News

The HIDA Trainee Network is back for a second time in 2021. The exchange program promotes interdisciplinary networking between young scientists at Helmholtz and helps them learn from one another

Bone regeneration, dynamic hydrogels and the novel coronavirus – these three topics are currently being researched by MDC scientists in two new Collaborative Research Centres and as part of the COVID-19 Focus Funding initiative of the German Research Foundation (DFG ).

A new textbook “Computational Genomics with R” written by MDC’s Altuna Akalin will be published this month. The book aims to assist to a wide range of readers, providing both an introduction to genomics and step-by-step instructions to help biologists analyze their own datasets.

A muscle fiber consists of just one cell, but many nuclei. A team at the MDC led by Professor Carmen Birchmeier has now shown just how varied these nuclei are. The study, which has been published in Nature Communications, can help us better understand muscle diseases such as Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

Enlarged ventricles in the brains of people with multiple sclerosis were previously considered a sign of tissue loss. But a team at the MDC and ECRC demonstrated that this expansion often recedes. A study published in JCI Insight now shows that the process observed in mice is transferable to humans.

Kyle Harrington will lead a new MDC technology platform developing new tools to process any type of imaging data. The new unit will support the Helmholtz Imaging Platform (HIP), a joint effort by the MDC and two other centers to advance image data acquisition, preparation and analysis.

A serious illness is often the result of a single genetic defect. To help locate this genetic “needle in a haystack” scientists at the Bioinformatics Core Unit of the BIH joined forces with colleagues from Charité and the MDC to develop a freely available software. They are presenting it in the journal “Nucleic Acids Research”.

Hundreds of researchers, clinicians, industry leaders and policy makers from all around Europe are united by a vision of how to revolutionize healthcare. In a perspective in Nature and the LifeTime Strategic Research Agenda they now present a roadmap of how to leverage the latest scientific breakthroughs and technologies over the next decade, to track, understand and treat human cells throughout an individual’s lifetime.

On September 23 data scientists can find out more about career opportunities in applied data sciences at a virtual career fair. The “Helmholtz Virtual Data Science Career Day“ with several virtual keynotes and over 20 exhibitors is free of charge for participants.

A new team at the MDC will support researchers with the management of scientific data. In addition to technical solutions and uniform standards for storing, analyzing, and describing data, training and consulting services for scientists are also planned.