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Dear
Readers,
This year the BIH again took part in the DMEA, Europe’s leading digital health event, including hosting a session on how supercomputing is advancing health research. Together with other experts, BIH Director Christopher Baum discussed how we can intelligently harness the ever-growing mountain of health data – whether it’s storing and processing these data efficiently or integrating them into biomedical research and personalized medicine. We’re excited to keep this important dialogue going and would like to thank everyone from the BIH research groups who contributed their ideas and time to the Berlin-Brandenburg Capital Region’s joint booth. You can read more about that in this newsletter. We’re also recapping our Girls’ Day 2025 events, presenting research highlights from our scientists and sharing information about new funding opportunities – plus, we recommend an exciting podcast featuring our stem cell expert Ludovic Vallier. Happy reading and listening!
Your BIH Newsletter Team
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A study at Charité has found that a single dose of the Imvanex vaccine provides protection against Mpox with 84% effectiveness. For people with HIV, however, a single dose of the vaccine fails to offer sufficient protection. All at-risk groups, and people with HIV in particular, should therefore receive the second dose of the vaccine as recommended. The study was by Professor Leif Erik Sander, Director of the Department of Infectious Diseases and Critical Care Medicine at Charité and a research group leader at the BIH. The results of the study have now been published in "The Lancet Infectious Diseases". Read the press release of CharitéRead the publication
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BIH and Charité Delegation Visit Paris
In April, a delegation from BIH and Charité traveled to the French capital and gained insights into the local ecosystem for health research and innovation. In addition to visits to various research campuses, there were many discussions with partners and other stakeholders on the question of where there are common points of contact and how cooperation can be strengthened. Merci à tous!
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Cem Özdemir as a Guest of the Petra Ritter Research Group
Cutting-edge medical research in the capital: also a result of the numerous links between the BMBF and Charité, whether at the BIH or the Network of University Medicine (NUM). On April 9, 2025, Federal Research Minister Cem Özdemir visited Charité to learn about groundbreaking approaches in the treatment of neurological diseases. Among other things, the minister discussed with a BIH research group led by Professor Petra Ritter, which creates digital twins of patients' brains. These are personalized 3D brain simulations that are created from different medical data. This makes it easier to identify errors in brain function. Doctors can then use the computer model to test how the individual patient would react to medication or therapies, for example for epilepsy, stroke and dementia.
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The journey continues: after visiting Prague, Budapest, London and Tokyo last year, our exhibition “Berlin - Capital of Women Scientists” will be on display in Paris from April 9 to May 4. On April 8, the traveling exhibition was opened with a festive vernissage at the Maison Heinrich Heine. Emmanuelle Charpentier, winner of the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, was also in attendance. Read more
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On March 21, 2025, the BIH hosted the official inauguration of Dr. Doris Meder as Administrative Director. Professor Veronika von Messling (Ministerial Director at the Federal Ministry of Education and Research), Dr. Henry Marx (State Secretary for Science and Research at the Berlin Senate Department for Science, Health and Care), Professor Heyo Kroemer (Chief Executive Officer of Charité) and Professor Christopher Baum (Chairman of the BIH Board of Directors and Chief Translational Research Officer of Charité) gave the ceremonial welcoming addresses. This was followed by the inaugural address by Dr. Doris Meder. Read more and impressions of the inauguration
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Professor Sylvia Thun is a medical doctor, graduate engineer and expert in IT standards in the healthcare sector. Heading the research group for Digital Medicine and Interoperability at the BIH, she has been appointed as a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for the 7th working period 2025 - 2028. The Scientific Advisory Board has the task of regularly commenting on the technical and scientific performance of the RKI. It is also involved in an advisory capacity in the development of medium and long-term goals. Congratulations! Read moreTo the video portrait with Sylvia Thun
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News From the Center of Digital Health
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News From the BIH Biomedical Innovation Academy (BIA)
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Federico Collettini Awarded the “Werner Porstmann Prize”
The Fellow of the BIH Charité Advanced Clinician Scientist Pilotprogram and Chief Senior Consultant at the Department of Radiology at Charité Campus Mitte, PD Dr. med. Federico Collettini, was awarded the "Werner-Porstmann Prize" at this year's Interventional Radiological Olbert Symposium (IROS). This prize is awarded annually by the German Radiological Society and the German Society for Interventional Radiology and Minimally Invasive Therapy (DeGIR) for the best scientific work in the field of interventional radiology. Congratulations! To the report on the symposium/IROS (only in German)
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New BIH-MD Research Fellows
In a two-stage selection process, the new BIH-MD research stipend Fellows were selected on January 23, 2025. The BIH stipends for doctoral students in human medicine and dentistry are aimed at enrolled human medicine and dentistry students who are enthusiastic about research. Eleven candidates (including five women) were selected. The fellowships will start on April 1, 2025. Welcome on board!
More about the program (in German)
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News From Charité BIH Innovation (CBI)
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The TransferAllianz e.V. has published a position paper that is intended to provide the new federal government with impulses for optimal transfer promotion in Germany. Three specific measures are intended to support knowledge and technology transfer in Germany and strengthen Germany as a location for innovation. Read moreRead the TransferAllianz position paper
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At this year’s DMEA, Europe´s leading digital health conference and trade fair, teams from the BIH research groups of Sylvia Thun, Fabian Prasser, Christian Meisel and Petra Ritter presented themselves from April 8 to 10, 2025. In addition, the Charité-BIH Clinical Study Center, the Match & Connect platform, which brings start-ups together with Charité experts, and the European Health Data Alliance (EHDA e.V.), including colleagues from the Roland Eils research group, presented themselves. On April 10, BIH Director Professor Christopher Baum discussed with Dominik Roters, Sarah M. Neuwirth, Dr. Anita Puppe and Petra Ritter how so-called supercomputing approaches can be meaningfully combined with healthcare and research in order to accelerate the development of new therapies in the long term and enable innovative approaches to complex diseases. Anyone interested in career opportunities at BIH could also meet a colleague from the BIH Human Resources Department at the joint stand of the “Berlin-Brandenburg Capital Region”. Many thanks to everyone involved! Read more
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This year, the BIH once again took part in the nationwide Girls' Day. As in previous years, interest was huge and the offers were fully booked in no time at all. More than 90 girls gained insights into the work of scientists in biomedicine in seven different workshops. More than 30 scientists from seven different BIH working groups prepared a three-hour program for the schoolgirls and showed them how diverse research is when it comes to identifying diseases, developing therapies and curing patients. The participants were enthusiastic about the exchange with technical assistants, PhD students and even professors. We would like to thank everyone involved for their commitment! Read more
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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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The human liver has an extraordinary ability to regenerate – a phenomenon that was even described in Greek mythology. But what happens when these self-healing powers aren't enough for patients with chronic liver diseases? In the latest episode of AskDifferent, the podcast by the Einstein Foundation, the team dives into groundbreaking research on liver regeneration with stem cell expert Ludovic Vallier, Einstein Professor for Stem Cells in Regenerative Therapies at the BIH. Listen to the podcast
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The Paul Ehrlich Foundation annually honors an exceptional early-career scientist based in Germany for groundbreaking research in the life sciences. The prestigious Paul Ehrlich & Ludwig Darmstaedter Early Career Award includes an endowment of €60,000, designated for advancing the recipient's research efforts. The application deadline is May 5, 2025. Read more about the call
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Stiftung Charité, together with the BIH Biomedical Innovation Academy (BIA), supports the international scientific exchange of BIH Charité (Digital) Clinician Scientists by providing Internationalization Grants. The funding format was developed together with Stiftung Charité who finances the grants. As part of the current call, four internationalization grants can be acquired competitively. Applications for the pilot call are open until May 20, 2025, exclusively online via the BIH application and reporting portal. Only Fellows of the BIH Charité (Digital) Clinician Scientist Programs are eligible to apply. Read more
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SPARK-BIH supports translational projects of Charité and BIH with funding as well as coaching, mentoring and education by an international network of experts. Applications for the SPARK-BIH program are open until July 7, 2025. Scientists and clinicians at all career levels from BIH and Charité are invited to apply. Read more
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The TEF-Health Open Call#2 is now live - and with it the opportunity to bring AI or robotics solutions to the European healthcare market quickly. Through the TEF-Health program, EU/EEA startups and SMEs gain access to advanced real-world testing and validation, regulatory and compliance support, direct collaboration with leading healthcare institutions, and a faster and smoother path to market. Read moreApply now
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Are you a pioneering woman in science driving real change? The Women’s Impact Award honours researchers whose work advances gender equality and drives tangible societal impact for women and girls. Submission deadline is 30 April, 2025. Read more
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The Berlin University Alliance's focus area Advancing Research Quality & Value awards fellowships for incoming and outgoing fellows, who are working on projects related to research quality and open science. The program promotes knowledge exchange and collaboration. It is open to researchers at all career stages as well as research support staff. Applications are accepted throughout the year. Read more
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Are you passionate about Open Science and want to help your colleagues implement the topic in their everyday research? Would you like to organize events with guests from whom you and your colleagues can learn? Get involved and become an Ambassador for Open Science at your faculty or department! Send us a letter of motivation and your CV to open-science@berlin-university-alliance.de by June 2, 2025. We also welcome applications from tandems or small teams! The program starts on August 1, 2025. Read more
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