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To save the northern white rhinoceros from extinction, the BioRescue team is racing to create lab-grown egg and sperm cells of the critically endangered subspecies. The team has now reported a milestone in “Science Advances”: they have generated primordial germ cells from stem cells – a world’s first.

Malaysia’s last male Sumatran rhino, Kertam, died in 2019. Now, a team from the Max Delbrück Center has successfully grown stem cells and mini-brains from his skin cells. As they report in "iScience", their goal is to create sperm cells that may help to save the endangered species from extinction.

To prevent the extinction of the northern white rhino, the international consortium BioRescue is attempting to create artificial egg cells from stem cells. A team led by MDC’s Sebastian Diecke and Micha Drukker of Leiden University has now revealed in "Scientific Reports" that they are one step closer to achieving this goal.

Mina Gouti uses stem cells to create three-dimensional cell structures called organoids that closely resemble some aspects of real human tissues. The organoids are well suited for testing new drugs to combat neuromuscular diseases and for developing personalized therapies to treat severely ill patients.

The new Einstein Center for Alternative Methods in Biomedical Research is officially starting its work. The Einstein Foundation will support the Berlin-based facility to the tune of around €5.3 million through the end of 2026. The funds are being provided by the State of Berlin. The MDC is involved with several projects.

Dr Sebastian Diecke, who leads the stem cells technology platform at the MDC and BIH, doesn't just do science – he also combines it with art. A project by two Australian artists in which he was involved won an Award of Excellence at this year's Japan Media Arts Festival.

When the cells’ power plants don’t function properly, life expectancy is low. Otherwise, little is known about Leigh syndrome. Using organoids, researchers in Düsseldorf and Berlin have now created the first human model for studying this rare disease. They are presenting their work in “Nature Communications”.

Research and conservation are not exempt from the negative effects of the pandemic. The BioRescue research project, a program aiming at saving the northern white rhino from extinction, exemplifies the challenges research and conservation face in an international consortium during these times.

MDC researchers established a new model to study neuromuscular development and disorders. For the first time two distinct human tissues co-developed in the lab from one progenitor cell type and self-organized into a complex, functional neuromuscular organoid.

How to save a functionally extinct species, animal testing in neurobiology, and innovative new cancer therapies – these are just some of the topics covered in the lectures series “New Avenues in Biomedicine.” The series, which includes contributions from three MDC researchers, offers the general public a lens into what’s happening in the world of science.