到了1937年,德爾布呂克前往美國,並進入了生物學領域,於加州理工學院研究果蠅的遺傳學。同時也逐漸認識細菌與噬菌體(一類專門感染細菌的病毒)。1939年,他與埃利斯(E. L. Ellis)共同發表了一篇論文,標題為《噬菌體的生長》(The Growth of Bacteriophage),指出這類病毒的繁殖方式為「單一步驟」,而不是如一般細胞生物是以指數成長方式。
^Lagemann, Robert T. "Max Delbrück at Vanderbilt" in To Quarks and Quasars, A History of Physics and Astronomy at Vanderbilt University, 2000. pp. 165-193.
^See: "Erwin Schrödinger and the Origins of Molecular Biology" by Krishna R. Dronamrajua in Genetics (1999) Volume 153 page 1071-1076. full text (页面存档备份,存于互联网档案馆)
^Schrödinger's influence and role in the discovery of the structure of DNA is described by Horace Freeland Judson in The Eighth Day of Creation: Makers of the Revolution in Biology published by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press (1996) ISBN 0879694785.
Lily E. Kay. Conceptual models and analytical tools: The biology of physicist Max Delbrück. Journal of the History of Biology. 1985, 18 (2): 207–246. doi:10.1007/BF00120110.
Letter from Jim Watson Delbrück was instrumental in getting fellowship support for Watson so that he could stay in Cambridge, play tennis, and discover the rules of nucleotide base pairing in DNA. This is a letter from Watson to Delbrück that describes the discovery.