Document Actions

You are here: Home Equal opportunities News Archive

Archive

POSTPONED: 10th anniversary of EIRA and completion of the 5th round of EIRA-mentoring

 

The celebration planned for May 6, 2020 in the library of the women's clinic on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the EIRA-mentoring programme, as well as the completion of the 5th round, has been postponed to October. As soon as the new date is set, you will find the information here.


 

 

Sabine-von-Kleist Habilitation Price 2019 awarded

Osteoarthritis is the most common of all joint diseases and the main cause of chronic pain and disability worldwide. PD Dr. Johanna Kubosch from the University Medical Center Freiburg has been awarded the "Sabine-von-Kleist-Habilitation Price" 2019 for her habilitation thesis. "I examined the influence of inflammation on cartilage breakdown and whether stem cells obtained from the synovial membrane have a positive effect on the metabolic balance in the joint," explains Kubosch. The aim of her work was to improve the use of cartilage regenerative methods.

The Medical Faculty has been awarding the € 10,000 habilitation price (formerly Mathilde-Wagner Habilitation Price) to young women scientists once a year since 2014.

The namesake of the award, Professor Dr. Sabine von Kleist, held the professorship for immunobiology at the University of Freiburg and was the first vice dean and dean of the Medical Faculty of Freiburg from 1987 to 1989.

   

 

Medizin_Sabine-von-Kleist-Preis_Kubosch.jpg

 

Johanna Kubosch

Photo: University Clinic Freiburg

           

 


Start of the 5th round of EIRA-mentoring

The 5th round of the EIRA-mentoring programme started on October 10, 2018 with a kick-off event in the library of the Women's Clinic. After a greeting from the acting dean Prof. Dr. Norbert P. Südkamp, ​​Prof. Dr. Marlene Bartos, Equal Opportunities Officer of the Medical Faculty and Maike Busson-Spielberger, M.A., Head of the EIRA-mentoring programme, welcomed the 20 mentees of the new mentoring round. Subsequently, Birgit Heidtke, a historian from Freiburg, held a keynote lecture with the title: "Strong new beginnings: Women's suffrage and women's politics in Freiburg in 1918/19. An impulse lecture on the 100th anniversary of women's suffrage in Germany".


  

EIRA-mentoring at the Medical Faculty—Completion of the 4th round

The fourth round of the EIRA-mentoring programme at the Medical Faculty came to a celebratory end at the beginning of May 2018 with a closing event in the library of the Women's Clinic. After a greeting from the Dean of the Medical Faculty—Prof. Dr. Kerstin Krieglstein—and a keynote speech by the long-time mentor of the programme—Prof. Dr. Brigitte Stiller—on the subject of “staying a doctor and scientist—with heart and mind”, the certificates were presented to the 19 participants. The event was musically framed by Prof. Dr. Claudia Spahn, musician medicine and also long-time mentor at EIRA, as well as Seraphim Schirrmacher, student and employee of musician medicine.

Handing over of the participation certificates

Photo: Maja Zill

 

 

Mathilde-Wagner-Habilitation Price 2018 awarded

 

Research into immunodeficiency


Marta Rizzi
receives Mathilde-Wagner Price for her habilitation on research into defects in immune cells.

PD Dr. Marta Rizzi, doctor at the University Medical Center Freiburg, receives the Mathilde- Wagner Habilitation Price 2018, which is endowed with 10,000 euros. Rizzi leads a research group at the Clinic for Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology. In her habilitation thesis she examined the development of B-lymphocytes, defence cells of the immune system, as well as their integration into immune processes in patients with congenital immune defects. Damage in the development of B-cells can lead to so-called primary antibody deficiency symptoms (PAD). A quarter of PAD patients show an early disturbance in the development of B-cells, the cause of which is still unknown. In her project, Rizzi would like to investigate the B-cell development in blood stem cells and bone marrow tissue in the next step. The doctor wants to find genes linked to the PAD and understand the mechanism that is responsible for the disturbed B-cell development. Understanding the underlying defect would provide a basis for exploring new therapeutic options.

   

Foto Marta Rizzi.png

Marta Rizzi

Photo: Cornelius Struck                            



Mathilde-Wagner-Habilitation Price 2017 awarded

 

Tissue regeneration with the help of stem cells

Susanne Proksch receives Mathilde-Wagner Price for her habilitation on new approaches to preserving teeth.

PD Dr. Susanne Proksch, Clinic for Dental Conservation and Periodontology at the Freiburg University Medical Center, receives the Mathilde-Wagner Price, endowed with 10,000 euros. In her habilitation, she examined how stem cells from the bone marrow, from which bones and cartilage, among other things, can develop, can be used to regenerate tissue such as the tooth supporting apparatus or the tooth pulp, the so-called nerve. To do this, she examined in a test tube how stem cells from the bone marrow behave when external factors act on them and how they interact with cells from the tooth support system as well as bone cells from the jaw. The new findings on the behaviour of the cells are primarily intended to serve finding new therapy options for patients by introducing the stem cells into a periodontium that has been broken down by gingivitis. This would make it possible to keep teeth longer instead of using dentures. In addition, the development of new tissue replacement materials for the treatment of tooth defects is conceivable.

The Equal Opportunities Office of the Medical Faculty of the University of Freiburg has been awarding the Mathilde-Wagner Price annually since 2014 for outstanding post-doctoral theses by female scientists in the faculty. Mathilde Wagner, who gave the award its name, was the first woman to receive a doctorate in medicine as a properly enrolled student in Freiburg in 1901—and is, thus, one of the first women doctors in Germany. The price is awarded according to three criteria: publication in high-ranking journals, excellent scientific achievements and focus of the habilitation on current scientific questions in basic research in pre-clinical, clinical or applied research. The price money can be used for material, personnel or investments.

 

 


             Susanne Proksch

Photo: private                

 

 

Mathilde-Wagner-Habilitation Price 2016 awarded

 

PD Dr. Dimitra Kiritsi from the Department of Dermatology and Venereology at the Freiburg University Medical Center receives the Mathilde-Wagner Price, endowed with 10,000 euros. The Equal Opportunities Office of the Medical Faculty has been awarding the award annually since 2014 for outstanding post-doctoral theses by female scientists in the faculty. Kiritsi has been a participant in the faculty's EIRA-mentoring programme, which aims to increase the number of female post-doctoral qualifications in medicine and the number of women in all disciplines.

The scientist researched the postzygotic mosaicism in hereditary skin diseases. This refers to an organism made up of genetically different cells that emerged from a zygote–a cell that is created by the fusion of the nuclei of male and female germ cells. A mosaic is created by a mutation of a single cell, which subsequently multiplies. This creates areas of skin with different genetic backgrounds—both healthy and diseased. The mosaicism in hereditary skin diseases manifests itself in only one part of the skin and is therefore not detectable via genetic analysis of the blood. Kiritsi was able to identify such skin mosaics and to show that mosaicism can not only lead to disease, but also to the spontaneous healing of diseased skin cells. In patients with genetically determined fragile skin, there may be areas in which the skin cells correct themselves spontaneously. This so-called reversion mosaicism represents a new possibility of cell therapy for patients with genetic skin diseases.     Dimitra_Kiritsi_2016_2.jpgDimitra Kiritsi, Photo: University Clinic Freiburg                            

Prof. Bartos accepted the invitation to "Career Talk"

 

Prof. Bartos was invited to speak at a "Career talk" which took place on November 23, 2016 in Regensburg as part of the "8th Meeting and Symposium of the BMBF-funded independent research groups in Neuroscience". You can find the exact programme here.


 

Exhibition catalogue "Searching for Traces - Female Students, Scientists and the First Professors" published

 

A catalogue has now been published for the exhibition "Women at the Medical Faculty Freiburg" that took place last year. It is now available in the Equal Opportunities Office of the Medical Faculty, Breisacher Str. 153, Level 2, from Maike Busson-Spielberger, 0761 270 - 84910.

 


 

Exhibitions on "Women at the Medical Faculty Freiburg - Female Students, Scientists and the First Female Professors"

 

Two exhibitions on the history of female doctors in Germany – to be seen from May 20 to August 31, 2015 in the Casino of the University Hospital and in the Uniseum.

Two exhibitions document the history of women in medicine: in the casino of the Freiburg University Clinic, the exhibition “Women at the Medical Faculty in Freiburg” presents the female students who were enrolled in this subject for the first time in Germany from 1899 onwards. At the same time, the Uniseum is showing the history of women in medicine from the 1870s to the end of the Second World War with the exhibition “Female Doctors - The Implementation of the Professional Profile in Germany”.

The casino is open: Monday to Friday, 11 a.m. - 2.15 p.m.

The university clinic's cafeteria is open Monday to Friday between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m.

You will find the Uniseum in Bertoldstr. 17 (opening hours: Thursday and Saturday 2:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m., Friday 2:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m).

 
  
 
Berlin WS 1903.jpg

                                     
 
Berlin, winter semester 1903/04: Medical students practice in the dissecting room. Photo: Interfoto, Friedrich Rauch

 

 

 

Fill-in-the-Gap Scholarship Recipients 2015

 

Juli – December: Stephanie Kraft, M.Sc.

Juli – December: Catharina Donkels

Juli – December: Dr. Nicole Roßkothen-Kuhl

Juli – December: Franziska Pankratz, M.Sc.

October – December: Kaert Denks

October – Deçember: Alix Hubbe


  

Mathilde-Wagner-Habilitation Price 2015 awarded

 

Freiburg physicians awarded with the Mathilde-Wagner price

Dr. Lena Illert from the Clinic for Internal Medicine I: Hematology, Oncology and Stem Cell Transplantation and Dr. Elke Neumann-Haefelin from the Clinic for Internal Medicine IV: Nephrology and General Medicine at the University Clinic Freiburg received the Mathilde-Wagner Price, endowed with 10,000 euros, from the Equal Opportunities Office of the Medical Faculty in Freiburg. It has been awarding the price annually since 2014 for outstanding post-doctoral theses by scientists from the Medical Faculty of the Albert-Ludwigs-University. Mathilde Wagner, who gave the award its name, was the first woman to receive a doctorate in medicine as a properly enrolled student in Freiburg in 1901, and is, thus, one of the first women doctors in Germany. Both researchers who were honoured this year are participants in the EIRA-mentoring programme of the Medical Faculty, which aims to increase the number of female habilitations in medicine and women who can be employed in all disciplines.

In her studies, Lena Illert would like to gain knowledge at the molecular level about the role of tyrosine kinases in the development of cancer. Tyrosine kinases are proteins that transmit signals to other proteins and thus influence their activity. Illert's focus is on aggressive lymphoma disease (ALCL), which occurs in patients with an average age of 34 years. She was able to identify the protein Nuclear Interaction Partner of ALK (NIPA) and, thus, a molecular target structure of ALCL that could be promising for the development of therapies. She is currently investigating ways of eliminating the lymphoma stem cell so that the cancer is permanently cured.


  

 screenshot-2021-03-18-at-10-51-55.png

Elke Neumann-Haefelin researches the regulation of aging, especially of the kidneys, which lose functionality in the course of life. With the help of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, the scientist observes how genetic signals and environmental factors control aging mechanisms. Caenorhabditis elegans is suitable as a model organism because it is easy to breed and its genetic make-up is very similar to that of humans. Neumann-Haefelin showed how the so-called TOR signaling pathway influences cellular mechanisms for detoxification and how it regulates aging processes. The findings offer starting points to counteract the decline in certain organ functions and thus improve health in old age. screenshot-2021-03-18-at-10-52-09.png

 Photos: private, Medical Center University Hospital

 

Mathilde-Wagner-Habilitation Price 2014 awarded

 

Freiburg physicians awarded with the Mathilde-Wagner price

In 2014, for the first time, the Equal Opportunities Office of the Medical Faculty awarded attendees of the EIRA-mentoring programme with the Mathilde-Wagner habilitation price.

Dr. Wibke Bechtel-Walz, Department of Medicine IV: Nephrology and Primary Care as well as Dr. Christine Dierks, Department of Medicine I: Hematology, Oncology, and Stem-Cell Transplantation of the University Hospital Freiburg, received the Mathilde-Wagner price awarded with 20.000 € for outstanding habilitation theses. The prices are being awarded on the basis of the publication criteria of high-profile journals, excellent scientific achievement as well as on the basis of a habilitation focus on current scientific problems of fundamental research in the pre-clinic, clinic or applied research. The trophy money can be used for material resources, staff or investments.

In her habilitation project, Bechtel-Walz deals with the mechanisms of aging processes in the human kidney. The so-called podocytes play a key role in this. These highly specialiced cells are located in the kidney corpuscles and are particularly susceptible to environmental influences such as oxygen radicals. Subsequently changes to parts of the genome occur, which influence genes in their activity without changing the DNA sequence itself. Bechtel-Walz is researching these epigenetic changes as well as possible therapies.           screenshot-2021-03-18-at-10-47-34.png
Dierks is concerned with factors that are important in the development and maintenance of leukaemic tumors and in tumor metastasis in pancreatic carcinomas, melanomas and ovarian carcinomas. In order to do this, she is researching the role of certain enzymes, so-called kinases, as well as the hedgehog signaling pathway, an embryonic signaling pathway that is reactivated in tumor cells. Her focus is on the identification of genes that are essential for the maintenance of malignant tumor cells and on the development of new therapeutic approaches.

 

screenshot-2021-03-18-at-10-31-38.png

Photos: Inga Schneider

 Mathilde Wagner, who gave the award its name, was the first woman to receive a doctorate in medicine as a properly enrolled student in Freiburg in 1901, and is, thus, one of the first women doctors in Germany. The Medical Faculty of the University of Freiburg has been awarding the price to participants in the EIRA-mentoring programme since 2014. The programme, named after the goddess of medicine in Norse mythology, aims to increase the number of female habilitations in medicine and women who can be employed in all disciplines. It started in 2010 and is currently promoting 20 mentees over a period of two years.



Fill-in-the-Gap Scholarship Recipients 2014

 

November – December: PD Dr. Sabine Hellwig

September – December: Shalaka Wahane

September – December: Dr. Stefanie Feierabend

November – December: Alexandra Menner

 

Guide on "how to write a successful research proposal":

 

"ProSciencia" -  Science-based consultation, business consulting and training counsel,  composed a guide that provides support in order to improve the written research proposal. The guide can be downloaded here (currently only in German available).