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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.

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.”

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.

For his work on aggressive glioblastomas, Dr. Gaetano Gargiulo of the Max Delbrück Center received a 10,000 euro prize from the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities. Donated by the Monika Kutzner Stiftung, the prize honors outstanding achievements in cancer research.

Unlike humans, zebrafish can completely regenerate their hearts after injury. They owe this ability to the interaction between their nervous and immune systems, as researchers led by Suphansa Sawamiphak from the Max Delbrück Center now report in the journal “Developmental Cell.”

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.

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.