science policy

Christian Luft, State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, visited the MDC and the ECRC together with other ministry officials in early March. During his visit, he learned about research in single-cell biology and vascular medicine, as well as about interdisciplinary collaboration with clinicians.

To strengthen Berlin’s reputation as an international science hub, the capital’s non-university research institutions have come together to form Berlin Research 50 (BR 50). Together, they want to develop research strategies and foster dialogue between science, politics and society. The initiative will also facilitate and strengthen cooperation with Berlin’s universities.

Just before Christmas, Claudia Schmidtke, patient representative of the German government, visited the MDC. In the future, she wants to focus more on research on cardiovascular diseases.

The Berlin University Alliance has won the Excellence Competition. Thomas Sommer, Scientific Director (interim) of the MDC) congratulated the alliance, which includes three Berlin universities and Charité University Hospital.

The shady practices of predatory publishers have been making headlines in recent weeks. Professor Martin Lohse, Scientific Director at the MDC, explains in the following interview why these practices pose a risk to the overall credibility of science.

EU-LIFE, the alliance of 13 leading life science research institutes in Europe, urges the European Parliament and the EU Council to push for a strong Horizon Europe.