MDC receives funding to collaborate on Human Cell Atlas
Organs and tissues are comprised of very different types of cells. The heart, for example, contains muscle cells, connective tissue cells, nerve cells, and immune cells, all of which vary greatly in size and properties – despite having the same DNA. “Relatively little is known about the exact composition and cell architecture of the various types of cells in the heart,” says Professor Norbert Hübner, head of the MDC’s Genetics and Genomics of Cardiovascular Diseases research team and leader of the “Towards a Human Cardiac Cell Atlas” project.
This pilot project has been made possible in part by a grant from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative donor advised fund, an advised fund of Silicon Valley Community Foundation. It is part of efforts to create the Human Cell Atlas, an ambitious global collaboration launched by leading researchers in October 2016. Professor Nikolaus Rajewsky, who sits on the Organizing Committee of the HCA, represents the MDC in the collaboration. The researchers aim to not only map and characterize all cells in a healthy human body, but also to discover how cells change during disease progression. The preliminary work that is beginning now should produce the technical and scientific conditions necessary for isolating and investigating all individual cell types. The Human Cell Atlas is supported in part by the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, a philanthropic organization set up by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Dr. Priscilla Chan to advance human potential and promote equal opportunity through world class engineering, grantmaking, impact investing, policy, and advocacy work.
Single cardiomyocytes have to be separated before sequencing
A number of Berlin-based research teams, led by Norbert Hübner, Nikolaus Rajewsky, Michael Gotthardt, Jan Philipp Junker, as well as teams from Boston, Singapore, and Stanford will, for example, examine how state-of-the-art gene sequencing technologies can be used to understand individual cells of the heart. A still unsolved problem is the RNA sequencing of heart muscle cells, whose size poses special technical challenges. “The characterized cell populations should lead ultimately to the construction of a three-dimensional model that explains the components, structures and ultimately functions of the human heart,” says Norbert Hübner. The scientists anticipate that the newly developed methods will also lay the groundwork for advances in the mapping of other organs.
The Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC)
The Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association (MDC) 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 MDC’s locations in Berlin-Buch and Mitte, researchers from some 60 countries analyze the human system – investigating the biological foundations of life from its most elementary building blocks to systems-wide mechanisms. By understanding what regulates or disrupts the dynamic equilibrium in a cell, an organ, or the entire body, we can prevent diseases, diagnose them earlier, and stop their progression with tailored therapies. Patients should benefit as soon as possible from basic research discoveries. The MDC therefore 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 MDC today employs 1,600 people and is funded 90 percent by the German federal government and 10 percent by the State of Berlin.
- About the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative
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The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative was launched in December 2015 by Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Facebook, and his wife, Priscilla Chan, a pediatrician and founder and CEO of The Primary School in East Palo Alto. The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative is a new kind of philanthropic organization dedicated to advancing human potential and promoting equal opportunity through world class engineering, grantmaking, impact investing, policy, and advocacy work. Initial areas of focus include supporting science through basic biomedical research and education through personalized learning. CZI is also exploring ways to build stronger, more equitable communities through affordable housing and criminal justice reform.
