Max Delbrück Center

The Zia fellowship supports young female researchers in their professional and personal development. Interested applicants can apply for next year’s fellowship in July and August. Evangelia Nathanail from the Max Delbrück Center is a current fellow — and highly recommends the program.

“The Healing Museum” combines art history with meditation, mindfulness, and medical research. The project, which aims to strengthen the mental health of visitors, was created through a collaboration between the Bode Museum and the ECRC and was spearheaded by Carmen Infante Duarte.

Stan Gorski has been appointed Head of Strategic Initiatives. He and his team aim to drive strategic developments in areas such as spatial biomedicine, AI, bioengineering and precision prevention. They will also strengthen collaborations among institutions and help set a bold agenda for the future.

Senegalese scientists gained hands-on microscopy and image analysis training during a workshop to strengthen regional biomedical research capacity in Africa. The workshop was headed by Peran Hayes, who will present the project as a contestant in this year’s EU-LIFE Science Vision Talk Contest.

The Max Delbrück Center welcomes four new guest groups: The labs of the junior scientists are part of the Helmholtz Institute for Translational AngioCardioScience, which is focusing on how the vascular system contributes to the development of diseases that affect multiple organ systems.

The EU-LIFE Core Facilities Working Group published a paper on the management of technology platforms in “EMBO reports.” It provides useful insights into the lifecycle of these essential facilities, from creation to closing, and examples of challenges faced by research institutes of the EU-LIFE alliance.

Starting in May, Anne Ziemke will head the staff unit Strategic Programs, Resources, and Implementation at the Max Delbrück Center. She aims to further improve the conditions for excellent research and to forge closer collaboration with other research institutions.

Top scientists and companies will meet in Berlin-Buch for the 2025 Helmholtz Drug Discovery Conference from April 28-30 to discuss RNA drugs, PROTACs, AI in drug discovery, and chemoproteomics and to form new collaborations.

Research teams at the Max Delbrück Center and its partner institutions used a total of 31,517 animals in experiments in 2024 – almost 6,000 fewer than the previous year. These figures were reported to the Berlin State Office for Health and Social Affairs (LaGeSo).