Portrait of Andreas Radbruch in Leibniz Magazine

The Leibniz Magazine has published a portrait of Andreas Radbruch, head of the “Cell Biology” group at the DRFZ, in the issue focusing on “Memory”.

In the portrait “The cell sorter”, the former Scientific Director of the DRFZ takes us on a journey from his time as a student with a soft spot for wild mice to becoming an expert on immunological memory. He discusses the beauty of the immune system and its capability for memory formation – a key attribute in how it provides defense against infection, but also how it is responsible for the development and persistence of chronic inflammatory conditions e.g. autoimmune diseases. Andreas Radbruch’s mission is “targeted memory loss” of the immune system, i.e. switching off only the memory cells that cause disease in order to “erase false memories and thus heal”.

Anyone who knows Andreas Radbruch knows: “There’s no such thing as impossible!” This is also made clear in this portrait. If a cell sorter didn’t work the way he wanted it to, he developed it further. Since retiring as Scientific Director of the DRFZ in April 2023, Andreas Radbruch can again focus on pursuing his life’s work in the lab.