Prizes & Awards

Erich Wanker wants to find out to what extent misfolded, and hence pathological, amyloid proteins structurally alter other proteins in the neurons – and thus contribute to the progression of Alzheimer’s dementia. He has now received €120,000 in funding from the non-profit "Alzheimer Forschung Initiative" to pursue this research.

Boosting the immune system with kefir grains, developing smart road models and writing a program for chemical reactions: the winners of the 56th regional contest at Campus Berlin-Buch impressed the judges with their complete dedication and imaginative projects.

Leif S. Ludwig has received the Hector Research Career Development Award for his research into the DNA of cellular power plants, the mitochondria. The award supports particularly talented young scientists as they embark on the first steps of their research careers.

Anton Henssen of the ECRC has been awarded the Kind Philipp Award for Pediatric Oncology Research for his study of ring-shaped DNA and its significance in the development of childhood neuroblastoma. A publication in the scientific journal Nature Genetics was decisive for this award.

Earning your doctorate deserves a celebration. At MDC, this takes place every year in the form of a graduation ceremony. But this year, given the unprecedented situation, doctorands were awarded their diplomas in an online event.

PhD candidates now have the opportunity to apply for two new training programs. The EU is supporting the program for talented early-stage researchers at the MDC and other European research institutions to the tune of €4 million per network.

Nadine Haase has received this year’s Hypertension Research Award of the German Society of Nephrology. The ECRC researcher discovered a potential agent for treating preeclampsia.

With its spin-off support program SPOT, the MDC is giving a helping hand to teams looking to start a company. Three of the most promising projects have now been selected. For our series “We at the MDC” we spoke with Dr. Ingo Curdt, coordinator of the funding program.

The Campus Berlin-Buch, together with the MDC location in Mitte, has successfully defended its title in this year's competition "Wer radelt am meisten?”. A total of 311 cyclists from Buch and Mitte took part.

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.