Symbolic opening of the new SiM and BeCAT research centers.
Photo: Christiane Hohensee

With the BeCAT and SiM research centers together on the Bio- and Medical Technology Campus, the vision of forward-looking medical research for the benefit of patients has taken concrete shape. SiM stands for simulation using organoids, organ-on-a-chip technologies and AI, while BeCAT focuses on translating ideas into medical applications. Both centers will actively help shape the development of innovative technologies, according to a recent press release.

In attendance were the Minister for Research, Space, and Technology, Dorothee Bär, as well as the Senator for Science, Health, and Care, Dr. Ina Czyborra. Also present were the then-governing mayor Michael Müller, for whom the topic of science in Berlin was a matter close to his heart at the time, as well as Steffen Krach, then State Secretary for Science and Research. And, of course, the Chairman of the Board of Charité, Prof. Dr. Heyo K. Kroemer, the President of TU Berlin, Prof. Fatma Deniz, the scientific director, Prof. Joachim Spranger, Dean of Charité, as well as those responsible for finance and architecture, and above all the Director of BeCAT at Charité, Prof. Annette Künkele-Langer, Prof. Sina Bartfeld, spokesperson for Si-M, TU Berlin, and Prof. Andreas Thiel, spokesperson for Si-M, Charité.

In his welcoming remarks, Prof. Kroemer said, “This is not just a building, but a major step forward for the entire field of medicine.” A collaboration with industrial partners in the healthcare sector is always important, especially given rising demands and limited resources. “With SiM and BeCAT, we are making targeted investments in Berlin as a hub. This increases the city’s visibility in the field of innovative therapies.”
 

Impressive architecture: the new shared research building for The Simulated Human (SiM) and the Berlin Center for Advanced Therapies (BeCAT).
Photo: Christiane Hohensee

Science Senator Dr. Ina Czyborra expressed her enthusiasm: “The building will usher in a fundamental transformation in how we conceive of and make medicine accessible.” Diseases that are currently still considered incurable should be treatable. Berlin is committed to 3D research to be faster, more precise, and more responsible.

A total of 82 million euros has been invested, 34 million of which came from the federal government and 45 million from the State of Berlin—all results of the location policy of recent years. There is also a collaboration with the pharmaceutical giant Bayer— Nevertheless, one has to become more resilient to crises—and that includes funding.

The President of the Technical University of Berlin, Prof. Fatma Deniz, pointed out that there is an international shift away from animal testing because animals cannot accurately replicate humans, thereby creating a gap. In recent years, Berlin has developed into a hub for biomedicine and bioengineering.

Federal Research Minister Dorothee Bär stated that she agreed with the previous speakers on the substance of their remarks. She had supported the University Alliance through the research infrastructure network with 34 million euros over seven years. Germany excels in cutting-edge research, innovation, and high-tech. The campus is the incubator of progress; her ministry are strongly focused on the high-tech agenda. However, basic research should not be undermined. “What you are planning with organoids is fantastic—treating diseases without animal testing, so that we no longer need it when it is no longer necessary— she agreed with that as well. Through high-tech, Germany gains greater competitiveness and sovereignty in the current Year of Science, ‘Medicine of the Future.’ ‘We are specifically strengthening key technologies with our High-Tech Agenda Germany and laying the groundwork to ensure that medical advances reach people faster.’

Minister of Research, Technology, and Space, Dorothee Bär.
Photo: Christiane Hohensee

The spokesperson for Si-M, Prof. Dr. Sina Bartfeld from TU Berlin, explained: “Animal models do not reliably reliably replicate humans. Many diseases and their progression are human-specific and individual. Thus, a shift in perspective makes sense with organoids, human immune cells, and organ-on-a-chip technology, which replicate human tissue to address questions that could not previously be answered. The goal is to better understand human biology. In doing so, the approach must always be as complex as necessary, but the processes must be closer to humans.”

SiM spokesperson Prof. Sina Bartfeld.
Photo: Christiane Hohensee

However, the goal is not only to establish facts with the help of scientific findings, but also to convey these to society and communicate with it. That is why there is also a so-called Theatron - a lecture hall in the center of the ground floor for exchange between science and society.

Interdisciplinary collaboration naturally extends beyond the SiM and BeCAT: Researchers from, for example, the Charité, the Berlin Institute of Health at the Charité (BIH), the Max Delbrück Center (MDC), or the SiM come to the campus to jointly develop and manufacture drugs for early clinical trials, Prof. Annette Künkele-Langer said. There will also be international collaborations.

Si-M is also part of the Berlin University Alliance, in which Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt University of Berlin, Technische Universität Berlin, and Charité cooperate as a network of excellence. But the Berlin-based companies TissUse, a former, internationally very successful spin-off from TU Berlin, and Biobricks, which specializes in 3D printing of tissues, were also represented.

The idea for the joint research came from Prof. Roland Lauster, Head of the Department of Medical Biotechnology at TU Berlin, and Prof. Andreas Thiel, Head of the Regenerative Immunology and Aging Research Group at Charité Berlin. The building is now in place, but funding for research projects must, as always, be secured through successful research grant applications.