Single-cell analysis

Michael Robson has won two new grants from the DFG and the Human Frontier Science Program totaling over €2 million. He and his lab are now working to decode the mechanics of chromatin, hoping to finally define its physical state and better understand how it governs gene regulation.

Researchers in Nikolaus Rajewsky’s lab at Max Delbrück Center combined high-resolution, single-cell spatial technologies to map a tumor’s cellular neighborhoods in 3D and identify potential targets for personalized cancer therapy. They describe their findings in two separate papers in “Cell Systems.”

Researchers from Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin and the Max Delbrück Center have detailed the precise mechanism through which the inflammatory signaling molecule IL-12 contributes to Alzheimer’s disease. The study was published in the journal “Nature Aging.”

Jakob Metzger has developed a new generation of brain organoids that are easier to mass-produce and uniform. The data they provide on rare neurological diseases can speed up the time it takes to find new therapies.

Jan Philipp Junker’s new full professorship at Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin will enable him to push the boundaries of tissue regeneration research. Using single-cell sequencing, microscopy and genetics, he hopes to unlock ways to enhance organ regeneration in mammals.

A group of Berlin researchers in collaboration with international scientists have found differences in heart inflammation caused by COVID-19, anti-COVID-19 vaccination, and non-COVID-19 myocarditis. The find paves the way for more personalized therapies, they report in “Nature Cardiovascular Research.”

When blood cancer cells break through the bone and multiply, tumor cells become dangerously diverse and the immune response in the region changes, researchers from Berlin and Heidelberg report in “Science Immunology.” The detailed insights into cancer progression could advance diagnostics and treatment.

Simon Haas has been awarded the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities (BBAW) Prize for the promotion of cancer research, sponsored by the Monika Kutzner Foundation. His outstanding research focuses on the causes and the development of new concepts for the treatment of blood cancer.

Foundation models are complex AI applications with enormous potential. Trained on vast datasets from medicine, climate, or material science, they can uncover new relationships and make predictions. Helmholtz is supporting this pioneering work, with €5.55 million going to the Max Delbrück Center.

What opportunities lie ahead for the future of medical research and healthcare? Scientists from the Helmholtz Association share their ideas with decision-makers from science, politics, patient organizations, biotech, and the pharmaceutical industry at the first Helmholtz Health Summit in Berlin.