Faculty of Medicine / University Hospital Leipzig

Dean	Professor Dr. Joachim Mössner
Address Phone Fax E-mail URL	Liebigstraße 27, 04103 Leipzig (03 41) 97 15 930 (03 41) 97 15 339 teichh@medizin.uni-leipzig.de http://www.uni-leipzig.de/medizin

Research Activities at the Faculty

	Research Activities at the Faculty
	Topics of Doctorates and Postdoctoral Qualifications / Previous Years: 1998, 1997, 1996, 1993 - 95
	Reports of the Institutes, Clinics and Departments Institutes • Clinics • Centres • IZKF • Other Institutions

1999 was a year marked by fundamental changes within the Faculty of Medicine, the most prominent being alterations made to the legal structure and status of the University Hospital which came into effect on 01.07.99. However, the year will also be remembered for widespread discussion and substantial progress in the research arena, including the attraction of external funding to further support the growth in our research activities. Milestones include:

• Opening of the Coordination Centre for Clinical Trials (KKSL)
• Entry into the consolidation phase for the Interdisciplinary Centre for Clinical Research (IZKF).
• Progression of the postgraduate research unit "Intercellular Communication in Normal and Pathologically Altered Central Nervous System" into the second phase of funding.
• 6 successful EU-Project applications, one of which is to be coordinated from Leipzig.
• Several successful applications to the Medical Competence Network Programs (BrainNet, MedNet "Malignant Lymphoma" and MedNet "Rheumatism").
• Initiation of the Lead-projects "Molecular Pain Research" and "Proteomanalysis" with participation of scientists from the Faculty of Medicine.
• Continuation of the Joint Projects "Public Health-Saxony" and "ReHa Cooporative Berlin-Brandenburg-Saxony".

Interdisciplinary Centre for Clinical Research

Co-ordination of Clinical Studies

One unique feature of the Faculty of Medicine resulting from these developments deserves particular emphasis. Only in two instances within the whole of Germany has a Centre for the Co-ordination of Clinical Studies been established at the same site as an Interdisciplinary Centre for Clinical Studies: in Tübingen and in Leipzig. This constellation gives us the potential to smooth the passage between the research laboratory and the clinic, by facilitating the close co-ordination and local evaluation of novel therapeutics or procedures in clinical trials within the region. This, of course, contributes further to the attraction of Leipzig as a site for the development of medically orientated biotechnology and pharmaceutical concerns.

External Funded Research Projects

A total of 17.6 million DM of external funding throughout 1999 has been used to support 327 research projects and 180 research positions. The proportion of externally reviewed projects is actually down compared to the previous year, largely due to the reduction in the governmental contribution towards research within the IZKF, the full support of which is being assumed progressively by the University according to the original plan. It should also be noted, however, that the establishment of large scale collaborative project groups (such as the DFG funded Sonderforschungsbereiche, or Forschergruppen) in the Faculty of Medicine has yet to be successful, and that further effort will have to be concentrated in this direction in the future. The consolidation of research specialities is the major aim of an application made by the Faculty to the BMBF in answer to a call for proposals to "Improve the Efficiency of Clinical Research in Medical Faculties of the Former East Germany." This proposal was developed after intensive discussion throughout the Faculty in the Autumn of 1999, and based largely on an excellent response to a call from the Dean for suggestions which would consolidate and extend the research profile already established by the IZKF, and allow further areas of key interest to be incorporated in a concerted manner. A large number of proposals were received covering areas as diverse as clinical and molecular oncology, developmental neurobiology, epidemiology of inherited disease, public health, genetic drug targeting, and a centre for medical image processing. Working from these individual proposals, we developed a program which should build on to the outstanding contribution already made by the IZKF within its three key disciplines (rheumatology and immunology, endocrinology and vascular biology, and the neurosciences), and capitalize on the opportunities presented by the establishment of the KKSL, by incorporating two new key research areas:

• Cellular programmes and function (Applied Cell Biology).
• The development of Psycho-social treatment strategies in response to a changing society and in medical technology.

Focus on these key areas will provide a framework within which continued efforts to establish externally funded collaborative research programs such as the SFB and Forschergruppen should be orientated. Experience is already to hand in the form of the participation of research groups from the Faculty of Medicine in a number of inter-faculty research programs. These include SFB 294 in the Faculty of Physics and Geosciences, SFB 197 in the Faculty of Medicine at the Friedrich-Schiller University in Jena, and the two Innovation Groups (Centre of Excellence) "Chemical Signal and Biological Answer" in the Faculty of Chemistry and Mineralogy, and "Phenomena at Miniaturisation Limits" in the Faculty of Physics and Geosciences.

Biotechnical Biomedical Centre

Together with the Natural Science and Veterinary Faculties, the Faculty of Medicine has developed a concept for the establishment and organization of the Biotechnical Biomedical Centre, Leipzig (BBZ). Within the participating faculties there is already substantial expertise in the areas of molecule design and medical biotechnology (particularly tissue engineering), and this will be further supported by the creation of new Professorships. For the Faculty of Medicine, this provides an opportunity to strengthen interests in the applied aspects of molecular cell therapy (by the targeted manipulation of signaling cascades), in applied stem cell biology and related therapeutic strategies, and in bioanalysis.

Long Standing Collaboration

The Faculty of Medicine enjoys a long standing collaboration with the MPI of Cognitive Neuroscience and the UFZ Centre for Environmental Research Leipzig-Halle, which has led most recently to the initiation of new collaborative projects in the area of developmental biology. Our activities in this area also feature in the application to the BMBF described above. The aim is to set up a collaborative program (with funding in the first instance coming from the BMBF) to improve the efficiency of clinical research in the area of childhood neurological disease ("Developmental Neurology - Focus on Cognition"). It will be particularly important to co-ordinate both the research and clinical activities in the area of Developmental Neurocognition not only within the Medical Faculty, but also with complementary activities in the external participating organisations such as the MPI of Cognitive Neuroscience

PET-Centre

The Positron Emission Tomography Centre (PET-Zentrum) was opened with a Symposium in June 1999. In addition to clinical diagnostics, the Centre will be heavily involved in clinical research.

Graduate Studentships

201 Graduate Studentships were completed successfully in the Faculty of Medicine during 1999, in addition to the large number of graduate studentships from the Natural Sciences who completed their dissertations in Medical Faculty Institutes. There is no doubt that the successful establishment of a further Graduate Research Initiative would be an important measure to further encourage the academic development of our young scientists.

Productivity Ratings

1999 saw a continuation of the policy of using productivity ratings as a basis for the allocation of funds out of the central Budget for Research and Teaching. The criteria used to evaluate productivity (publications, the attraction of external funding, number of doctoral and habilitation degrees etc), and the points system based thereon will be continued throughout the next year. The allocation of research funding from the Domestic Budget was also continued under the same criteria as in 1998 (for Junior-, Collaborative- and Supplementary-Project proposals). It proved possible to fund 43 of the 117 proposals submitted. The initial considerations of possible changes to this program in line with developments in the general research policy within the Faculty are to be found in part 1 of the above-mentioned BMBF-proposal (1. Research Program of the Faculty of Medicine, Leipzig).

A more transparent and structured operating procedure for the allocation of scientific research posts according to profile and productivity was formulated by the Faculty Advisory Committee in May 1999 following a report from the Ad-hoc Commission. Under these conditions, the allocation of Medical-Technical posts will also be keyed to productivity. However, the speed with which these concepts can be translated into practice is currently limited by the staffing situation (including problems associated with the existence of relatively large numbers of permanent contracts).

Max-Bürger Research Centre

The Max-Bürger Research Centre in the Faculty of Medicine will reach completion in the very near future. In addition to the areas occupied by established research groups, 1800m² will be allocated competitively to projects supported by external funding. This constitutes a further improvement in conditions designed to favour the development of our externally-funded basic medical research program in the year 2000.