Cell Biology

Ubiquitin is everywhere. The protein regulates a vital cellular recycling system and plays a crucial role in health and disease. Thomas Sommer is investigating the molecular basis for its functioning, hoping to lay the scientific foundation for future therapies.

As a visiting lab leader, biologist Susanne Wolf will spend five years at the Max Delbrück Center researching how microglia change in psychiatric diseases – and how these cells help the diseases develop and progress. In doing so, Wolf hopes to identify new targets for medicines.

Walter Birchmeier has spent many decades researching how cells organize themselves in tissues and how these processes go awry in cancer. Now 80, and just as he is approaching the end of his third decade at the Max Delbrück Center, Birchmeier is retiring.

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.

Klaus Rajewsky’s life reads like a chronicle of immunogenetics. He grasped the opportunities offered by radical changes in molecular biology. He established standard methods for researching gene functions and diseases like cancer. And he continues to contribute to our understanding of antibody-producing B cells.

Defective mitochondrial can lead to neurodegenerative and muscular diseases. But how does the “powerhouse” of the cell normally maintain its characteristic shape? In Science Advances, new molecular insights have now been provided by an MDC team led by Oliver Daumke.

To combat pathogens, the immune system needs an enormous number of different antibodies. In an MDC study, a group led by BIH professor Kathrin de la Rosa has now described in the journal PNAS a “stealing” mechanism that contributes to antibody diversity.

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.

Glia cells are as indispensable as neurons. Yet they were long considered a mere “neural glue” – until Helmut Kettenmann came along. He initiated international glia cell research and helped it gain recognition. He was also part of the MDC’s founding generation and has continued to leave his mark on the institution over the last 30 years.

Blood vessels must adapt their growth to the nutrients available in their surroundings so that they can keep organs adequately supplied. A team led by Michael Potente has identified two proteins that are important for this process and published their findings in "Nature Metabolism".