MDC publishes latest research report on cardiovascular and metabolic diseases

The Max Delbr-ck Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) Berlin-Buch, which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year, has published its latest research report. In the 298-page book that is primarily written in English, all of the 67 research groups of the MDC and the clinical groups in the Experimental and Clinical Research Center (ECRC) of the MDC and of the Charit- - Universit-tsmedizin Berlin give an overview of their work in 2010 - 2011. Research activities at the MDC focus on cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, cancer, diseases of the nervous system and systems biology.

The presentation of the research groups, technology platforms and technology transfer projects provides insight into the research activities of the MDC. "In recent years the scientists of the MDC have again achieved internationally acclaimed results and published them in leading journals," said Professor Walter Rosenthal, scientific director of the MDC, in his introduction to the research report. In 2010 the MDC ranked 14th on the Thomson Reuters list in the field of molecular biology and genetics, making it the only German research institution to be among the world's "Top Twenty".

Furthermore, Professor Rosenthal emphasized the MDC's extensive participation in excellence clusters and collaborative research centers, the acquisition of eight ERC grants and the award of the Leibniz Prize -the most highly endowed German research prize - to Professor Nikolaus Rajewsky, head of the Berlin Institute for Medical Systems Biology (BIMSB) at the MDC, during the period covered by the report.

"The founding charter of the MDC, which was formulated in 1992, is more relevant than ever," Professor Rosenthal went on to say. "Its aim is to make laboratory results quickly available to doctors and patients in the hospital - as we say the ʽbench to bedsideʼ approach." In 2007 the Experimental and Clinical Research Center (ECRC), modeled after Clinical Research Centers (CRC) in the U.S., was founded on Campus Berlin-Buch.

As a joint institution of the MDC and the Charit-, the ECRC promotes cooperation between basic scientists and clinical researchers in order to accelerate the transfer of insights gained from laboratory research into medical practice. In the future, according to Prof. Rosenthal, the MDC will take its longstanding and close partnership with the Charit- to a new level by developing a common institutional platform. This will ensure that "basic biomedical research and clinical research will benefit even more from each other than in the past."