New approaches to disease prevention: Einstein Center for Early Disease Interception opens

© Einstein Stiftung Berlin | Pablo Castagnola

26.03.2026
New approaches to disease prevention: Einstein Center for Early Disease Interception opens

Brain City Berlin

Brain City Berlin has a new research consortium: the Einstein Center for Early Disease Interception brings together the expertise of researchers from twelve Berlin institutions to explore new approaches to disease prevention and accelerate their translation into practice. A significant addition to the city in the Science Year dedicated to "Medicine of the Future".

Researchers from Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, the Max Delbrück Center, the Berlin Institute of Health at Charité (BIH), Technische Universität Berlin, Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and further non-university institutions including the Museum für Naturkunde and Max Planck Institutes will work together to detect and treat diseases before symptoms emerge. The new Einstein Center for Early Disease Interception will draw on the latest technologies across institutional boundaries to prevent diseases from taking hold in the first place. The researchers have been at work since 23 March 2026.

What happens at the very beginning of a disease, inside our cells?

The onset of a serious illness often goes unnoticed for years. By the time symptoms appear, organ damage has already occurred and can only be partially reversed. Sometimes there is no lever left to stop the disease in its tracks. Researchers from twelve of Berlin's leading institutions want to change that, and to rethink what prevention can mean. Using the latest technologies, including developments from Berlin itself, they aim to understand what happens at the very earliest stage of a disease, inside individual cells. This knowledge lays the groundwork for intervening far earlier: at a stage when only isolated cells are affected and the disease can still be steered.

The researchers are pooling their expertise in the Einstein Center for Early Disease Interception (EC-EDI) in Brain City Berlin. The centre was officially inaugurated on 23 March 2026, with guests from politics, science and civil society, at the Berlin Institute for Medical Systems Biology of the Max Delbrück Center in Mitte. The Einstein Foundation Berlin is funding the Einstein Center with a total of six million euros, and is supporting the EC-EDI in recruiting young international talent with additional funds provided by the state of Berlin. The centre builds on a two-year preparatory module phase.

A dynamic network for key technologies

Over the next six years, researchers will advance the development, integration and application of key technologies. These include single-cell multi-omics technologies and spatial biology, patient-specific organoids, 3D bioprinting, and AI-based modelling of disease mechanisms and progression. A platform for cross-institutional collaboration is also planned, to help translate research findings into clinical practice more swiftly together with companies and investors, whilst generating social and economic value for Brain City Berlin. The initial focus will be on respiratory and neurological conditions, including inflammatory lung diseases, tuberculosis, Alzheimer's disease and multiple sclerosis.

A shared platform with clear structures and short pathways

Professor Nikolaus Rajewsky, Director of the Berlin Institute for Medical Systems Biology at the Max Delbrück Center and Professor at Charité, said: "We are advancing molecular prevention and intervention, and want to bring it into clinical practice as quickly as possible. Major breakthroughs come neither from the clinic alone, nor exclusively from the laboratory or the computer. The Einstein Center therefore creates a shared, open platform with clear structures and short pathways."

Dr Janine Altmüller, Head of the Core Unit Genomics at the Berlin Institute of Health at Charité (BIH), added: "Never before has it been possible to examine characteristic features such as nucleic acids or proteins of individual cells within their natural tissue environment with such precision and resolution. Even the smallest changes that mark the beginning of a disease can today be digitised and better decoded, for example with the help of AI. This knowledge is decisive for developing targeted interventions."

The EC-EDI will accelerate research and contribute to establishing Berlin as an internationally renowned location. Here's to fewer diseases!

Further Information