News & Events

The artists Elisabetta Citterio and Claudia Cagliano have created portraits of nearly 60 female researchers from nine countries. Twenty-five of them can be viewed in the "STEM Passion" exhibition until March 12, 2024 in the Rahel Hirsch Center for Translational Medicine Berlin.

Special receptor cells under the skin enable us to feel pain and touch. But Schwann cells also play a key role in detecting such stimuli, researchers at the Max Delbrück Center report in “Nature Communications.” This discovery opens new avenues for pain therapy.

A new computer program allows scientists to design synthetic DNA segments that indicate, in real time, the state of cells. Reported by the Gargiulo lab in “Nature Communications”, it will be used to screen for anti-cancer or viral infections drugs, or to improve gene and cell-based immunotherapies.

Some hereditary genetic defects cause an exaggerated immune response that can be fatal. Using the CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing tool, such defects can be corrected, thus normalizing the immune response, as researchers led by Klaus Rajewsky from the Max Delbrück Center now report in “Science Immunology.”

This month's recommended reading comes from Russ Hodge, a science writer and trainer in the People & Culture department at the Max Delbrück Center. His tip is a gripping novel about music, family, and identity. It is set in post-war America during the civil rights movement.

The international BioRescue consortium in Berlin has announced that for the first time a rhino has successfully become pregnant following embryo transfer. This paves the way for using of the same method of reproductive medicine to save the northern white rhino from extinction.

Melissa Birol of the Max Delbrück Center is looking to understand early stages of Alzheimer’s disease. Her focus is on the interplay between the lipid metabolism of nerve cells and the spread of tau protein. The Alzheimer Research Initiative is funding her work with 193,500 euros.

On January 29th, the European Animal Research Association (EARA) and Charité –Universitätsmedizin Berlin, in collaboration with the Max Delbrück Center and Freie Universität Berlin, invite those working in the life science sector to discuss the need for greater transparency in animal research.