PhD Students

Max Delbrück Center is part of two new European Marie Skłodowska-Curie networks that train PhD candidates in academia and industry. The NUCLEAR network will advance knowledge of how metabolism influences cell decisions and cancer, while the UNION network will explore healthy ageing and the immune system.

Doctoral student Philipp Roth went to New York as part of the Max Delbrück Center Exchange Program in Medical Systems Biology. In this interview, he discusses his research collaboration with a lab at NYU and how the exchange benefitted him in ways he could not have imagined.

Nella Christie Delva joins the lab of Annette Hammes-Lewin’s as a Fulbright scholar. Over the next few months, she will study how environmental stressors cause genetic and neural changes in the brain during development, which can lead to mental health disorders.

The Emerald program is shaping a new wave of physician-scientists by bridging clinical practice and biomedical research. Recently, fellows from all across Europe met in Berlin. We interviewed the organizers about the highlights and the community’s plans to improve healthcare.

We can learn from failure, yet often we hide our setbacks, especially in our professional lives. At the next SPARK event on September 5, enjoy a piano and violin concert followed by an invigorating discussion between musicians and scientists as they explore the concept of “A CV of failures.”

The Max Delbrück Center hosted a graduation ceremony to honor 20 young researchers who have successfully defended their PhD theses this year. They were awarded their diplomas in front of proud colleagues, friends and family.

The International Ph.D. Student Cancer Conference kicks off on June 12th at the Max Delbrück Center in Berlin-Buch. Doctoral students in the cancer field will get the chance to network and exchange ideas in an informal setting.

Their research is outstanding, and they’re also committed to the Max Delbrück Center and engaged in our community — Manqiang Lin and Artsemi Yushkevich wrote the best papers in 2023; Hendrik Bartolomaeus, Eleonore Adami and Ulrike Löber received the Postdoc Awards for 2023.

Working in Berlin-Mitte and New York – Lena Nitsch conducts research at both the MDC-BIMSB and New York University. For “We at the MDC”, the doctoral student discusses how it is to work in two labs, her experiences in the United States, and what she has learned through the “MDC-NYU PhD Exchange Program”.

For those who dream of conducting research as future doctoral students at the Max Delbrück Center, there is anticipation of a vibrant and dedicated community: aspiring researchers deepen their knowledge, exchange ideas, and get to know each other, especially during PhD retreats.