Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation)

Die eigentliche Ursache der RBM20-Kardiomyopathie, einer schweren, genetisch bedingten Form der Herzschwäche, ist nicht der namensgebende Gendefekt selbst, sondern ein überaktives Protein. Das berichtet ein Team um den HI-TAC-Forscher Maarten van den Hoogenhof in „Nature Cardiovascular Research“.

Where does health end and illness begin – and what happens in between? Researchers working in the ImmunoPreCept Excellence Cluster are planning to take a deep look inside our cells and answer this question. In this interview, the coordinators explain what they hope to achieve in the next seven years.

The Max Delbrück Center is a partner in one newly awarded Berlin based Clusters of Excellence: ImmunoPreCept. NeuroCure has also won another round of funding. All researchers are working toward a common goal – to develop therapies that can intercept diseases on a molecular level.

Biochemist and physician Leif S. Ludwig of the Berlin Institute of Health at Charité (BIH) and the Max Delbrück Center has been named a recipient of the 2023 Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Prize, as the German Research Foundation (DFG) announced on June 27th.

Neuroblastoma is the third most common malignancy in children. 16 labs at the Max Delbrück Center and other Berlin-based researchers will investigate how they originate and grow in a new Collaborative Research Centre. The project, supported by the German Research Foundation (DFG), has been granted approximately €13.5 million.

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, researchers have been working on mucosal vaccines that can be administered through the nose. Now, scientists in Berlin have developed a live attenuated vaccine for the nose. In “Nature Microbiology”, they describe the special immune protection it induces.

Chromatin factors are involved in regulating gene expression. If they do not function properly, this can result in neurological impairments. Ana Pombo and Alexander Kukalev are now receiving almost €400,000 from the DFG for a research project that aims to shed more light on how these factors work.

With its "Back to the roots" Lab, the Max Delbrück Center aims to enable young international researchers to become ambassadors for Research in Germany in their home countries. It is one of the winners of the DFG Community Prize.

Errors in cellular RNA metabolism are dangerous for nerve cells. For her work in this area, Marina Chekulaeva has now been accepted into the DFG Heisenberg program.

The heart can get weak in different ways. One form of the disease, heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF), continues to be extremely difficult to treat. MDC researchers are involved in a new Collaborative Research Center, where they aim to change this and develop therapeutic approaches.