Science sometimes sounds like tinkering for specialists. But what researchers are developing today in the lab and on the computer could change our everyday lives tomorrow: from quantum communication networks to energy-saving materials to new cancer drugs—made in Germany.

• Prof. Dr. Christian Hackenberger (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin / Leibniz-Forschungsinstitut für Molekulare Pharmakologie): Together with researchers in Munich, his lab developed technologies for so-called antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs). These target cancer cells and release a drug specifically at those sites. In 2025, his spin-off company, Tubulis, presented its first clinical data on ovarian cancer. The company has now been acquired by the U.S. corporation Gilead for a record amount.
• Prof. Dr. Wojciech Samek (Technische Universität Berlin / Fraunhofer Heinrich-Hertz-Institut): The multi-award-winning computer scientist aims to make AI “explainable” and to understand the concepts on which its predictions are based. Samek is one of the most influential researchers in his field internationally.
• Prof. Dr. Patrick Hostert und Dr. Dirk Pflugmacher (beide Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin): The two Berlin-based geographers have been appointed to NASA's Landsat Science Team. There, they will help shape the future of Earth observation and integrate NASA and ESA data to enable more precise analyses of climate extremes, environmental changes, and land use worldwide.
• Prof. Dr. Malte Spielmann (Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin): The human geneticist is working to introduce cost-effective genetic testing at Charité to improve the diagnosis of cancer and rare genetic disorders. He plans to rely on the most advanced genome sequencing techniques. His goal: to eventually serve the entire region.
• Prof. Dr. Annette Künkele-Langer (Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin / Berlin Center for Advanced Therapies): Ever since the pediatric oncologist at the Children’s Research Institute in Seattle witnessed terminally ill children being cured for the first time with a special immunotherapy, she has been working tirelessly to ensure that such CAR-T cell therapies are also produced here.
• Prof. Dr. Katharina Franke (Freie Universität Berlin): As part of the Center for Chiral Electronics Cluster of Excellence, the nanophysicist aims to develop novel materials for ultrafast, low-loss electronics and, in the process, help make Europe more independent in the chip industry.
• Prof. Dr. Anna Pappa (Technische Universität Berlin): Applied quantum research, such as that conducted by Pappa, could pave the way for the next generation of the Internet. Using individual photons, she aims to securely transmit cryptographic keys between communication partners, thereby enabling the detection of eavesdropping attempts.
• Prof. Dr. Stephanie Reich (Freie Universität Berlin): Since 2025, the physicist has headed the Collaborative Research Center “Heterostructures of Molecules and Two-Dimensional Materials”. Reich inserts molecules between crystal sheets consisting of just a single atomic layer. This creates materials that precisely conduct electricity, react to light, or exhibit exotic quantum states. Early on, she solved the mystery of why graphite produces contradictory signals when exposed to a laser, making carbon predictable for nanotechnology. Potential applications of her work include better batteries and cleaner chemistry.
• Prof. Dr. Gavril Farkas (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin): His work involves advanced mathematics. His curves and module spaces are applied in fields such as algebraic geometry and theoretical physics. They help us understand what holds the world together at its core. In 2026, he was awarded an Einstein Professorship and additional funding for his groundbreaking research, which he is also advancing within the MATH+ Cluster of Excellence.
• Prof. Alexander I. Bobenko (Technische Universität Berlin): Together with two colleagues, the mathematician has answered a question that has remained open for 150 years: whether a closed surface is uniquely determined if its mean curvature and all its distances are known. The answer is no—the researchers constructed two knotted figures that vaguely resemble a doughnut and cannot be transformed into one another by rotation, reflection, or translation, even though their curvatures and distances are identical.

All of them were presented today in Der Tagesspiegel (September 29, 2026) within the framework of the series “The 100 Most Important Minds in Berlin Academia 2026” (T+, in German).