Global influencers of science
Sofia Forslund, Friedemann Paul and Nikolaus Rajewsky are considered among the top 1% in their fields for publishing highly influential studies that have gone on to be cited, or referenced, by many other scientists.
They are included in Clarivate’s Highly Cited Researchers 2024 list, which aims to highlight researchers who are having an outsized impact on their fields and extending the frontiers of knowledge. All three made the 2023 list as well.
Clarivate produces the list annually, based on an extensive analysis of scientific publishing data on Web of Science. Each researcher included has multiple papers ranked in the top 1% by citations for their field(s) and publication year over the past decade. Approximately one in a thousand researchers makes it onto this prestigious list.
This year, 6,636 individual researchers have been named Highly Cited Researchers. Germany ranks fourth of countries and regions with 332 highly cited researchers, behind the U.S., mainland China and the U.K.
About our researchers
Professor Sofia Forslund heads a research group at the Experimental and Clinical Research Center (ECRC), a joint institution of Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin and the Max Delbrück Center. The data-driven models developed by the biochemist and bioinformatician illustrate how we and our gut microbiome develop together toward health or disease.
Professor Friedemann Paul is Director of the ECRC. As a neuroimmunologist, he and his team focus on enhancing therapeutics and diagnostics for diseases such as Multiple Sclerosis. Additionally, they coordinate an international consortium researching inflammatory processes preceding organ malfunction or damage.
- Understanding the transition to disease
- Low levels of a simple sugar – a new biomarker for severe MS?
Professor Nikolaus Rajewsky is Director of the Berlin Institute for Medical Systems Biology at the Max Delbrück Center (MDC-BIMSB) and head of the Systems Biology of Gene Regulatory Elements lab. His lab studies how RNA regulates gene expression in health and disease, to identify diseases as early as possible, intervening before cellular dysfunctions cause harm.
Further information
Contact
Jana Schlütter
Editor, Communications
Max Delbrück Center
+49 30 9406 2121
jana.schluetter@mdc-berlin.de or presse@mdc-berlin.de
- Max Delbrück Center
The Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association (Max Delbrück Center) is one of the world’s leading biomedical research institutions. Max Delbrück, a Berlin native, was a Nobel laureate and one of the founders of molecular biology. At the locations in Berlin-Buch and Mitte, researchers from some 70 countries study human biology – investigating the foundations of life from its most elementary building blocks to systems-wide mechanisms. By understanding what regulates or disrupts the dynamic equilibrium of a cell, an organ, or the entire body, we can prevent diseases, diagnose them earlier, and stop their progression with tailored therapies. Patients should be able to benefit as soon as possible from basic research discoveries. This is why the Max Delbrück Center supports spin-off creation and participates in collaborative networks. It works in close partnership with Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin in the jointly-run Experimental and Clinical Research Center (ECRC), the Berlin Institute of Health (BIH) at Charité, and the German Center for Cardiovascular Research (DZHK). Founded in 1992, the Max Delbrück Center today employs 1,800 people and is 90 percent funded by the German federal government and 10 percent by the State of Berlin.
