Medicine

 

Faculty of Medicine coordinates 
Research Training Group 1949

Infectious diseases are among the ten most common causes of death worldwide. Up to now, effective therapies and preventive vaccines have only been available for some of them. The de­velopment of future therapeutic approaches ­requires in-depth knowledge of the underlying processes and courses of infectious diseases: the immune response of the human body to pathogens, for example, plays a crucial role in determining the course of infection. A distinction is traditionally made here between innate and acquired immune response, although they are mutually influential. Only a handful of experts to date have had insight into their interaction in research. In an effort to close this gap, the German Research Foundation (DFG) has established Research Training Group 1949 “Immune Response in Infectious Diseases – Regulation between ­Innate and Adaptive Immunity”. The Group is working on 14 projects with the participation of the University of Duisburg-Essen (as the co­ordinating university), Heinrich Heine Univer­sity Düsseldorf, and Ruhr University Bochum. It is receiving a total of 4.5 million euros in funding over four and a half years. One of the tasks of the Research Training Group is to train excellent early stage researchers in Infectiology and Immunology. For this purpose it is coordinating a three-year doctoral programme for natural scientists and medical doctors conducting research, as well as a one-year structured training programme for medical students. This training is intended to help secure long-term ­advances in this important research field in the Rhine-Ruhr region.