Research / 19.11.2024
Global influencers of science

Three researchers at Max Delbrück Center – Sofia Forslund, Friedemann Paul, and Nikolaus Rajewsky – are among the most Highly Cited Researchers in the world in 2024, making the list two years in a row. Germany ranks fourth of countries and regions, behind the U.S., mainland China and the U.K.

Sofia Forslund, Friedemann Paul and Nikolaus Rajewsky are considered among the top 1% in their fields for publishing highly influential studies that have gone on to be cited, or referenced, by many other scientists.

They are included in Clarivate’s Highly Cited Researchers 2024 list, which aims to highlight researchers who are having an outsized impact on their fields and extending the frontiers of knowledge. All three made the 2023 list as well.

Clarivate produces the list annually, based on an extensive analysis of scientific publishing data on Web of Science. Each researcher included has multiple papers ranked in the top 1% by citations for their field(s) and publication year over the past decade. Approximately one in a thousand researchers makes it onto this prestigious list.

This year, 6,636 individual researchers have been named Highly Cited Researchers. Germany ranks fourth of countries and regions with 332 highly cited researchers, behind the U.S., mainland China and the U.K.

About our researchers

Professor Sofia Forslund heads a research group at the Experimental and Clinical Research Center (ECRC), a joint institution of Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin and the Max Delbrück Center. The data-driven models developed by the biochemist and bioinformatician illustrate how we and our gut microbiome develop together toward health or disease.

• W3 Professorship for Sofia Forslund
• Sofia Forslund's profile

Forslund Lab

Host-microbiome factors in cardiovascular disease

Professor Friedemann Paul is Director of the ECRC. As a neuroimmunologist, he and his team focus on enhancing therapeutics and diagnostics for diseases such as Multiple Sclerosis. Additionally, they coordinate an international consortium researching inflammatory processes preceding organ malfunction or damage.

• Understanding the transition to disease
• Low levels of a simple sugar – a new biomarker for severe MS?

Paul Lab

Clinical Neuroimmunology

Professor Nikolaus Rajewsky is Director of the Berlin Institute for Medical Systems Biology at the Max Delbrück Center (MDC-BIMSB) and head of the Systems Biology of Gene Regulatory Elements lab. His lab studies how RNA regulates gene expression in health and disease, to identify diseases as early as possible, intervening before cellular dysfunctions cause harm. 

• Nikolaus Rajewsky's profile
• 3D maps of diseased tissues at subcellular precision

N. Rajewsky Lab

Systems Biology of Gene Regulatory Elements

Further information

• Highly Cited Researchers 2024 list (EN)
• Analysis (EN)