Computational Biology

Data Science, the extraction of relevant insights from data, has firmly positioned itself at the forefront of health and life science research. Machine Learning and Deep Learning are foreseen to become key disruptive technologies within Data Science in translational research and personalized medicine applications. The cross-cutting focus area Data Science and Artificial Intelligence comprises research groups spanning MDC’s different research areas:

Article

Dagmar Kainmüller
Science

Dagmar Kainmüller receives professorship

Dagmar Kainmüller develops computational methods for analyzing vast quantities of image data. On October 1, 2022, she was named Professor of Integrative Imaging Data Sciences at the University of Potsdam.
Waschbecken-Abfluss mit ablaufendem Wasser
Press Release No. 47 Berlin

Searching the sewers for viruses

Algorithms developed at the Max Delbrück Center are able to quickly detect new SARS-CoV-2 variants in wastewater. But that’s not all: the tool, which Altuna Akalin and his colleagues have now presented in “Science of the Total Environment”, can also find other pathogens.
Graduiertenzeremonie 2022
Institute & Campus

Completing a PhD must be celebrated

And a celebration it was: After two years of virtual graduation ceremonies due to Covid-19, doctoral students at the Max Delbrück Center were once again able to receive their graduation certificates live on stage.
Microscopic image of a single renal cell.
Press Release No. 46 Berlin

Key processes in acute kidney injury revealed

Peering into single cells reveals new insights into acute kidney injury. Reporting in “Genome Medicine” and “Kidney International”, research teams at BIMSB, Charité and MHH describe novel gene expression patterns that may lead to new therapeutic approaches and strategies for biomarker discovery.
Yoichiro Sugimoto
Science

How cells sense their surroundings

Yoichiro Sugimoto has headed the MDC lab “Molecular mechanisms of environment sensing” since July 2022. His team investigates how cells respond to changes in oxygen levels in their environment and what role disturbances to this system play in certain diseases.
Daria Bunina
Science

Cells gone astray

Daria Bunina has been the head of a new lab at the MDC since July 2022. Her team is researching how epigenetic factors affect cell differentiation. When errors in this process occur, cardiovascular diseases and neurodevelopmental disorders can result.
Zebrafish (left) and zebrafish heart with fibroblasts (right)
Press Release No. 34 Berlin

How the zebrafish repairs a broken heart

An MDC research team led by Jan Philipp Junker and Daniela Panáková has found that zebrafish can regenerate heart tissue after injury. Connective tissue cells play an important role in the process by temporarily entering an activated state, as the team reports in “Nature Genetics”.
Uwe Ohler
Press Release No. 35 Berlin

In-depth profiling of single cells

Single-cell analyses provide a wealth of molecular and genetic information. A team led by MDC researcher Uwe Ohler is using machine learning to combine these data and produce meaningful profiles of the cells. The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative is now funding the project.
Jana Wolf
Science

The modeler of life

Jana Wolf draws on experimental data and the growing knowledge of cellular mechanisms to translate disease processes into mathematical models. Her models aim to represent the complexity of life as realistically as possible and to help develop therapies that are precisely tailored to the patient.
Dagmar Kainmüller
Science

The image analyst

Biomedicine today is awash with images and the tide is rising. Dagmar Kainmüller is teaching computers to see so that they can help with analyzing the image data. In the process, artificial intelligence is throwing up some unexpected questions that are opening up new lines of research in molecular biology.