Dear Reader,

All cells have their own power plants, called mitochondria. There are often more than 100 mitochondria per cell and each possesses their own genome, which in turn contains genes responsible for energy production. If errors creep into these genes, this can cause problems in the cell and result in diseases. Scientists from the BIH and the Max Delbrück Center have now discovered that the T cells of the immune system are especially sensitive to genetic disturbances within their mitochondrial power plants. They have published their findings in the journal Nature Genetics.

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Biochemist and physician Dr. Leif S. Ludwig (40) from the BIH and the Max Delbrück Center has been named a recipient of the 2023 Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Prize, as the German Research Foundation (DFG) announced yesterday. A total of ten scientists will be recognized with the award, valued at €200,000 each, which they can use over three years to advance their research. The prizes will be awarded on October 16, 2023, in Berlin. Congratulations!

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The European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) has elected Professor Michael Potente of the BIH as a new member. Headquartered in Heidelberg, Germany, EMBO is one of the biggest molecular biology organizations in Europe. EMBO Membership recognizes leading life scientists for their outstanding achievements. We congratulate!

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Professor Angela Relógio of TimeTeller won first prize at this year's Female StartAperitivo with a convincing pitch. Female StartAperitivo is a nationwide startup competition that aims to show what strong, eligible ideas and business models women-led startups have. Angela Relógio is developing a saliva test that can be used to determine the best time of day for chemotherapy. The BIH, Charité and Stiftung Charité have supported the TimeTeller project on its development path with a number of translational tools. Congratulations!

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To the BIH press release on TimeTeller

Why are RNA rings, so called circular RNAs (circRNAs) important for the childhood cancer neuroblastoma? Dr. med. Steffen Fuchs, Fellows of the BIH Charité Clinician Scientist Program from the Department of Pediatric Oncology, et al. strived in their study to investigate the role of this regulatory RNA class in neuroblastoma through un unbiased approach to analyze all RNAs of a patient tumor at a time. They revealed that the production of circRNAs is controlled by the gene MYCN, the main driver of a subset of neuroblastomas with a very high-risk. As an example, one circRNA could be further linked to enhanced cell growth and survival of neuroblastoma cells.

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The BIH Board of Directors recently approved the establishment of the working group "Incentives and Responsible Research Assessment" under the leadership of Dr. Miriam Kip (BIH Quest Center). Through the development and implementation of science-based tools and policies, the group contributes to the alignment of internal administration and governance processes of incentives and research assessments with responsible research and innovation (RRI) as well as open sciences practices. The goal is to transfer best practice and knowledge into sustainable institutional practices and strengthen a translational ecosystem at BIH/Charité and beyond.

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The BIH QUEST Center congratulates Dr. Johannes Heekerens of the Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy (CBF). He receives the first QUEST Reward for publishing protocols on protocols.io in the amount of 1,000 euros for his published reusable methods protocol at the protocols.io protocol repository. It was used and cited in his most recent publication here. Please also note the most recently announced new award: The QUEST Open Data Contributor Award. This award rewards researchers with 1,000 euros if their datasets made available in repositories have been used by others as the basis for article publications.

To the awarded method protocol of Dr. Heekerens
More information about the Calls & Awards

The Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings are annual conferences where some of the brightest minds in science converge to exchange knowledge, foster collaboration, and inspire the next generation of researchers. This year, two young researchers from the BIH took part in the 72nd Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting that was dedicated to Physiology and Medicine. Dr. Robert Lorenz Chua, a postdoctoral researcher in the Intelligent Imaging research group headed by Professor Christian Conrad, and Julius Upmeier zu Belzen, PhD student in the group of Professor Dr. Roland Eils at the BIH Center for Digital Health. A week later, the two scientists look back. Please find their report here.

Where does back pain come from? How do you sort cells? And how do you treat the sweetest cat in the world? BIH researchers showed how research turnes into health during the Long Night of Science. They presented exciting and current research projects for young and young-at-heart visitors in the CharitéCrossOver building CCO on Charité grounds in Mitte, in the BIMSB building of the Max Delbrück Center in Hannoversche Straße in Mitte, in the Cranach House at Charité Campus Virchow-Klinikum and in Berlin Buch in the Max Delbrück Center.

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After more than three years, the Clinician Scientist Retreat could be held in presence again this year. Around 150 members of the BIH Charité Clinician Scientist Community came together at Schloss Fleesensee on June 8 and 9, 2023. The aim of the retreat was to enable program participants, mentors, clinic directors, members of the (Digital) Clinician Scientist Board and invited guests to exchange and network on scientific and strategic issues. A special highlight was the keynote speech by Professor Detlev Ganten, former Chairman of the Board of Charité, Founding Director of the Max Delbrück Center, Founding President of the World Health Summit and Founding Chairman of the Virchow Foundation for Global Health.

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All BIH events are noted in our event calender. If you would like to receive a regular overview of upcoming BIH Events, please register here. Many thanks.

If Professor Andreas Diefenbach could decide, the BIH claim should be reworded: "Maintaining health through research" he finds much more appropriate, because the goal of medicine should actually be to maintain health and not to restore it after the disease has occurred. This is also the goal of the new Center for the Biology of Health at Charité, which he co-founded. Here, the fundamentals of health are to be researched in order to develop preventive measures. In the current episode of the BIH Podcast, Andreas Diefenbach explains how this will work in detail.

To the podcast (in German only)

Jeanette Erdmann, DZHK Professor for Cardiovascular Genetics at the Universität zu Lübeck, passed away unexpectedly on July 8, 2023 at the age of 57. Jeanette Erdmann was an internationally renowned human geneticist. Her main interest was unravelling the genetics of cardiovascular disease and myocardial infarction to develop novel therapeutic targets. In November 2021, together with Professor Ralph Knöll, she won the "BIH Excellence Award for Sex and Gender Aspects in Health Research". We mourn the loss of an outstanding scientist. Our deepest condolences to her family.

Read the obituary of the DZHK

The BIH Biomedical Innovation Academy (BIA) has issued the first call for project submissions for the BIH PhD Program. The new BIH PhD program aims to promote interdisciplinarity and support young translational talents. The program will co-fund PhD positions for excellent translational projects that fit one of the four BIH research priorities. Principal Investigators from all research groups with BIH affiliation can submit project proposals until August 30, 2023. 

Details about the call

The BIH Biomedical Innovation Academy (BIA) and the Medical Faculty of Charité will publish their second call for applications this year for the BIH Charité (Junior) Clinician Scientist Program. The program is a recognized, modern career path in academic medicine that provides research-oriented physicians with a structured residency with defined space for clinical and basic research. In addition, the (Junior) Digital Clinician Scientist Program will be announced. All calls will be published here on July 20, 2023. Deadline for all calls will be September 5, 2023.

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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. Applications can be sent in until September 4, 2023.

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Guidelines for application (in German only)

To foster research cooperation between the Berlin University Alliance and partners in the so-called “Global South,” the Berlin Center for Global Engagement (BCGE) offers international short-term travel grants for up to four-week stays (both incoming and outgoing). In case of approval, the BCGE can cover the costs for a flight (economy class only) and subsidize accommodation (lodging and board) based on the lump sum scheme of DAAD. This rolling application procedure works on a "first come, first served" basis, provided the application serves the goals of the funding.

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