Research / 08.01.2026
A new opportunity for Berlin

The Einstein Center for Early Disease Interception has been funded with six million euros. In an interview, Nikolaus Rajewsky and Leif Erik Sander, both spokespeople of the center, explain why new technologies and cross-institutional collaboration will make disease prevention in the future possible.

The phrase “early disease interception” is included in the Einstein Center’s name. What does that mean in concrete terms?

Professor Nikolaus Rajewsky: Pathological processes in tissues often progress for years unnoticed before symptoms appear. By that point, the damage is usually substantial and can only be reversed to a limited extent. It would be far better to intervene much earlier at a stage when only individual cells are affected and when we can better influence the disease trajectory.

Thanks to major technological advances, we now effectively have a molecular super microscope. We can make disease processes visible at subcellular resolution – in tissues, in body fluids, even in the air we exhale. Artificial intelligence and machine learning are helping us to manage the enormous volumes of data generated from our research and predict disease trajectories.

We want to understand the earliest mechanisms that drive cells away from a healthy equilibrium toward disease and to control which path these cells take – that is what we mean by “interception.” We can now realistically test such targeted interventions before damage occurs, for example using organoids, which are miniaturized models of organs.

Professor Sander, how would you explain this approach to your patients?

Professor Leif Erik Sander: At its core, our approach is about very precise prevention. What matters to patients is that their quality of life and organ function are preserved – even if pathological changes have already begun at the cellular level.

In cancer screening, such approaches already exist, albeit using more conventional methods. For many other diseases, however, we currently intervene too late. When dementia is diagnosed, for example, we can only slow progression of the disease. A similar situation exists with certain lung diseases that can cause progressive tissue scarring, which can lead to death.

Conventional methods cannot detect the early warning signs of such diseases – and we do not always understand what is actually going wrong or how to intervene. This is where early disease interception comes in: we want to understand what knocks the system off course, and create opportunities to reset it at very early stages. The train should, so to speak, be put back on a healthy track.

How exactly does this super-microscope work?

Nikolaus Rajewsky: Today we can analyze very precisely at what point in time, which cells in a tissue access which information in their genome – or do not. A single histological section contains around 100,000 cells, each with about 20,000 genes. Accordingly, the resulting data volumes are enormous. Based on these data, we can reconstruct disease-relevant signaling pathways and complex metabolic networks. The decisive advance is that we no longer merely describe disease, but understand it causally. This is the prerequisite for targeted and early intervention.

What are the biggest hurdles on the path to clinical application?

Leif Erik Sander: These extremely high-resolution methods provide exactly the information we need to distinguish early disease processes. Right now, they are research tools and are very expensive. The crucial next step will be to greatly reduce the complexity and to develop robust, simplified tests that are suitable for large numbers of people.

Artificial intelligence will play a key role. We want to use it to link molecular data with routine clinical data, identify patterns, and specifically predict individual disease risks.

The Einstein Center will be funded for six years. What do you expect to achieve during this time?

Nikolaus Rajewsky: What is emerging here in Berlin goes beyond individual projects. Together, we are driving forward a new form of molecular prevention. We developed this concept within the European LifeTime consortium and described it in the journal “Nature” in 2020. Hundreds of scientists from across Europe were involved, so we are extremely well connected internationally.

With the Berlin excellence cluster ImmunoPreCept, there is a strong complementary focus on immunology. What is new with the Einstein Center is a structured, cross-institutional collaboration to find new paths toward application. Clinicians, basic researchers, and data scientists will work together systematically with their respective expertise, rather than alongside one another.

Major advances arise neither solely in the clinic nor exclusively in the laboratory nor at the computer. The Einstein Center will create a shared platform with clear rules, short paths, and without unnecessary bureaucratic hurdles. This is absolutely essential because complex collaborations otherwise often fail before they even begin.

During the two-year preparatory phase for the Einstein Center, we looked internationally for role models. There is an interesting structure in Lausanne. Then there is the Broad Institute in Boston, where Harvard, MIT, and others have joined forces. In Berlin, we want to gradually create an open network in which the basic rules are defined for everyone interested, making processes faster as a result. By the way, the topic of molecular prevention is also being addressed elsewhere in Germany and internationally.

Is Berlin well positioned to advance this concept?

Leif Erik Sander: We have state-run universities that provide education at a very high level. With Charité, we have the largest university hospital in Europe, as well as a very high density of non-university research institutions where top minds work with the most modern technologies. They contribute the expertise required for such a complex and forward-looking project. For me, this combination is Berlin’s competitive advantage that will quickly result in real added value.

For highly qualified young talent in Berlin, institutional boundaries hardly matter. They have great ideas and want to freely use technologies from different institutions to make new discoveries. That is why they come here. The Einstein Center will provide a structural framework for this. Of course, the next Broad Institute will not emerge here in just a few years. But something that is driven by a similar spirit will: top institutions working together to make a difference. Collaboration is orders of magnitude better than everyone trying on their own and focusing only on themselves. This will also lead to shared value creation.

Over the next six years, we want to initiate the first joint innovations, ranging from new diagnostic approaches to patents and spin-offs. A key milestone will be the formalized collaboration of Berlin’s leading organizations. This will offer a platform for the future from which a great deal of good can emerge, benefiting not only medicine but also Berlin as an innovation hub.

The project is quite ambitious. Where will you start?

Nikolaus Rajewsky: During the preparatory phase, young researchers came together across institutions and jointly defined initial use cases. This bottom-up dynamic is an important part of our concept.

What are these use cases?

Leif Erik Sander: We are initially focusing on two organ systems for which there is a high medical need. One focus is dementias. From a healthcare cost perspective, they are expensive to manage and are extremely burdensome for people affected and their families. In several interdisciplinary projects, we are searching for new approaches to diagnose dementias as early as possible in order to influence disease progression. The second focus is chronic lung diseases, which are also widespread conditions. It is often unclear how they develop. With current therapy, we try to slow their progression. But it would be far better to detect these diseases much earlier and cure them.

In addition, we are investigating how organ systems communicate with one another. Damage in one organ can trigger domino effects elsewhere in the body. Such systemic connections have not been not readily apparent within the disease silos in which we have been working; we are now bringing them together. The first two focus areas will hopefully inspire other researchers to use the Einstein Center platform.

Why should people seek medical care even if they feel healthy?

Nikolaus Rajewsky: Many already do, for example through mammography, dental check-ups, or in the case of known genetic risks. This form of prevention will continue to evolve. It is important to conduct societal debate on the issue of prevention openly and transparently.

Leif Erik Sander: If we want to preserve our health and social systems in Germany with an aging population, prevention is indispensable. Leaving it unaddressed would be one of the greatest strategic mistakes one could make. Oral care is a great example. Dentists hardly ever see truly poor dental health anymore. People go for check-ups and professional cleanings, even though it is not always pleasant and sometimes has to be paid for out of pocket. But it pays off in the long term.

The old saying “there is no glory in prevention” is wrong. Only if we intervene earlier and achieve cures instead of chronic long-term therapies will medical progress remain financially sustainable.

What is needed to bring us closer to this goal?

Leif Erik Sander: There is a lack of sufficient venture capital, as is the case everywhere in Europe. Political and tax frameworks also need to be improved. And we do not yet have a strong culture of commercializing our discoveries. Without these things, knowledge does not reach the patient’s bedside! Discoveries lead to medicines, tests, new devices, and eventually they become part of standard care that is covered by medical insurance. That is how medicine works.

Value creation is also part of the Einstein Center’s mission, because profits can then be reinvested. This will generate more cutting-edge research and ultimately create a highly qualified workforce with and well-paying jobs. Within the Einstein Center, we can demonstrate in a protected setting how joint innovation can succeed. This can serve as a blueprint, because in my view, Berlin still has enormous untapped economic potential in the biotech and life sciences sector.

It is an opportunity …

Nikolaus Rajewsky: I was very positively surprised by the enthusiasm with which top scientists in Berlin were involved from the very beginning. This shows that we struck a nerve.

This city needs new ideas for how we want to generate value in the future. Until World War II, there was a lot of industry here. Then mainly administrative structures followed. In recent years, a great start-up scene has emerged. But where Berlin is truly excellent is in biotech and top-level medicine. This is where value creation that benefits everyone can emerge. We are appealing to policymakers in Berlin and at the federal level to seize this opportunity.

In Boston, a huge ecosystem has developed around the biotech industry that contributes to the prosperity of the entire region. There, policymakers spoke to biologists and asked what they needed. The answer was: framework conditions that allow rapid progress. They implemented them. The Einstein Center is a beginning, and we are very grateful to the foundation for its funding. It is an invitation to consider whether such a vision for the future can make Berlin sustainably attractive.

Interview: Jana Schlütter.

Professor Nikolaus Rajewsky is Director of the Berlin Institute for Medical Systems Biology of the Max Delbrück Center. Professor Leif Erik Sander is Medical Director of the Department of Infectious Diseases and Critical Care Medicine at Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin. Both are spokespeople for the Einstein Center for Early Disease Interception.

www.mdc-berlin.de