Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine
The Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (in short: MDC) in Berlin-Buch, located in the northeast of Berlin, is one of 18 institutions of the Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres, which combines molecular biology basic research with clinical research.
The Max Delbrück Center was founded in January 1992 as the successor to three by 1990 members of the Academy of Sciences of the GDR institutions, namely the Central Institute of Molecular Biology, the Central Institute for Cancer Research and the Central Institute for Cardiovascular Research, from the 1947 existing in Berlin-Buch, Institute for Medicine and Biology were developed.
Is named the center after the Berlin-born biophysicist and Nobel laureate Max Delbrück.
Financing, ownership structure and activities
The MDC is about 90 percent by the federal government and ten percent by the State of Berlin and on additional external funding (2009: EUR 24 million ) financed. 57 independent research groups are working in the three research areas cardiovascular disease, cancer and disorders of the nervous system. In total there are approximately 1,400 employees at the MDC and scholars, including 300 graduate students, employed (as of August 2012). The budget of the MDC amounted in 2012 to around 68 million euros.
The MDC operates in conjunction with the Berlin Charité University Medicine at the Campus Berlin-Buch, the Experimental and Clinical Research Center ( ECRC ). The ECRC offers labs and clinics, training programs and special project funding for the close collaboration between researchers at the MDC and clinical research at the Charité - University Medicine.
A particular focus of the work of the MDC is systems biology. In the field of post-transcriptional gene regulation cooperates, the MDC with the Berlin Institute for Medical Systems Biology ( BIMSB ).
Further co- exist with the Leibniz Institute for Molecular Pharmacology (FMP ), Humboldt -Universität zu Berlin and other universities and research institutes.
The MDC intends, according to a press statement of 23 April 2012, which support the " Basel Declaration for animal experimentation ." In the declaration the need for animal testing for medical research and called for adherence to animal experiments with primates.
Criticism of the planned animal experiment laboratory
In early 2012, plans were the Berlin Senate known to support the planned starting in 2013 new for a new in-vivo pathophysiology lab at the Max Delbrück Center in Berlin-Buch, with 24 million euros, whereby about the mouse husbandry capacities of the Institute by 14% expected to rise to about 64,800 animals. According to media reports, the MDC can already approve trials of more than 450,000 animals over the next four years. The animals are sacrificed after the experiments. Animal welfare organizations and the Green Party politician Claudia Hammerling criticize the plans and submit to the Berlin coalition of SPD and CDU breaking his word before, because it had agreed to a restriction of animal experiments in the coalition agreement. The animal welfare policy spokesman for the SPD in Berlin, Daniel Buchholz, defended the project with regard to the importance of the research in Berlin. Several animal rights organizations have called therefore to protest to the governing mayor Klaus Wowereit (SPD ), to stop the support of the project by the control means.
Max Delbrück Medal
The MDC annually awards the Max Delbrück Medal in the Berlin Lectures on Molecular Medicine.