Systems Biology

Systems Biology integrates high-throughput technologies, mathematics, bioinformatics, molecular biology, biochemistry and engineering to derive predictive, quantitative models for biological systems, which may be molecules, cells, organisms or entire species. In combination with biomedical research, Systems Biology has the potential to steer medicine into the next century of personalized medicine.

Further information on Medical Systems Biology at the MDC (BIMSB)

Article

Messenger RNA strand 3D rendering
Science

How cellular quality control works

Markus Landthaler and colleagues from the University of Cologne have deciphered the rules of a key cellular quality control mechanism in detail, and published their results in “Molecular Cell.”
microscopic image
Press Release No. 8 Berlin

How the heart and blood vessels influence organs

The Helmholtz Institute for Translational AngioCardioScience (HI-TAC) invites attendees to its first Symposium on April 28 and 29, 2025. Researchers from around the world will meet at Heidelberg University to discuss how the heart and blood vessels communicate with the rest of the body to shape health.
woman with a scientific chip
Science

The innovator

As Scientific Director of Max Delbrück Center, Maike Sander is driving a bold shift toward interdisciplinary research to address the health challenges of our time. As a diabetes researcher, her next frontier is to use organ-on-a-chip technologies to build more accurate models of the human pancreas.
Massenspektrometer
Press Release No. 16 Berlin

Multiple myeloma: Early detection of aggressive tumors

Berlin researchers and their partners describe how aggressive variants of multiple myeloma can be detected early. Their comprehensive study in “Nature Cancer” shows how changes in genetic material affect the protein profile of the tumor cells, and thus the mechanisms involved in the disease.
2D map of gene expression in the metastatic lymph node
Press Release No. 15 Berlin

3D maps of diseased tissues at subcellular precision

An open-source platform developed by researchers in Nikolaus Rajewsky’s lab at the Max Delbrück Center creates molecular maps from patient tissue samples with subcellular precision, enabling detailed study and potentially enhancing routine clinical pathology. The study was published in “Cell.”
group of people, waving their hands
Science

AI’s adventures in genomics

This year’s Berlin Institute of Systems Biology of the Max Delbrück Center summer meeting explored “AI’s Adventures in Genomics.” The meeting provided molecular and computational biologists a forum to discuss the latest advances, challenges, and prospects in harnessing AI for biomedical research.
crowd of people
Press Release No. 38 Berlin

The Max Delbrück Center celebrates 15 years of MDC‑BIMSB

Internationally renowned for pioneering achievements and geared to inter-institutional cooperation: 22 research groups at the Berlin Institute for Medical Systems Biology in the Max Delbrück Center (MDC-BIMSB) explore how genes regulate life. It is now celebrating its 15th birthday.
scientific image
Press Release No. 24 Berlin

Studying herpes encephalitis with mini-brains

The herpes simplex virus-1 can sometimes cause a dangerous brain infection. Combining an anti-inflammatory and an antiviral could help in these cases, report scientists with the Rajewsky and Landthaler labs and the Organoid Platform at the Max Delbrück Center in “Nature Microbiology.”
Rendering
Press Release No. 22 Berlin & Heidelberg

A new center for cardiovascular communication research

The Max Delbrück Center in Berlin and Heidelberg University will found a new Helmholtz Institute for Translational AngioCardioScience (HI-TAC) in Mannheim and Heidelberg. The Helmholtz Senate voted in favor of the institute, which will integrate vascular biomedicine, systems biology and heart research.
Wissenschaftliches Bild
Science

Examining childhood cancer cell by cell

Neuroblastoma is the third most common malignancy in children. 16 labs at the Max Delbrück Center and other Berlin-based researchers will investigate how they originate and grow in a new Collaborative Research Centre. The project, supported by the German Research Foundation (DFG), has been granted approximately €13.5 million.