Bioengineering

What opportunities lie ahead for the future of medical research and healthcare? Scientists from the Helmholtz Association share their ideas with decision-makers from science, politics, patient organizations, biotech, and the pharmaceutical industry at the first Helmholtz Health Summit in Berlin.

We at the Helmholtz Association have everything we need to leverage the potential of biomedical engineering in Germany. We simply need to assemble all the puzzle pieces thoughtfully and unite people who have never collaborated before, says our Scientific Director Maike Sander.

Dr. Melissa Little, a world leader in stem cell research, successfully developed the first kidney organoid. In advance of her lecture at the Max Delbrück Center, she shares insights about the road to that eureka moment, the journey since and the state of stem cell and organoid research today.

The Max Delbrück Center, Berlin, and the biotech company AlgenScribe from Nice have agreed to cooperate to further develop their gene-editing tools. The aim is to utilize synergies, accelerate research, and ultimately develop cell therapies for genetically determined diseases.

Organ-on-a-chip technologies can serve as models of human biology. But they have been limited by the inability to grow them with a vascular system. Bioengineer Professor Milica Radisic will begin a three-year fellowship at the Max Delbrück Center in Berlin-Buch to take on the challenge.

Three Max Delbrück post-docs have won Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Postdoctoral Fellowships of €174,000 each. They will study how we perceive wetness, the structure of a mitochondrial protein, and integrate bioelectronics into neuromuscular organoids respectively.

Cell-based immunotherapies, particularly lab-produced immune cells known as CAR T cells, show promise in treating various cancers. But how do we produce effective ones? Gaetano Gargiulo from the Max Delbrück Center will develop a novel screening tool, supported by an ERC Proof of Concept Grant.