We are looking forward to the partnership with the BIH

The administrative agreement is signed, the Berlin Institute of Health (BIH) will become the third pillar of the Charité. "We are excited about the privileged partnership," says Professor Thomas Sommer, interim Scientific Director of the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association (MDC).

Group picture: MDC becomes privileged partner of the BIH — Group picture: (left to right): Steffen Krach (State Secretary for Education and Research), Prof. Thomas Sommer (interim Scientific Director, MDC), Andrea Runow (interim Administrative Director, BIH), Michael Müller (Governing Mayor of Berlin), Anja Karliczek (Federal Minister for Education and Research), Prof. Axel Radlach Pries (interim Chairman, BIH), Prof. Karl Max Einhäupl (Chairman, Charité), Georg Schütte (State Secretary at the BMBF).

© Felix Petermann, MDC

"The MDC has outstanding specialists in vascular medicine and single-cell analysis and is a driver for innovation. As a privileged partner, the MDC will play a decisive role in helping the BIH fulfill its mission of accelerating the translation of research findings from the lab to the clinic. That is good for patients in Germany and good for our research, so we are very pleased," said Thomas Sommer, interim Scientific Director of the MDC. The pursuit of translational, patient-oriented research and the application of our discoveries to improve human health are very close to our heart,” emphasizes Sommer.

Genomics Platform — Forschung in der Genomik-Plattform, einer gemeinsamen Infrastruktur von MDC und BIH

© David Ausserhofer / MDC

‟It is especially positive that we can bring the vascular medicine expertise we have here in Berlin to bear in the BIH in an optimal way. The MDC is home to outstanding specialists who are studying diseases of the blood vessels, such as heart failure, heart attack, and stroke, and are already successfully collaborating with physicians at Charité, for example, on the BeLOVE study. Now we can expand this collaboration,” says Sommer. The study aims to follow 10,000 patients who suffer from acute diseases of the blood vessels over many years in order to find out why some people survive the disease relatively well and why others don’t.

Cooperation is already a reality

As a result of the already proven and excellent cooperation between our researchers and clinicians at the Charité, we will make rapid progress in the interest of patients.

Thomas Sommer Wissenschaftlicher Vorstand (komm.) des MDC

The MDC has also attained internationally recognized excellence in single-cell analysis, a cutting-edge research approach that ultimately seeks to reliably predict disease onset and progression and to develop better treatment options. “In this field, the MDC already has strong ties to Charité, for example, when it comes to data sharing and analysis.” Here Sommer pointed out the joint research efforts in pediatric oncology. “We look forward to the intensive collaboration, whose aim is personalized medicine. We will be able to expedite scientific progress that benefits patients through the already excellent and fruitful collaboration of our researchers with Charité’s clinicians,” Sommer added.

Sommer stresses that the MDC is a driver of innovation and has state-of-the-art technologies and facilities, some of which have been jointly developed ‒ and are extensively used – by the MDC, Charité, and the BIH. This cooperation must continue, he says, highlighting the close proximity of the MDC to Germany’s largest university hospital.

Further information

Press contact

Jutta Kramm
Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association (MDC)
Head of the Communications Department
+49 (0)30-9406-2140
jutta.kramm@mdc-berlin.de

The Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association (MDC) is one of the world’s leading biomedical research institutions. Max Delbrück, a Berlin native, was a Nobel laureate and one of the founders of molecular biology. At the MDC’s locations in Berlin-Buch and Mitte, researchers from some 60 countries analyze the human system – investigating the biological foundations of life from its most elementary building blocks to systems-wide mechanisms. By understanding what regulates or disrupts the dynamic equilibrium in a cell, an organ, or the entire body, we can prevent diseases, diagnose them earlier, and stop their progression with tailored therapies. Patients should benefit as soon as possible from basic research discoveries. The MDC therefore supports spin-off creation and participates in collaborative networks. It works in close partnership with Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin in the jointly run Experimental and Clinical Research Center (ECRC), the Berlin Institute of Health (BIH) at Charité, and the German Center for Cardiovascular Research (DZHK). Founded in 1992, the MDC today employs 1,600 people and is funded 90 percent by the German federal government and 10 percent by the State of Berlin.