the body’s production of serotonin is out of whack. Researchers led by Michael Bader from the Max Delbrück Center have discovered a therapeutic agent that brings down high levels of this hormone. Their start-up, Trypto Therapeutics, aims to develop the drug for the market.