News

For the first time ever, the Forschungsverbund Berlin confers the Marthe Vogt Award on not one but two young female scientists: biochemist Dr. Sabrina Geisberger of the MDC and physicist Dr. Vittoria Sposini.

Dr. Dieter Beule, who has led the joint Core Unit Bioinformatics of BIH, MDC, and Charité since 2015, has been appointed a lifetime W2 professorship in Translational Bioinformatics at the Berlin Institute of Health at Charité (BIH).

Dr. Janine Altmüller’s goal is to raise the profile of genomics research in Berlin. Since July 1 she has headed the BIH and MDC’s joint Genomics Platform, providing support to Berlin researchers and honing new methods and technologies.

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 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.

In light of the pandemic, the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) is pooling together its resources for projects that advance the understanding of SARS-CoV-2, while scaling down its regular research operations to a minimum. Here’s an overview of the MDC’s current collaborations and plans.

A new technology platform at the Max Delbrück Center is using human stem cells to develop complex tissue cultures known as “organoids.” This enables researchers to gain a better understanding of disease processes by simulating them in 3D. Neuronal diseases will be modeled first and then other diseases.

What happens deep inside the heart as it ages? To answer this question, MDC scientists looked into which genes are active in thousands of old and young heart cells. They found that the heart loses its high level of organization in old age – and that connective tissue cells in particular end up getting out of control.

An artificial intelligence platform developed at the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) can analyze genomic data extremely quickly, picking out key patterns to classify different types of colorectal tumors and improve the drug discovery process. The deeper analysis shows some colorectal subtypes need to be reclassified.

Using artificial intelligence to evaluate images of the retina – The jury of the "Deep Berlin Conference" was convinced by the concept of the "Nocturne" spin-off that uses the eye as a window to the human brain.