A significant boost to a research career
Launch of the new research funding programme iIMMUNE_ACS
The Advanced Clinician Scientist Programme iIMMUNE_ACS (interfaces in immunomedicine) is a new research funding programme launched within the German Centre for Immunotherapy (DZI) at Erlangen University Hospital. Funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), this programme offers ten specialist doctors engaged in research the opportunity to carry out a research project in the field of immunomedicine for a period of six years alongside their patient care duties, whilst receiving training in patient-centred immunomedicine at the DZI. Four candidates from Erlangen University Hospital have successfully applied for one of the coveted places in the first round. Six pioneering years now lie ahead of them. The funded Advanced Clinician Scientists (ACS) will contribute to the development of innovative diagnostic and therapeutic strategies in immunology for autoimmune, inflammatory, infectious, degenerative and oncological diseases.
What makes iIMMUNE_ACS unique is that, in addition to providing specialist doctors with extra funding for research, the programme guarantees them a dedicated research allowance of 50 per cent of their working hours over a period of six years. It forms an extension of the clinician-scientist programmes for specialist doctors at the Interdisciplinary Centre for Clinical Research at Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg (CSP I and II) and at the DZI (NOTICE) at Erlangen University Hospital. Through an advanced, interdisciplinary training programme, the ACS are prepared for a clinical-scientific leadership role. An individually appointed team of mentors supports each ACS in achieving their defined goals.
iIMMUNE_ACS is headed by Prof. Dr. Beate Winner, Head of the Stem Cell Biology Department at Erlangen University Hospital, and her deputy Prof. Dr. Maximilian Waldner, Senior Physician at Medical Clinic 1 – Gastroenterology, Pneumology and Endocrinology at Erlangen University Hospital. Both have been particularly committed to bringing the ACS programme to Erlangen. Prof. Winner cites one of the most important reasons for this: “The programme fills a gap by enabling medical researchers to incorporate innovative future technologies into translational research whilst simultaneously preparing them for leadership roles.”
Erlangen is one of a total of eight locations in Germany where the BMBF is funding ACS programmes simultaneously. Cooperation between the locations is part of the concept – joint events provide all participating ACS centres with a wide range of opportunities to exchange ideas, network and take part in the training programmes offered by the other locations across the country.
The first Advanced Clinician Scientist Fellows
At the Erlangen site, PD Dr. Dr. Bettina Hohberger (Eye Clinic), Dr. Moritz Leppkes (Department of Medicine 1 – Gastroenterology, Pneumology and Endocrinology), PD Dr Fabian Müller (Department of Medicine 5 – Haematology and Medical Oncology) and PD Dr Martin Regensburger (Department of Molecular Neurology) have successfully applied for a iIMMUNE_ACS fellowship. Dr Regensburger is looking forward to the next six years: “The funding from iIMMUNE_ACS gives me, on the one hand, the freedom and, on the other, the expertise and network to address issues arising from patient care using innovative research approaches. Networking with the other funded clinician-scientist sites in Germany will provide us with valuable contacts with other researching physicians.”
Strengthening Erlangen as a research location through iIMMUNE_ACS
iIMMUNE_ACS offers the funded ACS the opportunity to gain a more comprehensive understanding of and make use of the existing excellent research infrastructure at FAU. This enables the ACS to expand their knowledge in areas relevant to their research, and to learn and apply new techniques. At the same time, the research centres can further develop and apply their methods through their direct link to clinical research. Collaborations are in place with, amongst others, the Department of Artificial Intelligence in Biomedical Engineering at FAU, the Max Planck Centre for Physics and Medicine, the Optical Imaging Centre at FAU and the Chair of Medical Informatics at FAU.
For iIMMUNE_ACS, the BMBF provided additional funding for hardware and software, which was used, among other things, to purchase two high-performance servers. By networking these with the existing central servers at Erlangen University Hospital, the capacity for computationally intensive applications such as OMICS analyses (the identification and quantification of all proteins, metabolites, gene transcripts, etc. from a blood or tissue sample) or machine learning – not only for iIMMUNE_ACS, but for all research conducted by the Faculty of Medicine at FAU.
Kick-off Event
iIMMUNE_ACS officially launched in Erlangen with a kick-off event on 17 March 2023. In addition to the ACS mentors, the event was attended by the heads of the participating institutions, the cooperation partners at FAU, the clinician scientists and their supervisors, as well as representatives from ARIADNEmed and the Women’s Representative of the Faculty of Medicine. Prof. Winner presented the iIMMUNE_ACS programme and explained the details of its implementation on site. Prof. Dr. med. univ. Georg Schett, spokesperson for the DZI and winner of the 2023 Leibniz Prize, spoke about developments in the field of clinical immunology. In the concluding presentation, Prof. Waldner introduced the Advanced Clinician Scientists and their research projects.
More Informations:
Dr. Jasmin Raufer
iimmune.acs(at)uk-erlangen.de
