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No 9/2024 | November Issue
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Dear Reader,
We would like to inform you today about an important decision. After careful consideration, we have decided to say goodbye to the social media platform X (formerly Twitter) and cease our activities on the platform. This was not an easy decision for us, as we have built up a loyal community on X and made many valuable contacts. Yet, for a variety of reasons, we feel that the time has come to take this step. We have been monitoring the development of the platform very closely since Elon Musk took over last year, and the direction it has taken under the current management team is no longer consistent with the BIH’s values. At the BIH, we believe in democratic dialogue and respectful and considerate interaction with one another. But we of course would like to stay connected with you! So please feel free to visit our website, sign up for our newsletter, or follow us on platforms like LinkedIn and Instagram – where we continue to provide exciting insights and the latest news from the BIH. In this edition of our newsletter, you’ll find highlights from the past month. Happy reading!
Your BIH Board of Directors,
Christopher Baum and Doris Meder
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End of October the European Rare Diseases Research Alliance (ERDERA) launched its official event, where it set out its vision and ambition for tackling rare diseases as part of the EU’s research strategy in this field. Representatives of the European Commission, patients’ organizations and ERDERA project groups will present their plans at the event. Michael Schmück-Henneresse, a researcher at the BIH, leads a project group aimed at promoting the success of advanced therapy medicinal products (ATMPs), in particular in vivo gene therapies, through a better understanding of immune responses to these therapies. ERDERA launched in September 2024, with an estimated budget of €380 million and the goal of improving the lives of 30 million rare disease patients in Europe and beyond. To optimize the diagnosis, prevention and treatment of rare diseases, the alliance aims to strengthen scientific collaboration across Europe and align research and health data. Read the press release
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30 European players have joined forces to create a “European Space for AI in Healthcare”. With the SHAIPED project, the Health Data Hub (HDH) and its consortium have won a European project tender with a total budget of 4 million euros. The project aims to develop artificial intelligence (AI) solutions for medical devices and further advance digital health in Europe. Dr. Petra Ritter, Johanna Quandt Professor for Brain Simulation at the BIH and head of the BIH research group Brain Simulation as well as head of the Section Brain Simulation at the Department of Neurology with Experimental Neurology at Charité. Read more
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We Say Goodbye To X
We say goodbye to X. We have been monitoring the development since Elon Musk took over the platform last year very closely and the course it has taken under the current management is no longer compatible with the values of the BIH. As BIH, we stand for democratic exchange and respectful as well as appreciative interaction with each other. Visit us on Instagram, LinkedIn and on our website!
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In cooperation with the German Societies for Hygiene and Microbiology, Immunology and Virology, the Robert Koch Foundation annually awards three post-doctoral prizes for outstanding work by young scientists in the fields of virology, immunology and microbiology. The prizes are endowed with 5,000 euros each. This year, the award ceremony took place as part of the grand Robert Koch Prize ceremony in Berlin on November 8. Lucie Loyal (Immunology) and Matthias Gröschel (Microbiology) are among the three post-doctoral award winners in 2024.
Read more
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News From Charité BIH Innovation (CBI)
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The SPARK-BIH program, part of Charité BIH Innovation, supports early academic life science projects from Charité and BIH with milestone-based funding, education and mentorship. Following a two-day pitch event in September, an external expert jury selected 14 outstanding translational projects for funding. The SPARK-BIH team welcomes the new SPARKees and is excited to support their journey in translating medical innovations. Read more
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Aignostics, a Charité spin-off, has received 34 million US dollars in Series B financing. The financing round was led by ATHOS, with investment from Mayo Clinic and growth financing from HTGF. The additional funding will be used to build new product offerings for biopharmaceutical customers, drive growth in the US, and develop a leading basic pathology model in collaboration with Mayo Clinic. Aignostics was supported by the Digital Health Accelerator Program of Charité BIH Innovation (CBI) and funded by the BIH in 2018.
Read more
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In September 2024 representatives from Charité and BIH received a delegation from SingHealth, Asia's leading healthcare provider. The meeting focused on digital innovations, efficiency improvements and opportunities for cooperation. Highlights included insights into pioneering projects and the presentation of the Charité 2030 strategy, which aims to further strengthen the strategic partnership between Charité and Singapore, coordinated by Charité BIH Innovation (CBI) through the joint co-innovation program between Enterprise Singapore (ESG), BIH and Charité.
Read more
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Medical research at Charité and the BIH should have the greatest possible impact on society and the economy, according to the mission of Charité BIH Innovation (CBI), the joint technology transfer of Charité and BIH. In order to provide a platform for the exchange of experiences and ideas with researchers, CBI hosted the first CBI Community Day on October 16, 2024 in the auditorium of the CCO on the Charité campus. Representatives from Charité and BIH as well as various guests from the fields of economy and research joined the event. The program offered a mix of lectures, discussions and workshops and was aimed at all those who wanted to learn more about technology transfer at Charité and BIH. Read more
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News From the BIH Biomedical Innovation Academy (BIA)
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BIA Contributed to Emerald Summer School 2024
The BIH Biomedical Innovation Academy (BIA) contributed to in this year’s EMERALD Summer School, sharing its dedication to advancing Clinician Scientist careers and fostering impactful research in healthcare. The EMERALD International PhD Program for Medical Doctors is an innovative initiative designed to equip medical doctors with advanced research skills, bridging the gap between clinical practice and scientific investigation, similar to the mission of the BIH Charité Clinician Scientist Program. In Berlin, the Max Delbrück Center is a key partner of EMERALD. EMERALD Summer School was held from September 23-27, 2024 which brought together an exciting mix of early-career Clinician Scientists, and research experts from across Europe. As part of it, EMERALD Medical Doctors met with BIH Charité (Digital) Clinician Scientists at the BIH on September 27 to exchange ideas about research projects and career paths in translational medicine. For more information about EMERALD here.
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News From the BIH QUEST Center
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The BIH QUEST Center has laid down in an Open Access Policy its commitment to making its own publications openly accessible. The policy also contains guidelines on publication costs, secondary publications, and author rights retention.
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COReS team members recently attended the 5th International SR-SAVI Conference in Zurich, where they explored advances in transparency, rigor, and AI integration in systematic reviews, and celebrated Community Manager Friederike Kohrs’ award-winning poster on the COReS project. Read moreLearn more about COReS
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This year, the BIH was once again involved in Berlin Science Week (1–10 November 2024) with several program offerings. There were quizzes at the Natural History Museum, a busy writing session at the Diversithon and plenty of other things to learn and discover during lectures, discussions and a stroll through our exhibition. Once again this year, the intensive personal exchange was particularly popular with the scientists and visitors.
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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Professor Ludovic Vallier has been recently a guest on “The Stem Cell Podcast”. Ludovic Vallier is the W3 Einstein Strategic Professor for Stem Cells in Regenerative Therapies at the BIH and a Max Planck Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics. His lab uses stem cells to model embryonic development in vitro and to produce liver cells with an interest for cell therapy. In episode 275 “Liver Organogenis” he talks about modeling non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and his lab’s pivot to SARS-CoV-2 research early in the pandemic. He also discusses how iPSCs could be used to regenerate the liver after injury. Listen now!
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With the Visiting Fellows program, Stiftung Charité is offering an annually recurring opportunity to attract renowned researchers to join the life sciences ecosystem in Berlin for various lengths of time and to set up a research group. Invite outstanding scientists from abroad or elsewhere 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, help to establish and deepen strategic focus areas and collaborations and, if necessary, implement them with a research group. Application deadline is February 24, 2025 (11:59 p.m.). Read more about the call
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The BIH Biomedical Innovation Academy (BIA) and Charité's Grant Commission have published a 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. The research task must be designed in such a way that the doctoral project fits thematically with the objectives of BIH and comprises an exclusively scientific activity of at least six months. Deadline for the call is December 5, 2024 at 2 p.m.
Detailled information about the call
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