Genetics & Genomics

On June 19 and 20, the 2025 Berlin Institute of Systems Biology of the Max Delbrück Center Summer Meeting will explore how analyzing DNA and RNA can conserve biodiversity, ensure food security, and help detect and prevent disease.

The Helmholtz Institute for Translational AngioCardioScience (HI-TAC) invites attendees to its first Symposium on April 28 and 29, 2025. Researchers from around the world will meet at Heidelberg University to discuss how the heart and blood vessels communicate with the rest of the body to shape health.

Ashley Sanders, Group Leader of the Genome Instability and Somatic Mosaicism Lab, developed a technique to sequence strands of DNA in single cells. Today it is the most accurate method to detect DNA rearrangements. She hopes the technique will help reveal clues on how diseases develop.

Enno Klußmann of the Max Delbrück Center aims to help reducing the harmful consequences of high blood pressure by imitating a rare mutation. His plan to activate a specific enzyme called PDE3A to protect the heart and kidneys is now being funded with €400,000 by the Else Kröner-Fresenius Foundation.

A team in the Hübner and Diecke Labs at the Max Delbrück Center have shown how human and non-human primate hearts differ genetically. The study, published in “Nature Cardiovascular Research,” reveals evolutionary adaptations in human hearts and provides new insights into cardiac disease.

Deep metagenomic sequencing of wastewater in Berlin over 17 months shows this technique could help forecast disease outbreaks and monitor the spread of human pathogens. It can also reveal thousands of novel viruses, according to a study by the Landthaler lab published in “Environment International.”

This year’s Berlin Institute of Systems Biology of the Max Delbrück Center summer meeting explored “AI’s Adventures in Genomics.” The meeting provided molecular and computational biologists a forum to discuss the latest advances, challenges, and prospects in harnessing AI for biomedical research.

In a study led by Professor Jan Korbel, Senior Scientist and Head of Data Science at the European...

He is a molecular biologist and physician, a GDR civil rights activist and bioethicist, a person with integrity and a sense of community. Until 2022, he was an ombudsman at the Max Delbrück Center. We celebrate the 85th birthday of Professor Jens Reich.

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.