Prizes & Awards

A large grant under the NIH’s 4D Nucleome Program supports MDC scientist Ana Pombo’s work as a member of a multi-team consortium led by UC San Diego in the U.S. The team will investigate how DNA organizes inside cell nuclei and functions in space and time.

How does cancer develop and how does it progress? Dr. Anton Henssen from the Experimental and Clinical Research Center (ECRC ) wants to find out more about circular DNA in order to use its cancer cell-specific characteristics for therapy, diagnosis or clinical prognosis. He has now been awarded an ERC Starting Grant.

Dr. Rafael Dominguez Acemel explores the question of what factors determine sex during the embryonic development of animals. The MDC researcher has now been awarded a postdoctoral fellowship by the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO ).

Alice Rossi and Sampurna Chakrabarti have both received a Humboldt Research Fellowship. The scientists are investigating the molecular processes that occur during basic physiological functions, such as the perception of touch – or as part of the unique survival strategies of naked mole-rats.

MDC researcher Jan Philipp Junker and his collaborator Maria Colomé-Tatché at Helmholtz Center Munich have received a €200,000 grant to improve big data processing to better understand how gene networks are wired together during development and disease.

Three minutes – that’s all the time FameLab contestants have to present their research in a dynamic and engaging way. On May 14, 2020, Ian Stewart, a scientist in James Poulet’s lab at the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC), will be taking part in the competition’s national final.

Thomas Blankenstein receives an ERC Advanced grant for cancer research. The scientist wants to find out if T cells control the development of cancer by a process called immunosurveillance. For this purpose he now proposes a new research model.

Jeanette Schulz-Menger received the gold medal from the Society for Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance. The jury justified its decision with the fact that she has contributed immensely to further developing cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging. In addition, it praised the knowledge and creativity of the researcher.

More than 250 students and 15 "Jugend forscht" award winners from all over Germany met at the Digital Forum from MINT-EC and MDC in February. They attended lectures and workshops on digital developments and methods and conducted experiments in the lab.

The DFG is funding two new research projects at the MDC: More than half a million euros will be available to researchers to study the signaling processes of receptors.