Researcher Profiles

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.

Alzheimer’s is linked to metabolic dysfunction. Thomas Willnow is looking for disruptions in the balance of fats in the brain that accelerate the breakdown of neurons – and has discovered important risk factors that offer new therapeutic approaches for treating Alzheimer’s at an early stage.

Immunologist Kathrin de la Rosa investigates how the body’s own B cells protect us from infectious diseases. In the laboratory, she hopes to modify these cells in such a way that they produce powerful antibodies against pathogens which have overwhelmed our immune system until now.

Anton Henssen works as a paediatrician and researches rare tumours at the Max Delbrück Center. Incidentally, he’s also a conceptual artist with way more to his paintings than meets the eye.

Jan Philipp Junker creates cell lineage trees. He wants to understand the different paths that lead to a functioning organism. Perhaps one day, this knowledge will also reveal how organs are able to regenerate.