Gene Expression Regulation & RNA Biology

To attract renowned researchers to Berlin, Stiftung Charité is funding “Visiting Fellows” with 1.5 million euros. One of them is Manuel Irimia from Barcelona. He is coming to the Max Delbrück Center for three years to analyze gene regulation.

Organoids help researchers understand biological processes in health and in disease. It is, however, difficult to influence the way in which they organize themselves into complex tissues. Now a group led by Nikolaus Rajewsky has found a new way to do so. They report their work in Nature Methods.

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.

Science has something exploratory about it, says Norbert Hübner. You never know exactly where you are heading. Despite this, cartographic works are the focus of his interest: the researcher creates atlases of the human heart. And amongst other things, he uses them to understand heart conditions better.

Behavior can be observed in the brain. Swedish neuroscientist Hanna Hörnberg looks for the molecular and cellular changes that occur in the nerve cells of people with depression or neurodevelopmental conditions – and hopes to create new basic knowledge that can help diagnosis and guide support needs.

Cancer cells are capable of escaping chemotherapy and radiotherapy by activating a signaling pathway that prevents them from dying. Researchers led by Claus Scheidereit at the Max Delbrück Center have now described in Cell Chemical Biology two new compounds that block this escape route.

RNA molecules travel long distances through nerve cells. To reach their destination, they need one thing more than any other – a long life – as a research team led by Marina Chekulaeva from MDC-BIMSB reports in the journal “Molecular Cell.”

An international research team, including Achim Leutz of the Max Delbrück Center, has discovered that a specific protein controls the conversion of immune cells. If it were possible to intervene in this process, the development of cancer could be prevented.

Genome Architecture Mapping captures complex, multi-way interactions in the genome. This is different than the workhorse technique of 3D genomics, which sees mostly two-way contacts, finds a new study by a team led by Ana Pombo from the Max Delbrück Center, published in “Nature Methods”.

The Max Delbrück Center wants to shape the future of medicine through innovation. But turning basic research into marketable products requires gaps to be bridged. This is achieved by the Technology Transfer Office – through funding schemes such as BOOST and Pre-GoBio. The winning projects for 2023 have now been selected.