2025 Excellence Award for Hypertension Research Lecturer – Dominik N. Müller, PhD

Dominik N. Müller, PhD

Experimental and Clinical Research Center & Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association (MDC)
Berlin, Germany

Dominik Müller is a scientist who finds inspiration at the edges, where disciplines overlap and surprising insights emerge. A pharmacist by training, he leads a research team at the Max Delbrück Center & the Experimental and Clinical Research Center in Berlin, exploring how lifestyle, immunity, metabolism, and the microbiome converge to shape blood pressure and organ health. At the German Center for Cardiovascular Research, he is helping reframe hypertension as a systemic, networked condition rather than a single-organ disease.

His work helped uncover how dietary salt not only raises blood pressure but rewires immune cells and reshapes the gut microbiome, driving inflammation and cardiovascular damage. These discoveries have opened new paths for therapy, linking nutrition, immunity, and the microbiome in ways that were once unimaginable. For Dominik, science doesn’t end at the bench: his goal has always been to bring basic discoveries to patients. His studies span molecular mechanisms to human trials, aiming to translate curiosity into care.

What drives him isn’t just the science — it’s the people. He believes that team science is the real engine of progress, and that collaboration, mentorship, and shared vision outweigh individual brilliance. At the MDC, he has nurtured a culture of openness, trust, and sustainability. He champions “Good Sustainable Practice in Life Science” and leads efforts to embed reproducibility, integrity, and equity into everyday research.

Dominik has spent most of his career at the MDC and for good reason. “Why didn't you leave?” people often asked him. “Since my early days working on my thesis, the MDC has been a place where I have had the freedom to take unexpected paths, cross boundaries and question everything.” From decoding how salt shapes our biology to mentoring the next generation and co-founding a spin-off company, his work reflects a deeply held belief: bold, thoughtful science — done together — will create impact.