Einstein Foundation Berlin Supports Further Researchers at Charité

Einstein Foundation Berlin Supports Further Researchers at Charité

For excellent basic research and improved treatment options for stroke and childhood cancer

Thanks to continued support from the Einstein Foundation Berlin, the international top researchers Prof. Alastair Buchan and Prof. Rogier Versteeg can continue their work as Visiting Fellows at Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin and the Berlin Institute of Health in Charité (BIH) for the next two years. Additionally, Charité welcomes two new young talents: Einstein Starting Researchers Dr. Sarah Ayash and Dr. Sameer Singh. Researchers from Charité will also contribute to the new Einstein Research Unit: Coping With Affective Polarization of the Berlin University Alliance in the coming years.

Research on Stress Resilience and Rare Diseases

During her Ph.D. at the University of Mainz, Dr. Sarah Ayash developed a behavioral model to distinguish between stress-resistant and stress-prone groups of animals. Her postdoctoral research focused on the underlying neural mechanisms and identified unique genetic signatures and brain circuits in each group. As an Einstein Starting Researcher at Charité, Dr. Ayash's lab will collaborate with Prof. Dietmar Schmitz, Director of the Neuroscience Research Center, to decipher the neural mechanisms of stress resilience, with a focus on the role of the neurotransmitter dopamine and potential treatments.

“The diverse impacts of stress on behavior and the brain have long fascinated me. As a neuroscientist, I am now striving to understand the mechanisms behind them,” says Dr. Sarah Ayash.

The work of biologist Dr. Sameer Singh, who spent several years as a postdoc at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Rockefeller University in New York, is also being supported. Since 2022, he has been at Charité, where he will now serve as an Einstein Starting Researcher, working with Christian Spahn, Director of the Institute for Medical Physics and Biophysics at Charité, to study ribosomopathies. This group of rare diseases can be traced to mutations in ribosomal proteins that impair the functionality of ribosomes. Ribosomes are protein complexes found in all living organisms that read the protein sequence encoded on mRNA and simultaneously produce the corresponding proteins. The project aims to visualize ribosome biosynthesis using the latest imaging techniques to explain how faulty ribosome production leads to ribosomopathies and how new treatment options might be developed in the long term.

“My goal is to gain a deeper understanding of how rare diseases develop and spread in the body. I want to use this knowledge to develop new therapies to treat such diseases,” says Dr. Sameer Singh.

Second Round for Einstein Visiting Fellows at Charité and BIH

Alastair Buchan, Professor of Stroke Research at the University of Oxford, has been an Einstein Visiting Fellow at Charité since December 2021. In the upcoming second funding period, he will work with his hosts at the Center for Stroke Research to investigate the molecular mechanisms that regulate glucose metabolism and mitochondria in brain cells. This research will lay the foundation for identifying new therapeutic approaches to preserve cells after a stroke. The focus will be on the influence of circadian rhythms on cellular metabolism, such as fluctuations in bodily functions due to the day-night cycle. The exchange and networking of young researchers between Berlin and Oxford will be further expanded and deepened.

Rogier Versteeg will also continue his research in Berlin for another two years. The Professor of Genetics at the University of Amsterdam will collaborate with Einstein Professor of Pediatric Oncology Research Prof. Angelika Eggert during this funding period to investigate the causes of relapses in neuroblastomas, the third most common cancer in children. Despite prior medical treatment, neuroblastoma often recurs. One reason for this could be phenotypic plasticity, a high adaptability of cells to their environment. The current project brings together resources from Charité, BIH, the Max Delbrück Center, and the University of Amsterdam in search of a promising combination of drugs. The experts are studying rare residual tumor cells that have survived the temporary absence of the disease.

Researchers from Charité are also involved in the newly approved Einstein Research Unit: Coping with Affective Polarization. Together with researchers from the Berlin University Alliance (BUA), they will focus on the phenomenon of affective polarization—the tendency to feel closer to like-minded individuals and more distant from those with different views—and its societal consequences.

Source: Press release Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin

About the Einstein Foundation Berlin The  Einstein Foundation Berlin is a non-profit, independent, and science-led institution. Since 2009, it has been promoting science and research across disciplines and institutions in and for Berlin at an international top level. More than 240 scientists—including three Nobel laureates—over 70 projects, and eight Einstein Centers have been supported so far.

Press release of the Einstein Foundation