MDC Celebrates Its 20th Anniversary and Plans Berlin Institute of Health

In his welcoming speech, Professor Walter Rosenthal, Chairman of the Board of Directors and Scientific Director of the MDC, pointed out that the MDC was founded 20 years ago in order to combine basic and clinical research. “In my view, the translation of basic research findings into clinical applications is one of the paramount
objectives of our cooperation with the Charité.” From 2013 on, the Berlin Institute of Health will present us with a unique opportunity to put the long-standing collaboration between the MDC and the Charité on a new basis with regard to structure and content. In this context, Professor Rosenthal thanked Research Minister Schavan and the former Science Senator of Berlin, Jürgen Zöllner, for their perseverance in bringing this project to fruition. Professor Rosenthal also praised the work of MDC founding director Professor Detlev Ganten and his successor Professor Walter Birchmeier. “Without their wise and foresighted policies regarding strategic development and appointments, the MDC would not have the standing it has today: 14th place in the Thomson Reuters ranking of the world’s “top 20” best research institutions in the field of molecular biology and genetics.”

In her address Germany’s Minister of Education and Research Annette Schavan said: “Here, in conjunction with German reunification, an institution evolved that has attained high international recognition, especially due to its combination of basic and clinical research, a concept that was revolutionary at the time. The next step will be to transfer scientific insights even faster to benefit patients. That is the aim of the future cooperation of the MDC and the Charité in the Berlin Institute of Health – a beacon project both nationally and internationally.”

A birthday cake for the MDC enjoys Professor Walter Rosenthal (Chairman of the Board of Directors and Scientific Director of the MDC), Annette Schavan (Germany`s Minister of Education and Research), Cornelia Lanz (Administrative Director of the MDC), Professor Ulrich Frei and Annette Grüters-Kieslich from the Charité. (from left) (Photo: David Ausserhofer/ Copyright: MDC)

“The 20 years of the MDC have been quite fortuitous for the State of Berlin,” said Cornelia Yzer, the Berlin Senator for Economics, Technology and Research. “Especially
due to the research contributions made here at the MDC, Berlin has become a research location that is recognized and highly esteemed far beyond our national borders. Moreover, from the start the MDC has stood for close cooperation between science and industry and has directly promoted start-ups. The forthcoming institutional link with the Charité in the Berlin Institute of Health will ensure that you also set new national and international standards in biomedical research – for the benefit of people and of modern medicine."

“The Helmholtz Association is very proud to count the Max Delbrück Center among its members. At the heart of this research institution are the people who work there – they are the foundation of one of the most important centers for biomedical research in Germany,” said Professor Jürgen Mlynek, President of the Helmholtz Association.
“Since its founding 20 years ago the MDC has conducted internationally acclaimed research to help combat major diseases, such as cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, cancer and diseases of the nervous system. The MDC is thus making a key contribution to the solution of important, socially relevant issues.” 

Founding of the MDC

The MDC was founded in January 1992 upon the recommendation of the Science Council with the goal of combining molecular basic research with clinical research. It is one of 18 research centers of the Helmholtz Association, which with 34 000 employees and a budget of circa 3.4 billion euros is the largest research organization in Germany. The MDC currently* employs a total of 1634 people, including 495 guests from a total of 57 countries. Of these, 821 are active in research, among them 468 scientists and 353 doctoral students. The MDC has a budget of approximately 71 million euros a year, not counting external grants acquired by MDC scientists amounting to two-digit millions of euros. Like all research centers that belong to the Helmholtz Association, the MDC receives 90 percent of its funding from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research and ten percent from the state in which it is located, in this case Berlin.

The MDC evolved from three central institutes of the Academy of Sciences of the GDR in Berlin-Buch. It is named after the physicist, biologist and Nobel Prize laureate
(1969) Max Delbrück (September 4, 1906 in Berlin – March 10, 1981 in Pasadena, California, USA). Together with the Russian geneticist Nikolai Vladimirovich Timoféeff-Ressovsky (September 7, 1900 in Kaluga Province – March 28, 1981 Obninsk), who worked in Berlin-Buch, Delbrück was one of the founders of molecular genetics. Oskar and Cécile Vogt, Karl Lohmann, Walter Friedrich, Ernst Ruska (Nobel Prize 1986), Arnold Graffi, Erwin Negelein, Albert Wollenberger and Hans Gummel were also researchers at Berlin-Buch.

*As of November 2012

Contact:
Barbara
Bachtler

Press Department

Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) Berlin-Buch
in the
Helmholtz Association

Robert-Rössle-Straße 10

13125 Berlin
Germany
Phone:
+49 (0) 30 94 06 - 38 96

Fax:  +49 (0) 30 94 06 - 38 33
e-mail: presse@mdc-berlin.de

http://www.mdc-berlin.de/