[3] In 2008, the "Berlin Institute for Medical Systems Biology" (MDC-BIMSB) opened, moving to its present home in Berlin-Mitte in 2019.

[7] In 2020, the Max Delbrück Center was one of the founders of BR50, an association of non-university research institutions that aims to strengthen the Berlin-Brandenburg region as a hub for science.

[8][9] The Max Delbrück Center and Heidelberg University founded the Helmholtz Institute for Translational AngioCardioScience (HI-TAC) in the summer of 2023 to conduct research on an early warning system for cardiovascular diseases.

[10][11] From 1992 to 2013, the Research Center awarded the Max Delbrück Medal annually as part of the Berlin Lectures on Molecular Medicine.

The goal of research at the Max Delbrück Center is to investigate the causes of disease and health down to the smallest and most basic level and to put the knowledge gained and technological innovations developed into application as quickly as possible.

The center’s research can be broken down into the following broad topics:[12] The fourth focus, called "Cross-Cutting Areas," deals with[13] A special focus of the Max Delbrück Center is systems biology, for which it founded the "Berlin Institute for Medical Systems Biology" (MDC-BIMSB) in 2008.

[15] The Max Delbrück Center participates in multiple domestic and international research networks.