New at the Max Delbrück Center

It borders on the miraculous how an entire animal emerges from a single egg cell. In order to understand the underlying molecular mechanisms, Markus Mittnenzweig is establishing the Computational and Developmental Biology Lab at the Max Delbrück Center.

Sarah Hedtrich heads a guest group at the Max Delbrück Center. The Johanna Quandt Professor at the Berlin Institute of Health at Charité (BIH) is working on organ-on-a-chip models to develop new treatment options for rare hereditary and inflammatory skin and lung diseases.

The Robson lab at the Max Delbrück Center will be studying how the 3D structure of chromatin controls genes during development and in disease. Leveraging novel single cell methods, they will look at muscular dystrophies and retinal disease. Both seem to be linked to mutations that disrupt the function of non-coding DNA.

She wants to uncover the mechanisms behind inflammatory neurodegenerative diseases, while also developing new therapeutic approaches and testing them in clinical trials. With these goals in mind, Frederike Cosima Oertel is launching the Translational Neuroimmunology Lab at the ECRC.

The Image Data Analysis Platform has a new leader in Deborah Schmidt. She and her team create software that processes and analyzes image data from biomedicine, material sciences, or environmental research – something that benefits the entire Helmholtz Association.

As a visiting lab leader, biologist Susanne Wolf will spend five years at the Max Delbrück Center researching how microglia change in psychiatric diseases – and how these cells help the diseases develop and progress. In doing so, Wolf hopes to identify new targets for medicines.

Yoichiro Sugimoto has headed the MDC lab “Molecular mechanisms of environment sensing” since July 2022. His team investigates how cells respond to changes in oxygen levels in their environment and what role disturbances to this system play in certain diseases.

Daria Bunina has been the head of a new lab at the MDC since July 2022. Her team is researching how epigenetic factors affect cell differentiation. When errors in this process occur, cardiovascular diseases and neurodevelopmental disorders can result.

Maike Sander has been selected to direct the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC). The Supervisory Board appointed the diabetes researcher and professor of pediatrics and cellular and molecular medicine as the Scientific Director and Chair of the Board on June 16, 2022.

Hanna Zimmermann has spent years studying how the retina can be used to diagnose neurodegenerative diseases. She is now starting her own research group, the Applied Research on the Visual System Lab, at the ECRC – and has also been named a junior professor at Charité. She will receive an endowed professorship from the Einstein Center Digital Future for this purpose.