Helmholtz Zentrum München - Deutsches Forschungszentrum für Gesundheit und Umwelt (GmbH), also known as Helmholtz Munich, is one of Germany’s leading non-university centers for biomedical research. It operates as part of Helmholtz Health, the health research division within the Helmholtz Association, Germany's largest scientific organization. Helmholtz Munich primarily focuses on interdisciplinary research in the fields of environmental and metabolic diseases, spanning the full research spectrum from basic science to applied research. The center employs approximately 2,500 staff members (as of 2024) and is headquartered on a campus in northern Munich, covering an area of over 50 hectares.
Management
Prof. Dr. med. Dr. h.c. Matthias H. Tschöp has been the Scientific Director and chief executive officer of the Center since 2018. In 2024, Dr. Michael Frieser joined the center and is now Administrative Managing Director.
Campus
The main campus is located in Neuherberg, a district of
Oberschleißheim, right outside of
Munich
Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...
’s city borders. The campus has a size of 52.3 hectares. In addition, the center maintains research facilities inside the city area of
Munich
Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...
, Augsburg, Tübingen, Hanover,
Dresden
Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...
and Leipzig.
Legal form
Helmholtz Zentrum München is a limited liability company according to German law and is financed by a ratio of 90:10 by its two shareholders, the Federal Government and the Free State of
Bavaria
Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...
.
Research focus
Its research focuses primarily on environmental and metabolic diseases, particularly diabetes, -obesity, allergies, and chronic lung diseases. Other centers include:
* Helmholtz Diabetes Center
* Environmental Health Center
* Molecular Targets and Therapeutics Center
* Stem Cell Center
* Bioengineering Center
* Computational Health Center
Helmholtz Pioneer Campus (HPC)
The Helmholtz Pioneer Campus is an interdisciplinary research platform where innovative approaches from the interface between biomedical research, engineering and artificial intelligence are developed. The aim of the Pioneer Campus is to develop solutions for health challenges by combining basic research and applied science and to accelerate the transfer of research results into clinical applications.
Translational and clinical projects
Translational research approaches at the center are developed in cooperation with clinical partners:
* Diabetes Study Center
* Comprehensive Pneumology Center
* Center of Allergy and Environment
Career development
The center has one Helmholtz Graduate School (HELENA) in cooperation with the
Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich
The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich, LMU or LMU Munich; ) is a public university, public research university in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Originally established as the University of Ingolstadt in 1472 by Duke ...
(LMU) and the
Technical University Munich
The Technical University of Munich (TUM or TU Munich; ) is a Public university, public research university in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. It specializes in engineering, technology, medicine, and applied science, applied and natural sciences.
Est ...
(TUM), and four Helmholtz Research Schools. The schools offer doctoral students in-depth research in the fields of diabetes, lung and radiation research, epigenetics and data science:
*
Helmholtz Graduate School Environmental Health (HELENA)
* International Helmholtz Research School for Diabetes
* EpiCrossBorders: International Helmholtz-Edinburgh Research School for Epigenetics
* CPC-Research School Lung Biology and Disease
* Munich School for Data Science
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Helmholtz Zentrum Munchen
Medical research institutes in Germany
Medical and health organisations based in Bavaria