The new dimension to international research training in Germany
State-of-the-art laboratory, computing and library facilities, a well structured scientific programme and special support service for foreign students provide a stimulating environment for young researchers to excel in science. Dedicated supervision and mentoring arrangements, the training of transferable skills, and a transdisciplinary Science College to tackle overarching issues of our society prepare for professional perspectives beyond a pure academic career.
Only three years after AIDS was described for the first time, in 1984 American and French researchers identified the pathogen causing the immune deficiency disease – the HIV virus. Scientists and politicians reacted prematurely, announcing a rapid solution to the problem. But the development of an HIV vaccine today resembles a “Chronicle of sustained failure”. At the moment, almost unbeknown to the general public, researchers are developing and testing a gene-based HIV vaccine which is rousing great expectations.
There is not much medicine can do when microscopically tiny lesions trigger tumour development in the pancreas. To stop this in the early stages would entail detecting just a few cells from the outside. An interdisciplinary team now wants to make the early stages of cancer visible through molecular imaging, like a “biological magnifying glass”.
Jens Lehmann, German goalkeeper during the 2006 World Cup, flew like greased lightening into exactly the right corner and held two of four Argentinean penalties shot at his goal – his team beat Argentina and Lehmann was a star. The goalkeeper's reactions to penalty shootouts provide a good example of the highly complex control mechanisms for movement sequences.
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