Report by Philipp Glock: Joint Retreat 2017 in Basel

For this year's retreat, our GRK 2062 teamed up with two other European graduate schools with very similar scientific aims: The Research Center for Functional Molecular Systems from the Netherlands and the NCCR Molecular Systems Engineering from Switzerland. The schools jointly organized a pre-conference taking place at the University of Basel before the first International Conference on Molecular Systems Engineering (ICMSE 2017). During this pre-conference, the PhD students and postdocs were joined by Benjamin Davis, Vincent Noireaux and Roy Bar-Ziv, three internationally renowned researchers covering various aspects of synthetic biology. In addition to their keynote lectures, inspiring talks were given by selected postdoctoral researchers and PhD candidates of the three programs. During the poster session, posters by GRK 2062 members Martin Rossa and Chiara Gandini stood out and were selected for poster prizes. Beyond science itself, there were sessions about scientific publishing, the philosophy of life sciences, working in Start-Ups and a most entertaining science slam performed by members of the graduate programs, followed by a pizza party. In summary, the pre-conference offered great opportunities to present our science in a relaxed environment, and was especially instrumental in getting to know fellow PhD students from the other two graduate schools. The already sleep-deprived junior researchers then continued to attend the main conference, which featured some of the most esteemed researchers of our field. Another highlight was the conference dinner at the Roche tower that followed a keynote lecture by Nobel laureate Stefan Hell. And between all of this, the GRK members even found some time to get to know the charming city of Basel.

Report: RISE Program

Caroline Blassick (awardee): This summer, I had the opportunity to work at LMU through an internship funded by the DAAD. This DAAD program, known as RISE, matches American, Canadian, and British university students with PhD candidates in labs across Germany, where they collaborate on a project over the course of a summer. I was matched with Mona Dotzler, a PhD student in the Papenfort Lab at the LMU Biocenter.
Our project focused on uncovering the role of a small regulatory RNA in the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. This RNA is known as Vcr082 and is highly expressed at low cell density. I gained several insights into the behavior of Vcr082, such as its ability to inhibit the expression of cholera toxin. This regulation occurs at the RNA level rather than through the short peptide that Vcr082 encodes for.
In addition, I gained an understanding of what the scientific community in Germany is like. There were surprisingly few differences between the Papenfort lab and my lab in my home country — and wherever differences did arise, they taught me lessons about how to improve as a researcher. That's why this collaboration was so valuable; I believe we all can learn much from one another!
Mona Dotzler: It was a pleasure to have Caroline around for the summer and also the project moved a big step forward. For me as a supervisor, it was a very interesting experience to work with a student from a different educational background. If you consider taking part in the RISE program, feel free to contact me with any questions.

Upcoming Transferable Skills Courses

Effective communication: how to get to the point, Sabine Walter
17th and 18th of November, 2017.
In this course, you will get to know an easy communication structure which will help you to communicate in a convincing way. You will become conscious of body language and master your emotions even in critical situations. Furthermore, you will learn how to give criticism constructively without offending or creating conflict. You work with two Executive Coaches supported by Camcorder. After every recorded video, you will get individual personal feedback from one of the coaches. More details

Scientific Writing, Science Craft
This course will run on the 22nd and 23rd of February, 2018. Course description

Effective Visual Communication for Scientists, Seyens
Attention: course postponed to spring 2018
If created properly, graphics are the most effective way to explain complex ideas in the shortest amount of time, attract audience and raise credibility. Nevertheless, researchers aren't trained in visual communication in the traditional PhD curricula and are supposed to acquire these skills by themselves. This workshop uses a hands-on approach to help researchers visually present their own research through various means of scientific communication.