GRK 1739 - Networking meeting
GRK 1657 and GRK 1739 Networking meeting 2019
On the 21th and 22th of January, we were invited to Höchst im Odenwald by the students of the GRK 1657 from TU Darmstadt to network again. All GRK members presented a poster about their research so that we could exchange ideas, have some enthusiastic discussions and maybe enter some collaborations. Aside from the official program, we used the contemplative atmosphere of cloister Höchst to connect to each other on a different level than research and work. Besides meeting and networking between us students, a focus was put on career options. Thus Prof. Dr. Verena Jendrossek (GRK 1739), Prof. Dr. Ulrike Nuber (GRK 1657) and Prof. Dr. Alexander Löwer (GRK 1657) gave us an insight into their vita and academic career. In addition, Dr. Caibin Sheng, a former PhD student of the GRK 1657, talked about his start in an economic company (Novartis) after his PhD. The talks led to vivid discussions about career options and gave us some new ideas of how to plan our careers. The networking meeting ended with a tour at Merck, a multinational pharmaceutical, chemical and life sciences company. There we got a guided tour on the area of Merck. We visited production buildings and listened to a talk of Dr. Peter Reynders about project management. Overall, it was an interesting experience for all of us and we are very thankful for this opportunity.
Therefore, we would like to thank the speakers for taking the time to present their research fields and to introduce us into a life after our PhD. Finally, the GRK 1739 would like to thank the organization team of the GRK 1657 to host us for these two days – thank you very much!
Maike Giesing and Katharina Falke
GRK 1657 and GRK 1739 Networking meeting 2016
The second networking meeting of GRK1739 from Duisburg-Essen University and GRK1657 from TU Darmstadt took place on 17th and 18th of October in Odenwald close to Darmstadt and was organized by GRK1657 students. Both graduate schools investigate the role of ionizing radiation on cellular and tissue response as well as radiotherapy approaches. On two days students could exchange their ideas and present their projects to each other. All GRKs members participated in poster sessions, avidly discussed hot topics of their projects and exchanged ideas for collaborations. On the first day several lectures were given - by Prof. Löwer from TU Darmstadt (Systems Biology of the Stress Response), Prof. Knauer from Duisburg-Essen University (molecular and translational clinical oncology), Dr. Jakob from GSI – Centre for Heavy Ion Research – in Darmstadt (DNA damage response in the context of chromatin and radiation quality) as well as Prof. Dr. Rödel from University Hospital in Frankfurt (Prognostic/predictive impact of immune components in therapy response to Radiochemotherapy). All speakers presented their research fields and the talks evoked long and interesting discussions.
On the second day students were invited to visit the GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung to learn more about the current as well as the beginning of research concerning ionizing radiation. At the beginning Prof. Kraft gave a special and impressive lecture about immune system and tissue radiobiology. Subsequently, during the tour through the whole center machines and devices used in heavy ion research were presented and the usage was clarified.
All students would like to thank the speakers for taking time and presenting their insights into radiation science. Moreover, we appreciated the fascinating visit in the GSI and want to thank Prof. Kraft and his colleagues for showing us the center.
Finally, this meeting was only possible due to the great organizing team and hosts from Darmstadt – thank you very much for the invitation!
Klaudia Szymonowicz
GRK 1739 and GRK 1657 Networking Meeting 2014
On November 17th and 18th 2014 the students of the graduate schools GRK 1739 (Molecular determinants of the cellular radiation response and their potential for response modulation, University of Duisburg-Essen) und GRK 1657 (Molecular and cellular responses to ionizing radiation, TU Darmstadt) attended a networking meeting organized by the students of the GRK 1739. The graduate schools are thematically connected by their focus on the analysis of irradiation responses on a molecular and cellular level. This connection served as the basis for a meeting aimed at the establishment of a scientific network and the initiation of collaborations between the PhD students.
While the GRK 1657 has just welcomed the second generation of PhD students, the students of the GRK 1739 are just now entering the last phase of their theses. We have therefore decided to focus this meeting on career options after the PhD on the one hand, and all the options the DFG offers to PhD students during their time in the graduate schools on the other hand.
We would very much like to thank Prof. Dr. Franz Rödel, Dr. Dorothee Deckbar and Prof. Dr. Boris Schmidt (all from GRK 1657) as well as Prof. Dr. George Iliakis and Prof. Dr. Shirley Knauer (both GRK 1739) for supporting our meeting, taking the time to attend and giving us their career insights in the form of valuable, interesting and entertaining presentations or personal conversations.
We would also not have been able to have such a successful meeting without the involvement of all the PhD students who held very lively poster sessions and engaged in a lot of scientific discussions all over the room. A special thanks to Evgenija Mersch (GRK 1739), who told us about her DFG-GRK-funded 3-months stay at the University of Oxford as part of her PhD project, and Lucie Iloff from the GRK 1657, who gave us insights about her decision-making process after the PhD and provided us with information about scholarships and deadlines for both national and international funding programs. We also had a lot of help from Ronja Diemer-Biehs, who was our contact person for the Darmstadt group and without whom the organization of this meeting would have been much more complicated. Thank you!
Finally, we would like to especially thank our guest speaker Dr. Luis Spitta. In addition to his talk about “Project CeMeRa Entering a new research playground in Radiation Biology”, he organized a tour of the German Aeronautics and Space Research Centre giving us many new insights into our PhD-topic of radiation biology in a MUCH larger context - SPACE!
Ines Rudolf, Sebastian Oeck, Alexandra Schütze and Sarah Wieczorek