Organoids

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).

Around 220 high school students from across Berlin came to the conference center of the Max Delbrück Center in Buch in mid-March with one topic on their minds: stem cell research. For the tenth time, the German Stem Cell Network (GSCN, stem cell research dialogue platform at BIH) hosted UniStem Day.

Jakob Metzger has developed a new generation of brain organoids that are easier to mass-produce and uniform. The data they provide on rare neurological diseases can speed up the time it takes to find new therapies.

Jan Philipp Junker’s new full professorship at Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin will enable him to push the boundaries of tissue regeneration research. Using single-cell sequencing, microscopy and genetics, he hopes to unlock ways to enhance organ regeneration in mammals.

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.

Therapy that is tailored to patients’ diseases is largely unaffordable. Three Max Delbrück Center postdocs have won GO-Bio Initial grants to simplify and improve personalized therapies. They aim to bring down costs to enable more widespread access.

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.

As Scientific Director of Max Delbrück Center, Maike Sander is driving a bold shift toward interdisciplinary research to address the health challenges of our time. As a diabetes researcher, her next frontier is to use organ-on-a-chip technologies to build more accurate models of the human pancreas.

Researchers in the lab of Michael Sigal at the Max Delbrück Center and Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin have elucidated the role of the p53 gene in ulcerative colitis. The study, published in “Science Advances,” suggests a potential new drug target to stop disease progression to cancer.

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.