New joint research building for Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin and Technische Universität Berlin

The Charité – University Medicine Berlin and the Technical University of Berlin (TU Berlin) are to receive a new joint research building. The Science Council recommended on its session on April 27, 2018, in Trier, to promote the research facility "The Simulated Human" (Si-M). The new building is scheduled to be completed by 2023, financed in part by the federal government and the state of Berlin within the framework of the program for research buildings at universities (Art. 91b GG). The building will be operated jointly by the two partners, Charité and TU Berlin, and will enable research at the interface of engineering sciences and medicine. In the building, with a usable area of around 2,700 square meters, medical doctors, natural scientists, and engineers from various disciplines will work side by side to analyze the functions of human cells and tissues using new technologies such as high-resolution analysis of individual cells, cultivation of tissues in organ-on-a-chip systems, or methods of 3D bioprinting. The initial focus will be on oncological, immunological, and regenerative questions. The new building will be located on Seestrasse in Berlin-Wedding.

Prof. Dr. Axel Radlach Pries, Dean of Charité: "We are convinced that with the research building 'The Simulated Human' and the joint work under one roof, we will make a decisive contribution to medicine of the 21st century."

Prof. Dr. Christian Thomsen, President of TU Berlin, emphasizes: "The funding recommendation from the Science Council makes us very happy; it is a clear sign of the excellence of the proposal and the involved scientists. Forward-looking research approaches are developing today at the interfaces of disciplines. The new science building will provide space for researchers from TU Berlin and Charité to do so."

The recommendation of the Science Council forms the basis for the decision of the Joint Science Conference (GWK) of the federal government and the states regarding the inclusion of research buildings in funding under § 91b GG. The next GWK meeting will take place on June 29, 2018.

About the research profile:

"Simulating human tissues opens up completely new research approaches, especially in the field of new cancer therapies and infections, which have high clinical relevance. For example, the disciplines of medicine and biotechnology meet in the area of immunotherapies for cancer," explains Prof. Dr. Roland Lauster, initiator of "The Simulated Human" and head of the Department of Medical Biotechnology at TU Berlin.

Prof. Dr. Andreas Thiel, head of the "Regenerative Immunology and Aging" working group at Charité and also an initiator of "The Simulated Human," adds: "The relevant research fields are currently developing at a rapid pace. In the laboratories of Si-M, new analytical methods could also be applied for the first time, enabling much more specific diagnosis of diseases and prognosis of responses to modern therapies than has been possible so far."

The research theme of Si-M will not only make an important contribution to the development of new diagnostic and therapeutic strategies but also help avoid or reduce animal experiments.

About the new building:

The research new building "The Simulated Human" is a joint project of Charité and TU Berlin and a core element of a joint campus development focused on biotechnology and biomedicine. The construction site on Seestrasse in Berlin-Wedding is located directly north of the Charité Campus Virchow-Klinikum. The research building aims to create an interdisciplinary research space. In addition to experimental and theoretical research areas, there will be a particular focus on spaces for communication and interaction. There will be exhibition areas, a theater, and meeting rooms to facilitate exchange among researchers from different disciplines.