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| No 9/2023 | November Issue |
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Dear Readers,
On November 9, representatives from science, medicine, politics, business, and society once again met at the eighth Future Medicine Science Match, organized by Der Tagesspiegel and the BIH, to discuss the framework for turning research into health: The focus of this year’s conference lied on how an Ecosystem for Innovations in Cell and Gene Therapy can be developed. How can academia, business and society create an environment for innovations? The event saw up to 80 speakers and 500 participants come together at the Berlin Congress Center to exchange ideas and forge new alliances. The Future Medicine Science Match was part of the Berlin Science Week, at which the BIH was represented with six other events this year. Those who were unable to attend will find a recap in this newsletter, as well as further news from the BIH and its partners. Happy reading!
Your BIH Board of Directors,
Christopher Baum and Michael Frieser
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Tagesspiegel: 100 Most Important Minds in Berlin Science Honored
In October 2023, the Tagesspiegel selected the 100 most important minds in Berlin science who are particularly shaping the capital's research landscape. The BIH is represented seven times. Congratulations to Professor Ulrich Dirnagl (Founding Director BIH QUEST Center), Professor Roland Eils (Founding Director BIH Center of Digital Health Center), Dr. med. Djawid Hashemi (Fellow BIH Charité Digital Clinician Scientist Program), Dr. Dr. Leif S. Ludwig (head of the research group Stem Cell Dynamics and Mitochondrial Genomics at the BIH and Max Delbrück Center), Dr. Maik Pietzner (group leader in the BIH resarch group Computational Medicine), Professor Leif Erik Sander (head of the research group Infectiology at the BIH Center for Regenerative Therapies) and Professor Ludovic Vallier (Einstein Professor for Stem Cells in Regenerative Therapies at the BIH) for the award.
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Newly Established BIH Staff Office External Affairs Commences Work
In October 2023, the newly established Staff Office External Affairs at the BIH started its work. Dr Jessica Cohen, Head of the Office and formerly responsible for Public Affairs at BIH for many years, is glad about the personnel support: "With the new set-up, we now also have more capacities to meet the increasing demand in the field of external affairs, to expand existing projects and to co-initiate new activities". The staff office's tasks include maintaining contacts with politicians, exploring cooperation with private-sector actors, helping to shape international scientific networks and establishing contacts with social actors such as foundations. The two new managers, Annamaria Kassel and Aleksandra Laski, are looking forward to their new tasks at the BIH. Both have many years of experience in the German Bundestag and in the field of international science cooperation in the university context. |
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Blood cancer is often driven by mutations in stem cells, which are key target cells in the search for innovative early-stage therapies. Dr. Simon Haas, head of a lab within the joint research focus of the BIH, Charité, and the Max Delbrück Center, is seeking to understand interactions between stem cells and immune cells. In a groundbreaking discovery, he found a previously unknown protective mechanism that prevents blood cancer from developing from stem cells. For this and other scientific contributions, Haas has now been awarded the Lisec-Artz Prize, endowed with 10,000 euros, which the University of Bonn Foundation gives each year to an outstanding early-career cancer researcher. Congratulations!
Read the press release
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Professor Georg Duda, BIH Chair for Engineering Regenerative Therapies and Director of the Julius Wolff Institute (JWI) at Charité among others, was honoured by the DGU's (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Unfallchirurgie) Johann Friedrich Dieffenbach Bust on October 23, 2023 as part of the German Congress of Orthopaedics and Trauma Surgery (DKOU) 2023 for his special achievements to trauma surgery. The Dieffenbach Bust was established in 1982 as an honourable award for scientific services to trauma medicine. Congratulations!
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News From the BIH Biomedical Innovation Academy (BIA)
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On October 5, 2023, around 60 alummi of the BIH Charité Clinician Scientist Program received their certificates for successful program participation. A special highlight was that the BIH Biomedical Innovation Academy (BIA) event was held at the Rahel Hirsch Center for Translational Medicine – the perfect place to farewell the Clinician Scientists from the different funding lines. Among the speakers were Professor Christopher Baum, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the BIH and Chief Translational Research Officer of Charité, Professor Joachim Spranger, Dean of Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin and PD Dr. Peter Bobbert, President of the Berliner Ärztekammer.
Read more and go to the picture gallery
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News From Charité BIH Innovation (CBI)
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On November 10, 2023, Charité/BIH and Enterprise Singapore signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) as the basis for the upcoming pilot of a Co-Innovation Program. The program enables the professional networking of start-ups from Singapore with scientists at BIH and Charité to promote joint research and transfer projects. Charité BIH Innovation (CBI) will provide support in the design of the program and in the search for a suitable partner from Charité/BIH clinics or research (Match & Connect). The productive discussion between representatives of BIH, Charité, Enterprise Singapore and A*STAR – Agency for Science, Technology and Research provided important impulses for the design of further cooperation in possible priority areas. We are looking forward to the cooperation! |
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The "International Health-Tech R&D and Pilot Program" of the Israeli Innovation Authority (IIA) serves to promote innovations in the field of digital medicine and medical technology. Three projects by Israeli start-ups partnering with Charité/BIH were able to successfully qualify for funding from the IIA: Agado Live for exercise therapy for multiple sclerosis, Curespec for hypertension therapy and kidney function improvement, and Minovia Therapeutics Ltd. with a project in the field of cell and mitochondrial augmentation therapy. These funding commitments illustrate the enormous potential of German-Israeli cooperation.
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The SPARK-BIH program supports early academic life science projects from Charité and BIH with education, mentorship and milestone-based funding. Following a two-day pitch event in September, an expert-jury selected 12 outstanding translational projects for funding. The SPARK-BIH team welcomed the new SPARKees at an onboarding event and is excited to support the translation of their medical innovation from bench to bedside.
Read more
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Welcome to the newest member of the SPARK community! SPARK the Midlands in Birmingham UK runs a preclinical accelerator program, in collaboration with Aston University and the West Midlands Combined Authority, to support researchers, healthcare professionals and entrepreneurs to meet the demands of real unmet clinical needs. Visit their website to learn more.
Read more
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News From the BIH QUEST Center
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Lunch Talk With Miriam Kip
Dr. Miriam Kip from the BIH QUEST Center and her team have analyzed the criteria used to decide on professorship appointments and distribute project funding. On November 12, 2023, she spoke about her findings at the "Soup & Science" lunch talk, a joint event organized by the Technology Foundation Berlin and rbb24 Inforadio. |
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Natascha Drude in the Podcast
Dr. Natascha Drude, research fellow at the BIH QUEST Center, was invited as an expert on the topic of reproducibility in an episode of the podcast "Fabeln, Fell und Fakten" by "Tierversuche vestehen" in October 2023. "Fabeln, Fell und Fakten" is the first podcast dedicated entirely to the topic of animal testing. You can listen to the episode with Natascha Drude here (only in German). |
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News From the BIH Staff Council
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This Year’s BIH Staff Meeting Took Place
On November 13, 2023, this year's BIH staff meeting took place online, to which the BIH Staff Council invited. Approx. 180 BIH employees attended the staff meeting and were able to learn about the work of the Staff Council. The event was complemented by an exchange of ideas on employees' wishes for future Staff Council work and an outlook to the Staff Council elections that will take place in 2024. On November 23, 2023, at 2 pm an event with the same content will take place in English – the Staff Council is looking forward to a lively participation at this event as well. Further insights will soon be available on the intranet pages oft the BIH Staff Council (only visible for internal users).
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This year the BIH was part of the Berlin Science Week (1-10 November 2023) with seven program offers. The Dialog Platform Stem Cell Research, the National Network Office for Gene and Cell Therapies and the BIH QUEST Center presented themselves at the BSW Campus@Naturkundemuseum with short talks, an info booth and the panel discussion "The Impact of Diversity on Research Quality" – in cooperation with the Einstein Foundation, the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and the Berlin University Alliance. For the Future Medicine Science Match, Der Tagesspiegel and the BIH invited again to the bcc Berlin Congress Center, this time with 3-minute talks, keynotes and discussions around the topic "Turning Research into Health: An Ecosystem for Innovations in Cell and Gene Therapy". As part of the Falling Walls Science Summit, BIH partnered with Bayer to host an Expert Plenary Table on "Altering Medicine by Cell and Gene Therapy". And together with our privileged partner Max Delbrück Center, the staff office Equal Opportunities invited to the Berlin Diversithon at the Rahel Hirsch Center to give less represented persons more visibility in Wikipedia.
Read more and go to the picture gallery
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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. |
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With the Visiting Fellows program, Stiftung Charité is offering an annually recurring opportunity to attract exciting researchers to the life sciences in Berlin. Invite outstanding scientists from abroad or from other locations in Germany for guest stays at Charité (including BIH and DHZC) or at the Max Delbrück Center. On site, you can jointly initiate new research ideas, collaborations and strategic priorities and, if necessary, implement them with a research group. Applications will be accepted until February 5, 2024 (11:59 pm).
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Using the format of the X-Student Research Groups, the Berlin University Alliance (BUA) supports research projects in which junior researchers and students conduct joint research.Up to 16 X-Student Research Groups will be funded for the 2024 summer semester. Junior researchers will lead the research groups, in which students from all BUA partners can participate. Doctoral students, postdocs and junior professors can apply with an outline for a teaching research project. The application deadline is December 3, 2023.
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Travel reimbursement of up to 3.000 euros will be provided to enable Berlin graduates to visit national and international 3R laboratories of excellence. With this program, the EC3R aims to allow young berlin scientists to learn about innovative technologies and applications of 3R research which are complementary to Berlin's scientific strengths and will therefore enhance local projects and enable graduates to start building their own international scientific network. Members of the EC3R will decide on the application based on the project description and suitability of the host group. The submission deadline is December 10, 2023.
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Save the date: New call for BIH-MD Student Research Stipend
The BIH Biomedical Innovation Academy (BIA) and Charité's Grant Commission publish another call for applications for their BIH-MD Student Research Stipend, which support students of human medicine and dentistry at Charité for doctoral projects leading to the Dr. med., MD/PhD or Dr. med. dent. degrees. Funding is available for medicine students whose supervisors are employed at Charité or the Max Delbrück Center (MDC). The research task must be designed in such a way that the doctoral project fits thematically with the objectives of the BIH and comprises an exclusively scientific activity of at least six months. The call for applications can be found online here from November 28, 2023. Deadline for the call is January 10, 2024 at 2 p.m.
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For copyright reasons we are only allowed to publish online articles.
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