Animal Research

Research teams at the Max Delbrück Center and its partner institutions used a total of 31,517 animals in experiments in 2024 – almost 6,000 fewer than the previous year. These figures were reported to the Berlin State Office for Health and Social Affairs (LaGeSo).

Researchers from Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin and the Max Delbrück Center have detailed the precise mechanism through which the inflammatory signaling molecule IL-12 contributes to Alzheimer’s disease. The study was published in the journal “Nature Aging.”

Researchers from Mount Sinai, Max Delbrück Center and other international institutions have identified a novel cancer cell state that fuels resistance to therapy in colorectal cancer. The findings, which were published in “Nature Genetics,” reveal a new mechanism and potential drug target.

Are animal experiments still necessary? The initiative “Understanding Animal Testing” has collected more than a hundred responses to the question from researchers, animal caretakers, and institute leaders across Germany – including us at the Max Delbrück Center.

Researchers at the Experimental and Clinical Research Center in Berlin are developing a targeted treatment for muscular dystrophy with the help of gene-editing. Preclinical research led by the Spuler Lab published in “Nature Communications” now paves the way for first-in-human clinical trials.

In collaboration with illustrator Kat Menschik, Max Delbrück Center science writer Russell Hodge has published a book about the bizarre traits some animals have evolved to cope with their harsh environments. He also explores what we can learn from them. The work was supported by Stiftung Charité.

For the next two years, Abeer Hassan will be a visiting postdoctoral fellow in Gary Lewin’s lab at Max Delbrück Center – going back and forth between Rehovot and Berlin. She seeks to learn more about the mechanisms through which mechanical forces stimulate neurons to elongate, especially after birth.

Wenhan Luo received a two-year Humboldt Fellowship to continue his research in Gary Lewin’s Molecular Physiology of Somatic Sensation Lab. Together, they aim to understand how naked mole rats navigate.

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.

Researchers at the Experimental and Clinical Research Center of Max Delbrück Center and Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin have found that microbial communities in the mouse GI tract are unevenly distributed, which influences immune cell populations. The work was published in “Gut Microbes.”