News

Prof. Simone Spuler is looking to use stem cells and CRISPR to prevent the muscle tissue of patients with genetic muscle disorders from further deteriorating – or even to repair it. This could lead to the first therapeutic approaches for diseases that have up to now been considered incurable.

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.

A new gene-editing technique can be used to correct mutations in muscle stem cells, paving the way for the first potential cell therapy for genetic muscle disorders. The ECRC team led by Professor Simone Spuler have published their findings in the journal "JCI Insight".

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.

Until recently, it was unclear how and why cancer cells adapt to their environment. A team led by Dr. Gaetano Gargiulo at MDC has now developed a technology that can be used to observe the molecular processes in living cells. The researchers present their results in the journal Cancer Discovery.

Dr. Jakob Metzger is a physicist who has found his scientific home in developmental biology. From November, he heads the Quantitative Stem Cell Biology Lab at the MDC, pursuing an interdisciplinary approach.

MDC welcomes a new guest PI: Dr. Michael Sigal, a clinician scientist at Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin who studies how stem cells contribute to gastrointestinal disorders and cancer. He is excited to partner with MDC to explore the gut’s interior lining on the single cell level.

Dr. Laleh Haghverdi joins the MDC on July 1st to lead a new group: Computational Methodologies and Omic Analytics. She brings her expertise in finding mathematical approaches to improve single-cell, multi-omics data integration and analysis.

Scientists at the MDC have discovered stem cells responsible for the most common form of kidney cancer. The team of Walter Birchmeier has found a way to block the growth of these tumors in three models of the disease.