Editorial
Dear readers,
In the field of health research, the German science system has seen an internationally significant change: In future, the Max Delbrück Centre for Molecular Medicine (MDC) Berlin-Buch and the Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin medical school are to join forces under the roof of the newly formed Berliner Institut für Gesundheitsforschung (BIG - Berlin Institute for Health). We expect that the close cooperation between these two top-class research institutions in their newly created research facilities will yield major progress in particular in the field of translation, that is, the transfer of basic research insights into clinical application. We therefore will fund the BIG's start-up phase in 2013 and 2014 with a total of 45 million Euro. Like the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, the new cooperation model of the BIG ideally fulfils the Helmholtz Association's goals as presented in our strategy paper "Helmholtz 2020 – Shaping the Future Through Partnership".
Wishing you enjoyable reading,
