Research Report 2000 - MDC

Press and Public Relations
Research at the MDC is conducted at
the forefront of biomedical science -
in the promising field of molecular
medicine. The MDC’s research
activities need to be communicated to
the general public in a way that can be
readily understood. In addition, the
MDC’s expenses must be justified to
the German tax payer. The Press
Department initiated various activities
to serve this need which are outlined
below.
In 1998 and 1999 the MDC Press
Department organized more than 30
guided tours for almost 500 visitors -
university students, high school
students, international delegations,
and the general public. These tours
included lectures and visits to
laboratories of the MDC, the
cooperating university affiliated
clinics, Robert-Rössle-Cancer-Clinic
and Franz Volhard Clinic for
Cardiovascular Diseases, and the
Hands-on Laboratory at the
Biomedical Research Park.
In 1998 and 1999 the MDC Press
Department also continued the series
of popular scientific lectures in the
City Hall of Berlin Pankow, initiated
in the MDC’s first year of existence,
with 18 “Sunday Lectures“ given by
scientists from the MDC and other
scientific institutions in Germany. It
also presented MDC’s research at the
Hannover Industrial Fair and at the
Berlin Science Fair.
A total of 43 news releases published
in German and English by the MDC
Press Department in 1998 and 1999
were the basis for many reports in the
media. About 2 000 newspaper
articles with a circulation of well over
230 million copies were published on
the MDC, the Robert Rössle Clinic
and Franz Volhard Clinic, and the
Biomedical Research Park. In
addition, 16 television and 16 radio
productions, including the BBC
Tomorrow’s World and Arte, the
French/German program, were aired
on the research conducted at the
MDC, the clinics and the Biomedical
Research Park.
In the time-span reported, three press
conferences were initiated, organized
and moderated by the MDC Press
Department. One of these press
conferences was held at the “6th
International Gene Therapy
Symposium” in Berlin-Buch in 1998,
the other at the Grand Opening of the
Biotechnology Business and
Development Center of the BBB
Biomedical Research Campus GmbH,
also in 1998. The third press
conference was initiated to inform
about genome research with the
American Nobel laureate Paul Berg.
He had given a talk in the series of the
“Berlin Lectures on Molecular
Medicine” in 1999 and had received
the Max Delbrück Medal of the MDC
and other Berlin research institutions,
and the Schering Forschungsgesellschaft
at that occasion.
In 1998 and 1999 the MDC Press
Department prepared and organized
more than 160 interviews for the
media in Germany and abroad,
including newspapers, magazines,
television and broadcasting stations
and scientific journals such as Nature,
Science and The Lancet. It also
published four press reports
summarizing the coverage of the
MDC, the clinics, the Biomedical
Research Park, and related topics in
the printed press as well as two issues
of the MDC-Report, an in-house
magazine.
Head: Barbara Bachtler
Figure 47: The MDC is an international
research institute, attracting scientists from all
over the world
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