News

Katja Simon in collaboration with researchers in the United Kingdom have shown in “Aging Cell” that the naturally occurring compound spermidine can help boost vaccine response in older adults by reducing molecular markers of immune system ageing.

Uwe Ohler and Gaetano Gargiulo have been awarded prestigious ERC Advanced Grants. With funding of €2.5 million each, they will spend the next five years investigating how protein synthesis is regulated and identifying vulnerabilities in pediatric brain tumors.

Science journalists are invited to the Max Delbrück Center’s first Bioengineering Symposium on July 6, 2026, where leading researchers will explore how bioengineering is advancing precision medicine.

On June 6, 2026, we opened the doors to our labs for the 26th time to welcome thousands of curious visitors. We answered questions, conducted experiments together, shared laughter, and explained how our work can shape the medicine of tomorrow. A look back in pictures.

Congratulations to Gary Lewin on his election as a new member of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina! The prestigious honor recognizes his scientific accomplishments over the span of his career.

Max Delbrück Center researchers have discovered a previously unknown genetic switch that affects RBM20, an important protein in heart cells. The findings, published in “Nature Communications,” suggest a potential new target for treating cardiomyopathies more precisely in the future.

Why does obesity cause heart disease and diabetes in some people, but not in others? And how do the different types of adipose tissue influence cardiovascular disease? These are just a few of the many questions Mascha Koenen will pursue as a Junior Group Leader at HI-TAC in Mannheim.

The true cause of RBM20 cardiomyopathy, a severe inherited form of heart failure, is not the gene defect itself, but an overactive protein, concludes a study led by researchers at the Helmholtz Institute for Translational AngioCardioScience and published in “Nature Cardiovascular Research.”

Researchers at the Max Delbrück Center have found a way to improve CAR-T cancer therapy to treat lymphoma. By additionally engineering the cells to express the receptor CCR7, they show in “Cancer Immunology Research” that the CAR-T cells penetrate lymph nodes more efficiently and kill cancer cells quickly.

A combination of three drugs appears to more effectively treat people with cystic fibrosis than therapy with only two, concludes a study by Max Delbrück Center researchers published in “Cell Systems.” The study analyzed changes in the proteomes of blood and sputum samples from people with the disease.