Five Berlin-based leading minds honored

Five scientists from the Max Delbrück Center have been named among the 100 most important minds in Berlin science in 2025 by the newspaper Tagesspiegel: Simone Spuler, Clara Vázquez García, Thoralf Niendorf, Gabriele Schiattarella and Ana Pombo.

Each year, a team of editors at Berlin’s Tagesspiegel newspaper selects 100 researchers who, in their view, have had a particularly significant impact on science in the Berlin metropolitan area. The recognition spans six categories. This year, five scientists from the Max Delbrück Center have been chosen in the “Medicine & Health” category: Professor Simone Spuler, Dr. Clara Vázquez García, Professor Thoralf Niendorf, and Professor Gabriele Schiattarella. Professor Ana Pombo was also selected in the category “swimming against the tide.”

 


Simone Spuler leads the Myology research group at the Experimental and Clinical Research Center, a joint institution of Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin and the Max Delbrück Center. She is being recognized for her work developing new therapies to treat inherited muscle-wasting diseases. Following encouraging results in animal models, the first clinical trials aiming to correct genetic defects using the CRISPR/Cas9 gene-editing tool are currently being planned.

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Clara Vázquez García, a scientist in the Immune Mechanisms and Human Antibodies research group led by Professor Kathrin de la Rosa, is being honored for her work on a broadly applicable blood test. The test detects specific genetic features in immune cells, particularly those involved in DNA repair, to help identify elevated risks for immunodeficiencies or cancer. She hopes the test will lead to more personalized prevention strategies.

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Thoralf Niendorf heads the Experimental Ultrahigh-Field MR research group at the Max Delbrück Center. He is developing an innovative method that harnesses the heat generated during MRI scanning – typically considered a side effect ¬– to selectively destroy brain tumors. His approach, which is being supported by the European Research Council with a €150,000 grant, could offer a gentler alternative to surgery or laser ablation.

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Gabriele Schiattarella leads the Translational Approaches in Heart Failure and Cardiometabolic Diseases research group at the Max Delbrück Center. His team investigates the causes of different forms of heart failure and other conditions affecting the heart and metabolism, with the goal of developing new treatments for these widespread diseases. In March, he also took up a professorship in cardiometabolic diseases at the Deutsches Herzzentrum der Charité, and his work has received multiple awards.

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Ana Pombo, head of the Epigenetic Regulation and Chromatin Architecture group at the Berlin Institute for Medical Systems Biology at the Max Delbrück Center recently received the Leibniz Prize, considered the highest scientific award in Germany, for her research. Among other things, she studies how the spatial structure of the genome influences the activity of our genes – and hence all cells in the body. She is now researching how external influences change the 3D structure of our genome. Pombo initially faced a lot of opposition to her ideas. But she was not deterred. She simply carried on – and ultimately convinced her critics.

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