News / Events

Upcoming Events

• 26.-27.06.2023 Gender Equality Workshop Self Marketing and Strengthening Self-Awarness (IBZ Bahnhofstr.)
• 04.-06.10.2023 Workshop Presentation Skills
• 20.10.2023 Workshop Time Management
• 15.03.2024 Workshop Networking
• Spring 2024 RTG-PRO Annual Retreat
• 25.-27.09.2024 International Conference

Prof. Barbara Bröker, our spokeswoman of RTG-PRO was invited by the Akademie der Wissenschaften in Hamburg for a podcast to talk about novel and innovative strategies to fight emerging pathogens and the AMR crisis.

Check out this episode of the "Wissenschaft als Kompass" podcast  [link]

The course for our PhD students will take place 13-17 February 2023 in the PC room of the Institute for Bioinformatics

Thanks to the hard work of Ole and Shruthi, we are now online to interact with the scientific community on twitter.

You can find us at @RTG2719_PRO.

Don't miss the chance to follow us for updates!

On October 22, some of our PhD students used this Saturday to head to Anklam by train where they visited the „Cosun Beet“ sugar beet refinery, the last existing refinery of this kind in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. This trip was initiated by Jessica, since she is originally from Anklam and her father is working at the refinery for over 30 years. In a guided tour given by Torsten Tzschoppe (Head of Production) the group had the opportunity to get a detailed insight into the process of sugar refinement, all the way from the arrival of the beets to the crystalline white sugar as the final product. Besides conventional white sugar, the product portfolio of Cosun Beet also includes organic sugar, as well as non-sugar products such as bioethanol and biogas with the plan to broaden this portfolio and to enhance their storage capacities in the future.  After the guided tour, the group walked to the inner city, where Jessica showed them some of the nice spots that Anklam has to offer, such as the Nikolai church, the market square and the Otto-Lilienthal monument. The trip was concluded having lunch in a nice Italian restaurant, before the group catched the train back to Greifswald.

Thank you Jessica for organizing this beautiful and informative field trip!

On October 17, our PhD students participated in a workshop on „Intercultural Communication and Conflicts“ organized by Katharina Teiser from InterCultur (www.intercultur.de). During the first half of this course, the young researchers engaged in interactive games to answer the question „What is culture?“ and discovered how we can use the Culture Triangle (person - situation - culture) to dissect complex situations and add new perspectives in order to create a holistic view which allows to be more empathetic and to not reproduce stereotypes. After a lunch break, the focus was laid on intercultural communication, where the young researchers discussed different ways and preferences of communication and how this can differ between cultures. Furthermore they were introduced to the concept of intersectionality and the intercultural conflict style model that connects aspects of language and emotions.

This workshop helps our young researchers to be aware of possible differences when it comes to intercultural exchange and will also contribute to guarantee a supportive and inclusive space within RTG-PRO!

After months of intensively working on their projects and participating in first conferences and workshops, our PhD students decided to use the prolonged weekend from 1 - 3 Oktober for a small retreat in Dresden. This trip was an excellent opportunity to combine their interest in science with plenty of group activities to strengthen their bond as a team of young researchers.

On Saturday, they visited the Institute of Immunology at the University Medicine Dresden, where they had a guided tour by Luise Rupp who is a PhD student in the Schmitz group. Luise gave a brief insight into her project by explaining her experimental approach and how she uses various techniques from cell biology and microscopy to explore and display interactions of cellular components with tumour cells to develop targeting strategies to enable a more efficient treatment of malignant diseases. Followed by a short touristic excourse in the beautiful old town of Dresden, the day was concluded with a visit to the infamous Semperoper, enjoying „Madama Butterfly“. 
The next day started with a train ride to Stadt Wehlen, where the group started their hiking trip to the Bastei, one of the most famous lookout points in Saxony Switzerland. Although it started raining shortly after the group had arrived at the lookout point, this did not affect the mood overall! After enjoying the beautiful scenery with a breathtaking view of the Elbe Sandstone Mountains, it was time to head back to Dresden on an old historic steamboat. The evening was spent in a nice restaurant with discussions about their recent progress in each project and what obstacles they faced. 
On their last day, our PhD students decided to visit the German Hygiene Museum as the last stop of this retreat. In the exhibition „Human Adventure“, they spent their time looking at the different aspects of the human body and educating themselves on health in its sociocultural context. Fascinating impressions with a mixture between the past and the present and an excellent way to end this adventurous weekend before it was time to catch the train back to Greifswald.

After arriving in Greifswald, the group agreed that this retreat was a lot of fun, and they all expressed the wish to repeat this kind of retreat next year, hopefully then in a larger group!
A huge thank you goes out to Hannes for organizing this exciting and productive trip from front to back and for giving our young researchers such a beautiful insight into his hometown! 

After being put on hold because of the COVID19 pandemic, the 2nd Summer School on „Infection Biology“ took place from 26 - 28 September 2022 in Greifswald as a follow-up to the successful first event back in 2016. Initiated as a joint effort of the University Greifswald, the University Medicine, the Friedrich-Loeffler Institute (FLI) Federal Research Institute for Animal Health and the Alfried Krupp Wissenschaftskolleg Greifswald, this interdisciplinary symposium combines aspects of microbiology, virology, as well as pathophysiology and more.
Under the title „Infection Biology“ these three days were used for an intensive exchange between established scientists and young researchers on the state-of-the-art research on bacterial and viral interactions with the human host, as well as recent advances in the understanding of (co-)infection mechanisms and pathophysiology. A big part of this event also focussed on the concept of One Health and how it can be implemented in the scientific work as a collaborative approach to guarantee a healthy living for us as a society. 
Our PhD students participated in this interesting event to represent RTG-PRO and broaden their knowledge on these important and exciting topics, actively contributing to a successful symposium with poster presentations and lots of fruitful discussions. Larissa (project B1) and Supradipta (project A6) also took home a prize for their posters, congratulations you two! After this stimulating conference everyone grasped new ideas that are ready to be implemented in their own research.

Many thanks to the organizers Prof. Dr. Sven Hammerschmidt, Prof. Dr. Thomas Mettenleiter, Prof. Dr. Barbara Bröker, Dr. Ulla Bonas, Dr. Christian Suhm and of course all the important people behind the scenes, especially Dr. Bianca Bußmann, Dr. Maja Richert and Dr. Susann Räth, for taking care and putting together this interesting and stimulating event. 
We are looking forward to the next meeting of this Summer School in a few years!

After hearing a fantastic talk by Stefan Rose-John, founder and spokesperson of the CRC877 „Proteolysis as a Regulatory Event in Pathophysiology“, at the PRO Opening Retreat in May this year, we were cordially invited to attend the 3rd International Symposium „Protease World in Health & Disease“ in Kiel, which focusses on protein cleavage for regulation and how these regulatory principles can be exploited.
Accompanied by our spokesperson Prof. Dr. Barbara Bröker and PI Dr. Silva Holtfreter, nine of our PhD students took this great opportunity to hear more about the world of proteases, with six of them also presenting a poster with their latest research data. Besides interesting talks and discussions given by internationally renowned speakers, our young researchers enjoyed the free time having lively discussions with foods and drinks in the evening. After concluding the symposium with a wonderful dinner directly at the Baltic Sea, we are looking forward to upcoming collaborations with established protease researchers from all over the world and also within RTG-PRO.

We thank Stefan Rose-John and all the other people involved in the organization of this great symposium for three beautiful days in Kiel and also for the opportunity to share our interest in the fascinating world of proteases!

Without any hesitation, after the ceremonial Opening Retreat of RTG-PRO in May our PhD researchers took part in a workshop dedicated to strengthen their skills in Ressource and Time Management. Organized by Katja Wolter from the Steinbeis-InRE (www.steinbeis-inre.de), they spent the day to learn different project management techniques and how to develop a strategic view on their doctoral research. By combining the visual presentation of basic project management theory with interactive group activities, all participants were able to get insight into the communication with stakeholders, as well as knowing about risks that can occur during their PhD project.
After hearing all these interesting aspects of project management, everyone now has the knowledge to organize, prioritize and analyze their work and is eager to apply it to their individual doctoral project!

After a long wait, due to the pandemic protective measures, the time had finally come. From May 18 to 20, the official opening symposium of the Research Training Group 2719 RTG-PRO could take place. In the festive setting of the main building of our university, namely the historical assembly hall and the conference room, our young scientists and their projects took centre stage for 3 days. In short presentations, each presented his or her project and first results and had the opportunity to discuss them with the principal investigators and the invited guests. Keynote speakers Stefan Rose-John and Birte Höcker, our Mercator fellows Dorte Frees and Alexander Bartelt, and Alex van Belkum from our Scientific Advisory Board were available to our PhD students with their expertise for in-depth discussions. In the afternoon, there was the opportunity for the first meetings of the Thesis Advisory Committees, which was also used extensively. Then, at the conference dinner at the Vorpommersches Landesmuseum, everyone was able to take a deeper look at RTG-PRO thanks to a questionnaire from our PhD researchers and a very entertaining talk that presented some fun statistics about the members. After dinner, we could admire the cultural treasures of our city and the university during a private tour. All in all, it was 3 busy days full of science, and this successful kick-off left us wanting more!

Download: Program flyer

PhD researchers of our RTG-PRO participated in the design of the information material and designed two great posters for the international day of immunology. Every year, the German Society for Immunology (DGFI) uses the International Day of Immunology on 29 April to draw attention to our amazing immune system. This day aims to raise awareness worldwide of the importance of immunology and immunological research in the fight against infections, autoimmunity and cancer. This year, the topic was "Vaccines". Vaccinations are one of the greatest achievements of modern medicine. They save lives and prevent millions of deaths every year as a result of dangerous diseases such as diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus or measles. All posters are available free of charge at https://das-immunsystem.de/tag-der-immunologie/.

Two of our PhD researchers, Sophie (project B4) and Ole (project B3), attended the Symposium „Understanding Ubiquitylation: From Molecular Mechanisms to Disease“ in Würzburg organized by the RTG2243 (twitter: @grk2243). From the 9th to 11th of May both used these 3 days to get in contact with other PhD students and leading researchers from the field of ubiquitination and present their research projects in form of a poster. Prof. Elke Krüger who is principal investigator of both projects B3 (together with Prof. Michael Lammers) and B4 was invited to give a talk where she spoke about rare proteasomopathies and the role of the ubiquitin proteasome system in innate immune signaling.

Since projects from RTG-PRO Research Field B are also investigating proteases in context with ubiquitination, this conference was a good opportunity for our PhD researchers to deepen and broaden their understanding of this important cellular process of ubiquitination. RTG-PRO supports this on-going scientific exchange and we are happy to implement the newly gained knowledge in our own studies.

At the 3^rd Young Investigators Seminar on February 14, the spokesperson of the Research Training Group Barbara Bröker took the opportunity to present the extensive and versatile qualification program of the Research Training Group to the PhD researchers. In addition to the work in the laboratory, there are many opportunities for further training in workshops, visiting other working groups, listening to lectures of guest scientists and finally presenting one's own work at international conferences. The qualification program starts on April 11 with a workshop on good scientific practice. Following this presentation, again two doctoral students had the opportunity to present their projects and a paper was discussed.

The scientific exchange is on! The second "young investigators seminar" took place at the beginning of January. From now on, every month two doctoral students will report on the status of their project and a third will present a current paper for discussion. Besides the science, there is of course also time to talk about organizational matters. The next meeting will be held on February 14, 2022. Due to the pandemic situation, all meetings will take place online only until further notice.

The PhD qualification program of the research training group RTG-PRO aims to help excellent doctoral researchers develop into outstanding scientists who can fill leadership positions in academia, clinics, or industry. Scientific independence, self-confidence, and the readiness for interdisciplinary and intercultural cooperation should characterize the researchers in RTG-PRO.

The doctoral candidates are supervised by a thesis advisory committee (TAC), whereby the first PI of their project is the main supervisor. Transparency of mutual expectations and obligations is achieved through a written supervision agreement. In personal interviews with the TAC, each doctoral student presents the progress of his or her project and doctorate, adjusts priorities, and receives support in the event of problems. His or her career plans are also a central subject of consultation.

Central to the qualification program are yearly retreats with all RTG members. The doctoral and postdoctoral researchers will present and discuss their projects with internal and external experts.

A monthly young investigators’ jour fixe will be conducted by the early career researchers themselves.

A spring school is scheduled for the 2^nd year to provide an overview of the central topics of RTG-PRO. The doctoral and post-doctoral researchers will thus be able to complement the knowledge gained by working on their projects.

As a special highlight, RTG-PRO will organize an international conference in the third doctoral year, and doctoral candidates will be encouraged to present their findings, chair sessions, and engage in discussion with the international scientists.

On a day-to-day basis, a visiting scientist program will provide insights, updates, and networking opportunities. Weekly laboratory rounds are in place at all participating institutions. In their projects, the graduates will use a digital laboratory documentation system.  

A course program will provide training in numerous scientific methods and transferable skills. Emphasis will be placed on good scientific practice; computer-assisted analysis, modelling, and bioinformatics; scientific writing as well as science communication.