Imaging

People with Huntington’s disease lose control of their bodies and minds. The symptoms are caused by protein clumps in the nerve cells. Supported by a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship, Andrea Quezada aims to create atomic models of these fibrils at the Max Delbrück Center.

Sensory cells in the vagus nerve can detect and locate food in the esophagus. Their signals help transport the food onward to the stomach. Signal failure leads to swallowing disorders, say a team led by Carmen Birchmeier at the Max Delbrück Center. They have published their findings in “Neuron.”

When physicist Thoralf Niendorf encounters the impossible, it spurs his creativity. Using ultra high-resolution MRI technology, he peers deeper and deeper into healthy and diseased tissue. He develops novel methods that visualize biological processes within the cell.

As a PhD student at the international iNAMES Research School, neuroscientist Gamze Güney is researching temperature perception at the Max Delbrück Center. As part of the “We at the MDC” series, Güney talks about the first iNAMES symposium at MDC-BIMSB and her time at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel.

The Image Data Analysis Platform has a new leader in Deborah Schmidt. She and her team create software that processes and analyzes image data from biomedicine, material sciences, or environmental research – something that benefits the entire Helmholtz Association.

Mikhail Kudryashev's scientific career has been defined by his intensive work on the structure of proteins, those tiny building blocks of life. He has now been appointed to a Heisenberg Professorship at the Charité as of August 1, 2022.

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.

In muscular dystrophies, there can also be a deterioration in the heart's function. For a study on such cardiac involvement, the German Society for Muscular Dystrophies (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Muskelkranke e.V.) has awarded ECRC researchers Jeanette Schulz-Menger and Edyta Blaszczyk the Ulrich Brodeßer FSHD Prize 2022.

The Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine and the Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg and will cooperate in the field of medical imaging in the future. A cooperation agreement was signed on Friday, 11 March 2022 at the Research Campus in Berlin-Buch.

Apple recommends keeping the iPhone 12 and 13 at least 15 centimeters away from pacemakers, raising safety concerns among people with implanted medical devices. A study conducted by Thoralf Niendorf’s lab at the MDC, along with researchers from Charité, shows these fears are unfounded.