News & Events

Berlin Science Week 2025 kicks off on November 1. The Max Delbrück Center invites science enthusiasts to talks and tours, a concert, and exhibitions highlighting our research and to join discussions on a wide range of topics.

Researchers at the Max Delbrück Center and Aarhus University have found a mechanism through which the gene variant APOE4, long linked to a high risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease, impairs neuronal function in the aging brain. The research was published in “Nature Metabolism.”

U.K.-based Wellcome has awarded over €2 million to an international research effort to uncover how malaria can injure developing babies. Emanuel Wyler at the Max Delbrück Center will play a key role in studying the molecular interaction between the parasite Plasmodium falciparum and the placenta.

Five scientists from the Max Delbrück Center have been named among the 100 most important minds in Berlin science in 2025 by the newspaper Tagesspiegel: Simone Spuler, Clara Vázquez García, Thoralf Niendorf, Gabriele Schiattarella and Ana Pombo.

Yun-Hsuan Huang spent two intense weeks at the University of Edinburgh as part of the Max Delbrück Center’s PhD exchange program in Medical Systems Biology. She returned with new skills, scientific insights – and a broader outlook on research and collaboration.

Evangelia Nathanail is a biochemist in the lab of Oliver Daumke and investigates the structures of biological macromolecules such as DNA, proteins, and complexes. She is a guest on the podcast “Zia – Audible Women in Science.”

Paula Leupold is researching how our environment, e.g., viruses and microplastics, enters the brain and causes cellular changes and diseases. She is a PhD student in Nikolaus Rajewsky's lab.

Katharina Brecht has been part of the Max Delbrück Center since July 2025, where she is responsible for Faculty Affairs and Recruitment within the staff unit ‘Strategic Programs, Resources and Implementation’. She moved only recently to Berlin. Her tip takes us to London and to Shakespeare — and to the question: Was he a woman?

According to a survey conducted by the ‘Sozialwissenschaftliches Institut Schad’, the Max Delbrück Center is one of Berlin's best employers and training companies. A good 600 companies took part in the survey, and around 100 received the award – making them ‘Berlins Beste’.