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| No 6/2021 | July/August Issue |
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Dear Readers,
What a summer it’s been! Torrential rain and flooding in the north, relentless heat and fires in the south, plus a resurgent pandemic and, last but not least, the mounting tensions in the run up to the Berlin and national elections with still uncertain prospects for an issue close to our hearts, research. We very much hope that in any case you managed to have a safe, enjoyable and relaxing holiday season, and that you have now returned to your office desk, lab bench or hospital ward in good health and good spirits. Quite a bit has happened at the BIH in July and August: We have welcomed new colleagues, published interesting research results and started to create a digital monument to Berlin’s female scientists through the project Hauptstadt der Wissenschaftler*innen, or Capital of Women in Science. Read for yourself!
With kind regards,
Your BIH Board of Directors
Christopher Baum and Johannes Voß-Lünemann (interim)
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As of now, a version of the CovApp adapted to the current pandemic situation is freely available on the Internet. CovApp 2.0 not only answers questions about rapid antigen or PCR tests, but also provides advice for vaccinated and recovered people – for example, about symptoms or positive test results despite their assumed immunity. The app helps identify at-risk individuals and those who could benefit from special – and potentially life-saving – therapies. The updated version of CovApp was developed by an interdisciplinary team from the BIH, Charité and the Robert Koch Institute led by the spokesperson of the Digital Clinician Scientist Program, Dr. Alexander Thieme, and can be downloaded free onto a mobile phone. Read the press release
Link to CovApp |
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In May, homeDX was launched as the first virtual rapid test center in Berlin-Mitte. With the certificate of homeDX, which is equipped with the tamper-proof BärCODE, users got exclusive access to Berlin restaurants. Now the project is being extended to the whole of Berlin. Read more |
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Scientists from the BIH and the MDC have teamed up with U.S. and Japanese researchers to take single-cell analysis to a new level. They combined methods for determining mRNA levels and DNA accessibility with those used for detecting proteins and mutations in mitochondrial DNA, thus allowing them to simultaneously profile all this information from thousands of individual cells. The researchers have now published their findings in the journal Nature Biotechnology. Leif S. Ludwig, head of the Emmy Noether Junior Research Group "Stem Cell Dynamics and Mitochondrial Genomics" at the BIH and theMDC, is one of the lead authors of the now published paper. Read the press release
Read the publication |
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On 1 July 2021, the Innovation Fund project "HerzCheck" was officially opened in Templin together with Brandenburg's Minister of Health and the CEO of AOK Nordost. With the help of innovative mobile cardio-MRI diagnostics and telemedical support, high-risk patients in rural regions can take advantage of an individualized form of care for the early detection of heart failure. The project "HerzCheck" is the first cooperation project between the German Heart Center Berlin (DHZB) and the Charité BIH Clinical Study Center. Read more (only in German) |
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Since the end of June, more than 100 events on health, climate and coexistence have been taking place in the "Wissensstadt Berlin" - both on site and digitally. The BIH was also involved with several exciting events. Read more / Program details |
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Dr. Anton Henssen, a scientist and physician at the ECRC, has received the Young Investigator Award of the 2020 Berliner Wissenschaftspreis for his cutting-edge research into childhood cancers. Henssen has been a member of the BIH Charité (Junior) Clinician Scientist Program since 2016. The award of 10.000 euros was presented by the Governing Mayor of Berlin Michael Müller at a ceremony on July 22 in front of the Rotes Rathaus together with Professor Christian Drosten who was awarded the Berliner Wissenschaftspreis. Read the press release |
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On 24 June 2021 the constituent meeting of the BIH Governing Board took place. Chair of the Governing Board is the representative of the Federal Government, State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), Christian Luft, his deputy is Steffen Krach, State Secretary for Science and Research of the State of Berlin. External experts are Professor Blanche Schwappach-Pignataro, Dean of the University of Hamburg-Eppendorf, Professor Monika Jungbauer-Gans, Scientific Director of the German Center for Higher Education Research and Science Studies, Annette Schavan, former Federal Minister and Dr. Christian Rommel, Head of Research and Development of the Pharmaceuticals Division of BAYER AG. Read more |
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The Governing Board has appointed Professor Aviv Regev, Head of Genetech Research and Early Development and Professor David A. Williams, Leland Fikes Professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School, Chief of Hematology/Oncology, Senior Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer at Boston Children's Hospital as new members of the BIH Scientific Advisory Board, effective 1 July 2021. Both fill previously vacant positions. Professor David Moher, Senior Scientist at Ottawa Research Hospital, and Professor Claudia Schmidtke, Member of the German Bundestag, Commissioner for Patient Affairs of the Federal Government were appointed as of 1 October 2021. Read more |
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With the constituent meeting on 22 July 2021, the Staff Council, elected at the end of June 2021, began its work. The elected board consists of Kati Jegzentis (Coordinator Clinical Research Unit, Chair of the Staff Council) and Ljudmila Borisenko (Team Leader Areas & Onboarding, BIH Office, Vice Chair). The Staff Council meets weekly to discuss upcoming personnel issues and also your issues as an employee of BIH. Please bring your problems, complaints and suggestions to the table. Please contact personalrat-bih@bih-charite.de. Read more |
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The previous acting head of Charité BIH Innovation, the joint technology transfer of BIH and Charité, Thomas Gazlig, will be responsible for the business area as Director in the future and will hand over the management of the Business Division Research at Charité. Gazlig has already been acting director of Charité BIH Innovation for two years. He has held various management positions at Charité since 2012 and previously worked in the management at the Helmholtz Association of German Research Centers. New in the Charité BIH Innovation management team is Dr. Claudia Keil-Dieckmann. She has taken over as Head of the Law, Patents, Licenses team and is also Deputy Director. The biologist is an experienced scientist and research manager with many years of extensive expertise in technology transfer and her own start-up experience. Read more about Charité BIH Innovation |
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Dr. Janine Altmüller’s goal is to raise the profile of genomics research in Berlin. Since 1 July 2021 she has headed the BIH and MDC’s joint Genomics Platform, providing support to Berlin researchers and honing new methods and technologies. Unlike genetics, which is the study of single genes, genomics studies the entire genome. Read the press release
Further information |
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News From the Staff Office Equal Opportunities
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Dr. Louise Pilote, who was awarded the BIH Excellence Award in 2017 for her research about possible effects of gender differences when it comes to medical issues such as cardiovascular disease, together with colleagues published an information in the method series of the Canadian Institutes of Health about how to incorporate Gender-related variables in clinical research. Interested researchers can learn more about the differences between sex and gender related variables, why the consideration of gender might be important and which methods can be used. Read more |
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At the end of July 2021, the joint project of BIH and the Berlin Senate Chancellery was successfully launched as part of Wissenstadt Berlin. Together with interested citizens of the city, the project aims to give more visibility to Berlin's female scientists, past and present. On 28 July the project kicked off with a Wikipedia Edit-a-thon in which about 35 people participated online. The goal is to write Wikipedia entries by Berlin women scientists in the coming weeks, thus giving women greater visibility online. Those interested are welcome to participate online. Read more (only in German) |
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News From the BIH Biomedical Innovation Academy (BIA)
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The alumnus of the BIH Charité Clinician Scientist Pilot Program, Professor Marcus Czabanka, MD, previously Deputy Director of the Neurosurgical Clinic at Charité, has been appointed Director of the Clinic for Neurosurgery at the University Hospital of the Goethe University Frankfurt. Congratulations! Read more (only in German) |
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Andreas Horn Receives Professorship at Harvard
The alumnus of the BIH Charité Junior Clinician Scientist Program and participant of the Clinician Scientist "Excellence Track" Dr. med. PhD Andreas Horn was appointed professor in Harvard. He will hold appointments in the Department of Neurology and Psychiatry and in the Departments of Neurology and Neurosurgery. We congratulate! Read more |
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On 28 + 29 May 2021, the international memorial symposium in honour of Professor Duška Dragun and on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the BIH Charité Clinician Scientist Program was held. All contents of the "Memorial Session" and on the "Science Policy Session" as well as on the scientific sessions are now online. Read more
Link to the sessions |
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News From the BIH QUEST Center
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The BIH QUEST Grant for Patient & Stakeholder Engagement was first published in 2021. With this call, we want to foster the active engagement of patients and other stakeholders (e.g., relatives) especially in the planning phase (e.g., protocol development) of a study. Four projects from Charité were selected for funding. We warmly congratulate all successful applicants! Read more |
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News From Charité BIH Innovation
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With the new name "Charité BIH Innovation", the technology transfer of Charité and BIH makes it clear that it is a joint service unit. Since 2016, employees of BIH and Charité have been successfully working together under one roof and one management. However, the previous name BIH Innovations has repeatedly led to irritation, as the connection to Charité was not immediately obvious. After the integration of BIH into Charité, Charité BIH Innovation is a joint business unit of the faculty and the BIH and has two separate budgets and employees in both departments. Read more about Charité BIH Innovation |
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With a joint exploitation regulation, Charité and the BIH for the first time regulate all questions of use, protection and exploitation of work results in an overarching manner. The exploitation regulation was developed in an extensive coordination and discussion process with the federal government, the state and many committees of Charité and BIH. The exploitation regulation also lays the foundation for a transfer fund: 20 percent of future income from work results will be used as an innovation lump sum to form a transfer fund, which will be used to finance future development projects. Read more (only in German) |
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x-cardiac GmbH has been certified as a medical device manufacturer in the EU while at the same time receiving market authorization for its first medical device x-c-bleeding. The AI-based software can quickly predict the risk of postoperative bleeding in patients. Specialists at the German Heart Center Berlin (DHZB) around Professor Alexander Meyer developed the software and benefited from various support programs of the Berlin Institute of Health at Charité (BIH). Read the press release
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In our 32nd episode of the BIH Podcast Series John Ioannidis, meta researcher at Stanford and the BIH, speeks about how the Corona pandemic affected the integrity, transparency and sustainability of research results. Listen to the podcast |
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You can find more interesting podcasts on our website (only in German). BIH Podcast Series |
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The funding is intended as seed financing to reach phase I/IIa clinical trials for Advanced Therapies and boost the translational chain, serving as basis to apply for substantial third-party funds. Projects should have a clear clinical or technical translational pathway and be innovative in nature. Projects must also be interdisciplinary, including a minimum of 2 BIH principal investigators (PI) from different fields or disciplines and a Charité clinical partner (unless covered by a BIH PI). Applications must be written in English and received by 23:59 h on 29 August 2021. Read more |
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The Max Rubner Award supports the implementation of innovative ideas at Charité. The prize money shall act as an initial funding for intrapreneurs, i.e. individuals or teams addressing challenges within the Charité with an entrepreneurial approach by developing new services, products or initiatives. All professional groups as well as students of Charité can participate. Deadline is 1 September 2021. Read more |
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On 2 September 2021, the calls for applications for the (Junior) (Digital) Clinician Scientist Program will be published. The various provide research-based physicians at different career levels a structured residency training with “protected time” for research. Deadline for all calls for applications is 30 September 2021. Read more |
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Quality-Promoting Aspects in Medicine and Biomedicine
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Business Division Science Management
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Dr. Mara Hartung
Dr. Mara Hartung joined the Science Management Team as Scientific Coordinator in the beginning of April 2021. Here she is responsible for the Translation-Hub Clinical Translation as well as the development of the project Case Analysis and Decision Support (CADS). She holds a PhD in natural sciences and has previously worked as a project manager in various positions both in academic and pharmaceutical sectors. |
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Charité BIH Innovation / SPARK-BIH
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Nadine Neef joined Charité BIH Innovation at the beginning of April 2021 as Administrator for Patents and Licenses. Her core tasks include administrative support for contracts and accounting as well as budget planning and monitoring. |
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Katharina Clausnitzer
Katharina Clausnitzer has been working at the BIH as a student assistant in the SPARK-BIH team since April 2021. She is currently studying biotechnology in her second master's semester at the Beuth University of Applied Sciences and supports the SPARK team mainly in organizational tasks and graphic design. |
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