191 doctoral students took part on the 20^th Day of Research at the Medical Faculty of the University of Duisburg-Essen (UDE) on November 19 - a hybrid event this year, for the first time. The research was presented in slides, and interested audiences could watch the lectures live.

The Dean, Prof. Jan Buer, and two representatives from the Medical Student Council announced the poster winners of the day's presentations. “We have noticed in the past few months that there is hardly anything more important than medical research. What the participants learn on Research Day are wonderful tools for their later professions,” said the Dean, summarising the importance of the day for young scientists. “Hopefully, many of them will continue to be active in research.”

This year’s BIOME-affiliated poster prize winners included Nils Dieckmann, Lara Fehr, Lina Farhoumand, Malte Schappert, Jil Karutz, Lars Mohren, Dani Miteva, Stefanie Saoub, Gudrun Stolz, Dario Van Meenen, Andre van der Wurff, Lilo Valerie Burk, Nicole Barwinski, Zülal Cibir, Maren Bormann, Stefanie Egetemaier, Yulia Alejandra Flores Martinez, Julia Falkenstein, Ronja Schirrmann, Kai Robin Pfeifer, Philip Podschwadt, Jonas Schuhenn, Luisa Rajcsanyi, Simone Stupia, Philine Steinbach and Vivien Ullrich. Special mention should be made here of Anna-Lena Beerlage for the outstanding achievement of being awarded a poster prize for the second year in a row. Excellent work, and congratulations to all.

After a pandemic pause of nearly two years, the members of the cores on Cellular & Molecular Immunology, Infectious Diseases and Tumour & Signalling finally met up in person at the 2021 retreat held off campus in Essen. For many, it was their first opportunity to present and discuss their research with their peers in a non-virtual setting since joining the BIOME programme, and for others, it was a welcome reunion with fellows after a very long time.

The exchange between all participants was particularly lively and intense. A new aspect to the retreat format was the introduction of doctoral juries who viewed the posters parallel to the scientific coordinator juries. This contributed further to the scientific debate, with a number of participants commenting that the feedback from their doctoral colleagues was especially insightful.

Keynote guest speakers sharing their knowledge with the group included Florian Rambow (VIB-KU Leuven), Martin Schwemmle (Albert Ludwigs University Freiburg) and Barbara Grüner (Emmy Noether Group Molecular Tumorpathology).

Prizes for the top three posters were awarded this year to Zehra Karaköse (Infectious Diseases), Zülal Cibir (Tumour & Signalling), and Antonio Hrvat (Immunology), while the best talk prize was awarded to Simone Stupia. Warmest congratulations to all!

During the Ischemia, Reperfusion and Angiogenesis virtual retreat, the members presented their dissertation projects in the form of 5-minute science slams. The creativity was inspiring, including analogies of a laboratory mouse's diary, a business analysis of a coffee factory, teleshopping sales of newly developed substances, history lessons, children's stories, comics, animes, letters to grandmother, fantasy cities, nutritional advice and much more. The top three talks, determined by online voting, were given by Pascal Martsch (1st), Ozan Karaman (2nd), and Lilo Valerie Burk (3rd).

This was followed by an impressive keynote talk by Prof. Holger Wormer from the Institute for Journalism at the Technical University of Dortmund on the subject, "Science communication for everybody or science selling in a soap selling style?". The subsequent discussion addressed the challenges of today's science communication. A relevant topic not only for our scientists, as the recently published results of a Germany-wide survey among scientists from Wissenschaft im Dialog (WiD), the German Center for University and Science Research (DZHW) and the National Institute for Science Communication (NaWik) has established: Despite the positive perception of science communication and its relevance for science and society, the lack of time, opportunity, and resources are seen as the greatest barriers to more communication. Scientists would appreciate more support within academic institutions as well as additional workshops and training.

In order for an organism to develop and regenerate, cells have to multiply. During propagation, several precisely defined states are passed through, the transitions of which are strictly regulated. The central molecular mechanisms for these are now being investigated by a new Collaborative Research Center (CRC) set up by the German Research Foundation (DFG) at the UDE. Around 10 million euros will be available for this over the next four years.

The CRC 1430 “Molecular Mechanisms of Cell State Transitions” aims to understand how the interplay between molecular signals and the regulatory switches work, which together trigger the transitions between defined cell states. This interaction, which has not been adequately understood until now, is decisive for cell growth and division, but also for the development and treatment of cancer. The researchers hope to gain new knowledge that will open up new treatment options.

"Our scientific work begins where conventional approaches have reached their limits," explains the biologist and designated spokesman for the CRC Prof. Dr. Hemmo Meyer. "The collaboration between biologists, chemists and oncologists is therefore particularly suitable for achieving real conceptual progress in understanding molecular mechanisms and for highlighting novel therapeutic strategies."

MSc Irina Kube, PhD student at the Clinic for Endocrinology, Diabetology and Metabolism (Director: Prof. Dr. Dr. D. Führer), was awarded the Karl Oberdisse Prize 2021 of the North Rhine-Westphalian Society for Endocrinology and Diabetology at its annual conference.

In her award-winning work within the SFB / TR 296 (LOCOTACT) in the working group of Dr. Denise Zwanziger, she investigated the formation of gallstones due to an underactive thyroid. In an animal model, she was able to show that hypothyroidism leads to an increased prevalence of gallstones due to the increased hydrophobicity of primary bile acids. She was recently able to publish the research results in the specialist journal Thyroid.

Due to the corona pandemic, the award ceremony took place digitally.

http://www.liebertpub.com/doi/full/10.1089/thy.2020.0636