2011 Fall

  Cheering after the successful 6^th International Symposium
organized by GSLS doctoral researchers

Editorial

Dear GSLS members and friends,

During summer the GSLS was busy writing the Renewal Proposal for a promotion of the second funding period. +++ It is planned to establish an international MSc program and to introduce a PostDoc Plus program. +++ The five sections of the GSLS have been re-organized for even more interdisciplinarity. +++ There were also local changes as the Graduate Schools have moved. They are now hosted by the Rudolf Virchow Center until their final moving to Campus Hubland North next spring. +++ Doctoral researchers who have been admitted to the GSLS from this semester on are to take the mandatory workshop "Rules of Good Scientific Practice".

With kind regards,
Rose Liebert

1. Featured Paper

The awardees of the 5^th round of the featured paper contest have been chosen. The GSLS board wishes to congratulate Preeti Sareen (Department of Neurobiology and Genetics, University of Würzburg) and Nico Dunkel (Institute for Molecular Infection Biology). Appraisal read more. They are awarded a prize of 250 euros for a conference participation or external research stay. Congratulations! A new round for the featured paper contest has been opened: win a prize of 250 euros for a conference participation or external research stay. All GSLS doctoral researchers may send their publications dating from June 2011 onwards to gabriele.blum(at)uni-wuerzburg.de and run for the next "Featured Paper". Closing date: 15 January 2012

2. Doctoral Researchers´ Affairs

New name

• The DSC is now DRC - the Doctoral Researchers´Council. Meet the people of the DRC

6^th International Symposium

• DRC:"The symposium has been a great success, thank you all for attending! Did you get interested in organizing such a huge event? Join the organizing team for 2012! Just write an email"
• Poster Award
  Almost 90 posters by GSLS doctoral researchers were on display for the poster session. The jury awarded the best poster to Nathiya Muthalagu, section Biomedicine. Congratulations! Find her poster on the right hand side.
• Writing Contest
  The winners are Silke Frenz, section Neuroscience, Sarah Hemer, section Infection and Immunity, and David Weber, section Biomedicine. Congratulations!

Greetings from…

• ... Shanghai, China. Greetings from a doctoral researcher´s home visit

Careers

• Doctoral researchers and postdocs report about their career opportunities here

FAQ of the month 

• I have attended three international conferences. Do I additionally have to attend international symposia?
• What are the criteria for having successfully attended international meetings?
• I write my thesis at the faculty and I am not a GSLS member. May I still register for workshops?

3. GSLS Newsdesk

The GSLS has moved!

• The Graduate Schools have moved. You find us in the Rudolf Virchow Center, Josef-Schneider-Str. 2 / D15, 97080 Würzburg. All email addresses and telephone numbers, however, are still the same!

The GSLS welcomes new PIs!

• Böhm, Alexander, section Infection & Immunity
• Calebiro, Davide, section Biomedicine
• Heilemann, Mike, section Integrative Biology
• Heinze, Katrin, section Biomedicine
• Heuschmann, Peter, section Biomedicine
• Langenhan, Tobias,section Neuroscience & Behavior
• Sauer, Markus, section Integrative Biology
• Schurigt, Uta, section Infection & Immunity
• Seggewiß-Bernhardt, Ruth, section Infection & Immunity
• Teßmer, Ingrid, section Biomedicine
• Wegener, Christian, section Integrative Biology

GSLS Ombudspersons

• In case of trouble doctoral researchers may contact the GSLS office, the DRC, or Ombudspersons

Restructuring of Sections at the GSLS

• The General Assembly has decided to re-organize the five sections. Section "MD/PhD-Program" will integrate with the existing sections and the planned new section "Clinical Sciences". The five sections will be: Clinical Sciences, Neuroscience, Infection & Immunity, Biomedicine, Integrative Biology. The section Clinical Sciences will comprise the programs Clinical Research and Epidemiology, Health Services Research, section Infection & Immunity comprises the programs: Infection, Immunomodulation, Antiinfectives, section Biomedicine: Tumor Biology, Cardiovascular Sciences, Molecular Biosciences, Developmental Biology, section Integrative Biology: Molecular Plant Biology, Behavioural Biology, Organismic Interactions & Ecology, Biodiversity & Evolution. All five sections have got researchers from the five faculties Biology, Medicine, Chemistry & Pharmacy, Physics & Astronomy, Philosophy II

GSLS Cooperation with Industrial Partners

• To enhance industry and business contacts, and to discuss different career options the GSLS again offers Career Luncheons 

GSLS study trip

• Berlin in June 2012

Workshops for PIs and Team

• Workshops on Leadership, Team Building and more are offered on request

"Rules of Good Scientific Practice" 

• This workshop is mandatory for every doctoral researcher who has registered in/after the winter semester 2011/12

English Conversation and Proofreading

• English conversation classes once a week for 90 minutes from 9:00 to 10:30 am. Please inquire
• Proofreading your thesis by a native English trainer. Please inquire 

Transferable Skills Workshops

• The 2011 Transferable Skills Schedule 
• The 2012 Schedule soon available 

Scientific Workshops

• Statistics: SPSS Workshops "How does Statistics work?" in November, read more

4. University News

New University Governance

• Two-year Cycle. Since 1 October the university has got a new university council, a new senate, and new deans. Read more (in German)

Scientific Findings

• Medication finds certain transport mechanism and effects of mutations to get through cell membranes. Read more 
• Interdisciplinary Research of biologists involving groups from botanical, pharmaceutical, and biomedical divisions has been awarded by the DFG for their successful plant reserach. The Graduiertenkolleg 1342 will be getting funded over the next four and a half years for their further research on lipids. Lipid signalling functions in developmental processes and in the interaction of cells with the environment, e.g. they trigger rapid defences in events of water deficiency or vermins. Read more (in German)
• Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. Identifying a trigger of this severe disease of the nervous system. Read more (in German)
• Clockwise or Anti-Clockwise. The direction is relevant for our perception of time and space. Read more
• The Digestion of the Venus Flytrap. Electrical signals make its system work. Read more
• Blood Test for early Detecting Diseases. Fighting ovarian cancer. Read more
  

Withdrawal of Doctoral Degrees

• Plagiarism. Both the University and the Faculty of Medicine have initiated a proceeding to withdrawing doctoral degrees awarded by the Institute of the History of Medicine. Read more (in German)

Academic Ranking of World Universities

• Top-notch ranking for the Life Sciences of the University of Würzburg. Read more (in German)

Awards

• Jörg Vogel has been acknowledged for his outstanding scientific contribution in the field of RNA molecules. He was awarded with life-long EMBO membership (Europäische Molekularbiologie-Organisation, Heidelberg). Read more  
• Christoph Kleinschnitz was presented with the Heinrich Pette Award of the German Society of Neurology for his research on blotted blood. Read more (in German)
• Klaus Toyka was awarded the Wilhelm Erb Commemorative Medal to acknowledge his merits in neurology. Read more (in German)

"Double" Abitur Graduates

• Every sixth out of around 24,000 students at the JMU is a beginner ("freshman"). Read more (in German). The university, however, is coping with the challenge. Read more (in German)

Activities for Internationals at the University

• Get-togethers on a regular basis, trips etc. Contact and program
• Intercultural Studies - Inside Germany. Classes in Winter 2011
• Studierendenvertretung Ak internationales at the University. Read more 
• Semester Program of the International Office together with the Student Representative Council

University Events

• Gender Equality. Talks on gender justice for boys, starting on 10 November. Read more (in German)
• The Libyan Ambassador talks about Libya´s future; venue: Toscanasaal, date: 11 November. Read more (in German) and register here 
• University Event Calender

5. Off Campus

Research

• Stem Cell Patents. No fear of action over patent infringement. Read more
• Antibody. Hope for multiple sclerosis treatment. Read more
• Infectious Diseases. A huge number of people in poor regions suffer from HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis. Read more 

Marine Research

• Marine Plankton. Simple nerve cells regulate swimming depth. Read more
• Marine Board. A new platform for organisations involved in marine science. Read more    

Money

• Summa or magna cum laude. With these final grades you can apply for grants at the "Deutsche Studienpreis" if you have finished in 2011. Read more (in German)
• Practical Guide to EU funding opportunities for Research and Innovation. Read more
• Proposals for research grants may now be submitted electronically at the German Research Foundation (DFG). Read more
• Research Center Borstel. Projects to the new Priority Program 1580 "Intracellular Compartments as Places of Pathogen-Host-Interaction“ funded by the DFG. Read more
• Imaging Mass Spectrometry in the Life Sciences are again funded by the DFG. Read more (in German)

Awards

• Zülch Prize for Parkinson researchers Thomas Gasser from the University of Tübingen and Robert L. Nussbaum from the University of San Francisco: They identified genes responsible for the inherited forms of Parkinson’s disease. Moreover, they decoded the genetic basis of other inherited neurological diseases. Read more
• Lasker Award for Franz-Ulrich Hartl: not all proteins can fold inside cells by themselves. Read more
• Max-Delbrück-Medaille for stem cell researcher Hans Schöler. Read more (in German) 

Congresses and Fora

• Innovations in Medicine. MedTech Pharma
• Network Life Science
  • Bayern Innovativ
  • European Science Foundation

Max Planck Society

• International Doctoral College in Fusion Science and Engineering now approved under the auspices of Erasmus Mundus with the Max Planck Institute of Plasma Physics (IPP) as one of its eight partners. Read more
• Partner Institute for Biomedicine in Buenos Aires inaugurated by the president of Argentinia Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner. Read more (in Spanish)

DFG (German Research Foundation)

• Gender Equality. Progress in implementing voluntary commitment to the organisation’s research-oriented standards. Read more

BMBF (Federal Ministry of Education and Research)

• French-German initiative in Health Research and Biotechnology. Read more (in French)
• Hochschulpakt. University study in Germany as popular as never before. Read more (in German) 

News from ...

• ... the Eurozone: doing more for its stability. Read more
• ... Wallstreet: zero tolerance to greed and corruption Read more
• ... the EU and China: cooperation on education, culture, youth and research. Read more
• ... Germany and Mongolia: government agreement on cooperation. Read more  
• ... Germany and Viet Nam: cooperation in trade and research. Read more
• ... Germany: immigration of skilled workers Read more
• ... Germany: food clarity.de. Read more (in German)
• ... Space: Europe launch their first satellites "Galileo" for smart navigation system. Read more

Würzburg Events

• International Societies in Würzburg
• Würzburg event calendar

Poster by Nathyia Mutalagu , section Biomedicine,
first prize winner of the 6^th International Symposium Poster Award:
"I attended the poster design workshop offered by GSLS. It helped me to improve my poster layout and overall presentation. Since the teacher showed us both good and bad poster, I was able to judge the audience view and make my poster accordingly." Nathiya Muthalagu, GSLS fellow

contact: liebert(at)gsls.uni-wuerzburg.de

Disclaimer: this site contains links to third-party Web sites. The GSLS has no influence whatsoever on the information on these Web sites and does not accept liability for its correctness. The content of such third-party sites is the responsibility of the respective providers. At the time third-party Web sites were linked to the GSLS sites no grounds whatsoever of any likely contravention of the law were found. We shall promptly delete a link upon becoming aware that it violates the law.

382