Prof. Martin Hrabě de Angelis (CEO DZD and Helmholtz Munich) opened the event on behalf of all Munich DZG site speakers. State Minister Markus Blume (Bavarian State Ministry of Science and the Arts), Prof. Matthias Tschöp (CEO Helmholtz Munich and Vice President of the Helmholtz Association for the Research Field Health) and Prof. Thomas Gudermann (Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at LMU Munich) gave welcoming speeches on the importance of the DZG and underlined the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration.
Overview presentations on the DZG
As this year's spokesperson of the DZG, Prof. Martin Hrabě de Angelis presented the structures created for the DZG-wide cooperation, such as the DZG Innovation Fund for the promotion of interdisciplinary projects, a joint office and the DZG working groups. Experts from all DZGs are involved in the working groups on research IT, promotion of young researchers, patient participation, public relations, regulatory aspects of clinical studies, global health and biobanking in order to jointly advance these topics across diseases.
In short overview presentations by the Munich site speakers, including a contribution by Professor Michael Hoelscher, DZIF Munich site speaker and Director of the Tropical Institute at the LMU Klinikum, the excellent research in the individual DZGs as well as the variety of existing collaborations between the DZGs at the Munich site were demonstrated.
Exciting translational highlights were then presented, ranging from promising fundamental findings in health research to novel diagnostic and therapeutic approaches. The first results of the joint DZG Innovation Fund project "Cell and Gene Therapy", in which scientists from the DKTK, DZD, DZHK, DZIF and DZL are involved, were also presented by Prof. Tobias Feuchtinger (DZIF).
Bavarian Cloud for Health Data
In his keynote lecture, Prof. Julien Gagneur (TUM) presented the pioneering concept of the "Bavarian Cloud for Health Data" for data processing. The audience showed great interest in exchanging ideas.
Strengthening the DZG collaborations in Munich
In a concluding panel discussion of the Munich DZG site speakers, ideas and success factors were collected to further promote the exchange between the various DZG centers. The audience also actively participated in a survey on ideas on how collaborations within the DZG in Munich could be strengthened. For example, a platform or a series of lectures on existing infrastructures could be set up. Events for scientific networking such as the DZG Munich Day were described as very beneficial and participation in DZG-wide events was considered very valuable for the promotion of young scientists with regard to translational research.
The conclusion of this very successful event was that the DZG scientists consider a regular cross-DZG exchange to be very beneficial and profitable in order to strengthen the many existing collaborations between the DZG in Munich, to further develop targeted synergies and to establish new contacts.
Original announcement: German Centers for Health Research (DZG), July 25, 2023
