A building that transcends borders: Grand opening of the BIH and MDC’s Käthe Beutler Building

Professor Christopher Baum, Chair of the BIH Board of Directors and Chief Translational Research Officer of Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, is delighted with this first BIH building, which is now ready to be handed over to researchers. “Up to now, BIH research groups have been spread across various buildings all over Berlin. We are very pleased that the BIH now has a physical location and a first home of its own with the Käthe Beutler Building. In close partnership with the MDC, important research will take place here within the Focus Area ‘Translational Vascular Biomedicine.’ Blood vessels play a role in many diseases, so hopefully this work will soon benefit many patients.”

At the opening of the new building, where research groups from the MDC and BIH will work together under one roof, interim Scientific Director of the MDC Professor Thomas Sommer said: “I am delighted that we are opening the Käthe Beutler Building here on Campus Berlin Buch today – and, with it, strengthening our productive partnership with the BIH and Charité. For many years, MDC scientists have been working closely and successfully with physicians and clinical researchers in a variety of ways. The Experimental and Clinical Research Center of the MDC and Charité is just next door, and represents a wonderful example of successful patient-oriented research. Today, this successful model of translation (“from bench to bedside”) is being extended to include vascular research and medicine. I wish all those involved every success.”

The border between Berlin and Brandenburg runs through the middle of the Käthe Beutler Building. So it is fitting that this facility also bridges the border between basic research and clinical practice. Professor Axel R. Pries, Dean of Charité, considers this an essential aspect: “It is of the utmost importance that doctors, researchers and, not least, patients meet under the same roof every day. Direct interaction allows new ideas to develop and research findings to be quickly translated into real-world solutions. This is the only way to turn research into health.”

On behalf of the scientists who will work in the Käthe Beutler Building, Professor Holger Gerhardt, spokesperson for the BIH & MDC Center for Vascular Biomedicine and Professor of Experimental Cardiovascular Research at the MDC, said: “With the Käthe Beutler Building, we are facilitating encounters between us, the Vascular Biomedicine research teams, and patients. And we are fostering lively interaction between cutting-edge science and technology. Here, we use the latest omics technologies, such as gene sequencing and single cell analysis, and have state-of-the-art microscopy methods at our disposal. Our goal is the translation of basic research discoveries into clinical practice – while also making sure clinical knowledge is fed back to the lab. Translation bridges gaps between disciplines, between their different languages, cultures and ways of thinking, thus creating new understanding and insights. This will permanently change how we view, treat and prevent disease.”