Researcher Profiles

Biomedicine today is awash with images and the tide is rising. Dagmar Kainmüller is teaching computers to see so that they can help with analyzing the image data. In the process, artificial intelligence is throwing up some unexpected questions that are opening up new lines of research in molecular biology.

In order to put their genetic blueprints into action, human cells need RNA-binding proteins. Markus Landthaler observes these proteins while they interact with RNA – in order to understand how they work, and how to make use of them.

Mina Gouti uses stem cells to create three-dimensional cell structures called organoids that closely resemble some aspects of real human tissues. The organoids are well suited for testing new drugs to combat neuromuscular diseases and for developing personalized therapies to treat severely ill patients.

Michael Gotthardt’s research at the MDC looks at how the cardiovascular system and skeletal muscles function, with the ultimate goal of improving patients’ lives. To this end he is working to develop drugs for conditions such as heart failure with preserved ejection fraction, for which there is no effective therapy to date.

Nikolaus Rajewsky wants to be able to detect diseases as they develop in the cells and fight them before they begin to cause damage. The systems biologist is establishing networks at all levels to help cell-based medicine achieve a breakthrough in Berlin and across Europe.

Tumor cells search for niches in tissue where they can grow and multiply. Uta Höpken studies how these cells migrate through the body and interact with other cells in their special niches. Her goal is to use this knowledge to train therapeutic CAR T cells to detect and destroy cancer cells.

Proteins are unrivalled in their diversity and complexity, says Erich Wanker, and the slightest of changes can disrupt entire networks of relationships. He wants to understand why, in brain disorders like Huntington’s disease, such disruptions cause the death of neurons – and how this process can be stopped.

Simone Spuler is looking to use stem cells and CRISPR to prevent the muscle tissue of patients with genetic muscle disorders from further deteriorating – or even to repair it. This could lead to the first therapeutic approaches for diseases that have up to now been considered incurable.

All living things are built from proteins. Biologist Matthias Selbach uses the technique of mass spectrometry to understand the various functions of proteins and to systematically hunt down those that cause – or can prevent – disease.

In order for the human immune system to effectively fight off pathogens, B cells need to smash up and reassemble their own DNA. Michela Di Virgilio searches for factors controlling this important process, which also have crucial implications for our predisposition to cancer.