Pain

Six animal welfare officers ensure that the MDC observes all the rules when conducting animal experiments for medical research. Nadja Daberkow-Nitsche, head of the MDC animal house and her colleagues also help MDC researchers to submit animal experimentation applications to the relevant authorities.

A new approach to chronic pain treatment targets a molecule that moves pain messages into nerve cell nuclei. For this study recently published in Science, researchers at the Weizmann Institute of Science worked together with MDC scientists.

Opioids are both a curse and a blessing. They can relieve people of pain, but they often come with severe side effects – including dependency. Researchers at the Max Delbrück Center have now investigated the signaling pathways that produce both the desired effects and undesired side effects in the brain.

Perceiving warmth requires input from a surprising source: cool receptors. The finding published in Neuron by neuroscientists at the MDC challenges the theory that dedicated neurons convey either warm or cool sensations to the brain.

Muscle pain and cramps are common side effects of statins. As an MDC and Charité research group now reports in Scientific Reports, the cholesterol reducers actually influence thousands of genes in muscle cells – thereby hindering cell growth and division.

African mole-rats are insensitive to many different kinds of pain. As an international research team led by the MDC’s Gary Lewin reports in Science, this characteristic has even allowed mole-rats to populate new habitats. Thanks to a genetic change, the highveld mole-rat is able to live alongside venomous ants with painful stings that other mole-rats avoid.

Ernst Jung Prize for Medicine 2019 goes to Professor Gary R. Lewin from the MDC

Neurophysiologist Gary Lewin researches the fundamentals of pain perception at the Max Delbrück Center, where he has made inspiring discoveries – not only with naked mole rats. Lewin’s research results could lead to new pain-relieving medications for humans.

It is a vision that motivates work at the MDC and translational research everywhere: that a detailed...

The slightest touch can evoke intense pain in patients suffering from nerve injuries or conditions...