Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC)

Research and development of therapies of cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, cancer and neurological diseases

The Institute of Medicine and Biology was founded in 1947 by the German Academy of Sciences in Berlin. In 1972, the Institute of Medicine and Biology was divided into three central institutes - cancer research, cardiovascular research and molecular biology.

After the reunification of East and West Germany, these institutes were unified as the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) Berlin-Buch in 1992.

The MDC collaborates with the Robert Rössle Cancer Clinic (RRK) and the Franz Volhard Clinic for Cardiovascular Diseases (FVK).

Dr. Peter Lange, Chairman of the Kuratorium
Wolfgang Eckey, Vice-Chairman of the Kuratorium
Reinhard Jahn, Dr., Prof., Vice-Chairman of the Scientific Committee

Reinhard Junker, Chairman
Wolfgang Eckey, Vice Chairman
Prof. Dr. Günter Breithardt
Prof. Dr. Ulrich Frei
Prof. Dr. Annette Grüters-Kieslich
Prof. Dr. Reinhard Jahn
Oskar-Peter Kaye
Prof. Dr. Wieland Huttner
Prof. Dr. Dieter Lenzen
Prof. Dr. Maria Leptin
Prof. Dr. Gary R. Lewin
Prof. Dr. Jürgen Mlynek
Prof. Dr. Annemarie Poustka
Dr. Hermann Schulte-Sasse
Dr. Albert Statz
Prof. Dr. Axel Ullrich
Prof. Dr. Kurt von Figura
Hans-Ulrich Weber
Dr. Ulrike Ziebold

Prof. Dr. Wieland Huttner
Prof. Dr. Kurt von Figura
Prof. Dr. Rudi Balling
Prof. Dr. Günter Breithardt
Prof. Dr. Roger Goody
Prof. Dr. Annette Grüters-Kieslich
Prof. Dr. Christoph Huber
Prof. Dr. Reinhard Jahn
Prof. Dr. Maria Leptin
Prof. Dr. Thomas Meitinger
Prof. Dr. Leena Peltonen
Prof. Dr. Annemarie Poustka
Prof. Sir George K. Radda
Prof. Dr. Axel Ullrich

Robert-Rössle-Str. 10
13092 Berlin
Germany
Phone: +49 (0)30-94060
Fax: +49 (0)30–9494161

The MDC focuses on three main research programmes: cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, cancer research, function and dysfunction of the nervous system including brain tumours and neurodegenerative diseases.

Molecular medicine concentrates on the genome and the proteins as the gene products, their interactions to reconstruct i.a. molecular mechanisms which control the growth, maturation and multiplication of cells.
The scientists’ aim is to investigate the genetic causes of several diseases and to develop equivalent methods for their diagnosis, prevention and treatment.

Main topics of the cardiovascular and metabolic diseases research programme are hypertension, vascular disease and kidney disease, heart disease and metabolic disease, genetics, genomics and bioinformatics.

Scientists of the cancer research programme work i.a. on the investigation of signal induction systems, of genes responsible for emergence, progression and metastasizing of tumors, the characterisation of proteins and their functions, as well as tumour immunology to identify potential antigens for future immune therapies.

The MDC neurosciences research programme is investigating the molecular and cellular bases of the healthy and pathological nervous system, also focusing on signal pathways, visualization methods and diseases of the nervous system.

The following section contains a selection of the company’s most relevant patents. For comprehensive patent information please refer to the espacenet databases.