ECRC

Their research is outstanding, and they’re also committed to the Max Delbrück Center and engaged in our community — Manqiang Lin and Artsemi Yushkevich wrote the best papers in 2023; Hendrik Bartolomaeus, Eleonore Adami and Ulrike Löber received the Postdoc Awards for 2023.

A tumor often arises when cancer genes multiply. In this process, additional genes act as hitchhikers, potentially creating previously unknown vulnerabilities that open the door to new therapeutic approaches. This finding is reported by a team led by ECRC-scientists Anton Henssen and Jan Dörr in "Cancer Discovery."

Biomedical research is mostly geared towards white men. During the Berlin Science Week, researchers discussed how this can be changed and how questions of diversity can be better taken into account in laboratories. Didn't have time to join? We have documented the event for you as a video.

Swapping just a single amino acid can play a decisive role in transforming healthy B cells into cancer cells. An international team led by ECRC researcher Stephan Mathas describes in “Nature Communications” how a point mutation in the transcription factor IRF4 profoundly alters gene regulation.

There are few pregnancy diseases as life-threatening as preeclampsia. But the danger doesn’t end after birth: Mothers with preeclamptic pregnancies have a much higher risk of developing cardiovascular disease later in life. Kristin Kräker from the Experimental and Clinical Research Center is working on an early warning system.

Many researchers in the Berlin-Brandenburg region are studying the microbiome, the community of microorganisms that reside on and in our bodies. Sofia Forslund from the Experimental and Clinical Research Center now hopes to improve networking among them by establishing a virtual microbiome institute.

When the PRDM16 gene mutates, heart muscle cells undergo changes in their metabolism. This increases the risk of congenital heart failure in women more than men, as a ECRC research team led by Sabine Klaassen and Jirko Kühnisch reports in “Cardiovascular Research.”

People with hypertension are at the greatest risk of developing serious cardiovascular diseases. A team of researchers at the Experimental and Clinical Research Center are now investigating whether probiotics in food supplements can support drug therapies or even delay the need to start them.

The UNIPRENEURS Initiative has recognized the entrepreneurial spirit of 20 professors, among them ECRC researcher Simone Spuler. As a co-founder of the startup MyoPax, she is pioneering stem cell technology to develop regenerative therapies for previously incurable muscle diseases.

Many people with post-COVID syndrome who suffer from fatigue six months after a coronavirus infection are still severely physically impaired up to 20 months afterward. The study by ECRC researcher Judith Bellmann-Strobl and her colleagues was published in “eClinicalMedicine.”