The main problem facing the Medical Faculty is at least partially
compensating for the reduction in regional funding for research
and teaching, which decreased from € 89.5 million in 2000
to € 51.6 million in 2003, by intensifying applications for
grants and other funding. From this point of view income from
grants in 2003, amounting to ca. €18 million, and corresponding
to an increase of 13% compared to the previous year, can be assessed
as particularly positive. If one includes grants administered
by other establishments but benefiting Medical Faculty scientists
(this could be due to student grants, joint projects, changing
universities, etc.) and taking into account the principles of
performance-related research evaluation, the amount is more like
€ 20.3 million. The 324 personnel now financed by grants
represent an increase of ca. 10% compared to the previous year.
The Medical Faculty made good progress in 2003 towards building
up its high-performance research and the necessary modern infrastructure
to achieve this. The scientists at the faculty clearly recognise
the necessity of clustering research activities and making use
of all opportunities for research cooperation. Contributing to
this is the BMBF-supported programme "Improving the efficiency
of clinical research in medical faculties of the former East German
states including Berlin (Charité)" (NBL 3). In accordance
with the goals defined by the NBL 3 programme and the research
guidelines at the University of Leipzig, two main research themes
have been established in the Medical Faculty. Research focus I
"Aberrant control of cellular signal networks in chronic
diseases (applied cell biology)" integrates the faculty's
core themes of neurobiology, endocrinology, immunology and rheumatology
as well as molecular oncology, whereas research focus II "The
development and evaluation of psychosocial forms of care as a
prerequisite for social and medical/technological change"
involves psychosocial medicine and public health. The faculty's
goal is to continue to concentrate its research capacity on the
five core themes mentioned above. Both pre-clinical professorship
positions for research theme I were successfully filled in 2003
(biochemistry II focusing on the research area molecular endocrinology,
and physiology I focusing on the research area neurophysiology),
as was the endowed professorship for health economy in research
core area II. The three appointed professors are already involved
in proposals for setting up a DFG-supported graduate college.
The part of the NBL 3 programme to promote young researchers
was continued in 2003 with the advertising of new jobs. Of particular
note here are the formel.1 and rotation programmes. One third
of the formel.1 programme, which amounts to € 750,000 /year
in total, is financed by the Medical Faculty from its research
and teaching budget. The other two thirds is administered by the
BMBF through the NBL 3 programme. The funding of a maximum of
€ 50,000 per research project for one year provides young
scientists in the formel.1 programme with the opportunity to work
on their own project under their own initiative. The grant awarding
rounds of 2003 led to the initiation of 15 formel.1 projects,
5 rotation projects (where young doctors switch to spend one year
in a theoretical institute) and 7 positions in so-called position
pools (filling positions allocated to an establishment as result
of performance-linked evaluation). The conclusion of the project
phase took the form of a colloquium in January 2004 where the
results of the projects were presented.
Currently, there are five competence centres at the University
all with efficient and modern research infrastructures that are
fully (IZKF and KKSL) or partially integrated into the Medical
Faculty and that will be financed by grants over a longer time
period:
The third and final phase of BMBF support for the Interdisciplinary
Centre for Clinical Research Leipzig (IZKF) at the Medical Faculty
ran out at the end of 2003. The IZKF's infrastructure has proved
itself in all respects and in the future the IZKF will be financed
out of regional funds for research and teaching (€ 3.68 million
per year). In the two-year grant supported phase up to the end
of 2003, 25 research projects, linked to the given project leader's
research establishment, were pursued in the four IZKF core focus
areas mentioned above, i.e. immunology and rheumatology, endocrinology,
neurosciences and molecular oncology. Added to this are central
projects such as three young research groups (neuroimmunological
cell biology, molecular medicine, and since 01.01.2003, fatty
tissue characterisation), core units for various scientific services
(DNA, peptide and fluorescence technologies) and cross platform
groups for particular tasks (NMR spectroscopy). The scientific
methodology cornerstones of the IZKF are medical biotechnology,
new imaging techniques and methods in cell biology.
In July 2003, the IZKF with its research programme for the years
2004 - 2006 underwent assessment by a scientific advisory committee.
The referees positively assessed the IZKF's development in the
preceding years as regards infrastructure and subject matter.
This particularly applied to linking the IZKF'S main focus with
building up the Medical Faculty's profile, to strengthening the
four IZKF core areas through new appointments, to the critical
choice of projects for the fourth project phase commencing in
2004, to the performance-orientated awarding of funds and to the
support for young research groups. The scientific advisory committee
recommended stronger integration of clinical establishments into
the IZKF, e.g. through promoting projects carried out jointly
between a theoretical institute and a clinical establishment,
or through strategic appointment politics. The referees criticised
the lack of grant applications for funding faculty research collaborations
(DFG special research area or graduate college). This particularly
applies to the focus on neurosciences, which have been allotted
50% of the IZKF's funds in the future. At the beginning of 2004,
grant applications were initiated for a DFG-supported graduate
college ("Interneuro: interdisciplinary approaches in cellular
neurosciences") and for the DFG and DAAD supported programme
"postgraduate studies at universities in Germany" (Promotionen
an Hochschulen in Deutschland, PHD). Therefore, it is hoped that
in 2004 the previous years of stagnated grant applications for
large faculty research collaborations will be overcome.
The opening ceremony for BIO CITY Leipzig, where the Biotechnological
Biomedical Centre (BBZ) of the University of Leipzig will play
an important role in linking basic and clinical research to application-orientated
research and converting research results into new biotechnological
processes and products, took place on May 23, 2003. In addition
to prominent political and business guests the Nobel Prize winner
James D. Watson - famous as the co-discoverer of the structure
of DNA - was also present. The second biotechnology day at the
BBZ took place at the same time as the opening of BIO CITY. For
the first time this event included external, renowned representatives
of bioscience research as speakers at the plenary session, but
primarily it was conceived as a forum for young researchers.
The Medical Faculty's participation in the BBZ comprises two
professors (a professor for cell techniques and applied stem cell
biology as well as a professor for molecular cell therapy) and
two young research groups (molecular diagnostics - microarray
techniques as well as solving the structures of membrane associated
proteins using solid state NMR). The year 2003 already saw the
development of close scientific collaborations between scientists
at the BBZ, the IZKF and many other scientists at the Medical
Faculty. Particular attention should be focused on the inclusion
of clinicians and - if scientific results from biomedicine and
biotechnology lead to concrete applications, e.g. in therapy -
the KKSL. In addition, there is the well-developed cross platform
cooperation within the framework of the Interdisciplinary Centre
for Bioinformatics (IZBI). Supported by the positive evaluation
of the Centre within the framework of an external assessment in
May 2003 and the associated further three years of funding by
the DFG with € 3.1 million, the Centre pursues its interdisciplinary
process of bringing bioscientists and medics together with bioinformatics
specialists. Besides the direct involvement of Medical Faculty
scientists in the IZBI (Prof. Löffler, Institute for Medical
Informatics, Statistics and Epidemology; Prof. Horn, Institute
for Clinical Immunology and Transfusion Medicine) collaborations
are developing between the BBZ, the Medical Clinic and Polyclinic
III, the University Woman's clinic, the IZKF and the KKSL. It
is anticipated that such an accumulation of scientific potential
and the resulting close interlinking of the Leipzig area will
be useful to its University and of course our Faculty.
Combining forces with the Clinic and Polyclinic for Ear Nose
and Throat Treatment/Plastic Surgery, the Clinic for Heart Surgery
and the Clinic and Polyclinic for Neurosurgery, and within the
framework of the BMBF programme "Centres for Innovative Skills",
the Medical Faculty created the interdisciplinary research group
"Image assisted surgical navigation and medical robotics".
In 2003 this group developed a strategic concept for an Innovation
Centre for Computer Assisted Surgery (ICCAS) in Leipzig and successfully
defended this concept before the BMBF at the beginning of 2004.
The Leipzig Innovation Centre will be supported for the next five
years with almost € 3 million in funding from the BMBF. It
is conceived as a centre at the University and will drive interdisciplinary
science and teaching in the area of computer and robot assisted
surgery at the Medical Faculty, in close contact with the Faculty
for Mathematics and Informatics, the Veterinary Medicine Faculty
and the Leipzig College for Business, Technology and Art. In addition,
it is application-orientated with the goal of evaluating the business
potential of scientific results. With respect to the Medical Faculty
the establishment of a C3 professorship in innovative computer
assisted surgery is assured. Two junior professorships with associated
young research groups supported by the BMBF will be established
at the Centre. Funding from industry and from the state of Saxon
should make up the remaining financial provisions for the Centre.
2003 was also a successful year for expanding the Medical Faculty's
second central research focus "Psychosocial forms of care".
Besides the appointment of the endowed professor for health economy,
of particular importance was the creation of the Centre for Prevention
and Rehabilitation (ZPR) at the University of Leipzig, inaugurated
on 11.06.2003. Scientists of the Medical Faculty, the Faculty
for Sports Sciences and the Faculty for Biosciences, Pharmacy
and Psychology have come together in this Centre to jointly investigate
the needs, efficacy, quality and cost effectiveness of preventative
and rehabilitation measures in various areas of the health system.
The contract between the University of Leipzig and Tongii University
(Medical College) in Shanghai, already discussed in the research
report from 2002, was successfully drawn up in October 2003 when
heads of faculty visited Shanghai. The partnership is to be extended
in research and teaching. Young research scientists from China
are currently working at the Medical Faculty.
At the end of 2003, the University of Leipzig received funding
approval for a joint project in the BMBF programme "Systems
Biology". Under the title "Sysbio - platform cell biology:
in vitro systems with hepatocytes" the Institute for Biochemistry,
the Rudolph Boehm Institute for Pharmacology and Toxicology together
with the Institute for Forensic Medicine as well as the BBZ chair
for cell technology and applied stem cell biology are all involved,
each with a sub-project. The participating establishments will
receive € 1.35 million over the next three years. At the
same time this joint project is assigned to the interdisciplinary
Centre for Toxicology at the University of Leipzig established
in 2003. The research focus of this Centre will be toxic environmental
factors and health as well as toxicological aspects of life styles.
Also worth emphasising is an international project in the Human
Frontier Science Program (HFSP) approved in 2003 with partners
from France and the USA and funding of $1.35 million for three
years. The coordinator of this project is Prof. Eilers, who received
the NBL 3-sponsored C4 professorship in physiology.
Numerous BMBF joint projects involving participation of the Medical
Faculty (e.g. Competence Network Medicine, Rehaverbund (Rehabilitation
Association) Berlin-Brandenburg-Sachsen) were continued in 2003,
including the SMWK-supported biotechnology projects and the special
research area "Protein states with relevance in cell biology
and medicine", located at the Martin Luther University of
Halle-Wittenberg and the University of Leipzig (Faculty for Biosciences,
Pharmacy and Psychology as well as the Medical Faculty). Participation
in the 6th EU research framework project continued as before.
To date, there are two approved sub-projects (Institute for Formal
Ontology and Medical Information Science and the Department for
Haematology and Oncology of the Medical Clinic II) in the excellence
network.
The performance-oriented research evaluation and awarding of
funding to the Medical Faculty reflects its increasing performance
level in the area of research. This affects not only grant awarded
income in 2003 (see above) but also, for example, the increase
in PhD and "Habilitation" qualifications and leads to
an increase in the total number of performance points for all
scientists in the faculty. To improve work opportunities and as
a stimulus for further grant applications, the Medical Faculty
will provide a research bonus to scientists who applied for DFG
grants in 2003.
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