The scientific performance of the Medical Faculty in 2007 was once more distinguished by an increasing number of high-ranking publications, qualified grant applications and even better national and international visibility.
Income from grants increased considerably, by around € 2 million compared to the previous year. This increase included all grant awarding bodies and was also seen with grants for externally refereed research projects. The increased number of publications in first class journals (Science, NEJM, Nature, etc.) is a measure of particular success in research. This development makes the Faculty increasingly attractive for top researchers from home and abroad, and has positive effects on the high quality of the medical students’ education. It also meant that in 2007, young scientists and established researchers managed to acquire 24 DFG grants for research funding. The Medical Faculty is also sought as a partner in international projects. The Faculty’s entry into the 7th research program of the EU was very successful, currently with six approved projects. In addition, scientists at the Medical Faculty are coordinating three new projects in the EU Public Health Program. In comparison to the number of projects approved in 2006, the number of grant-funded projects doubled in 2007. Noteworthy is also the increase in project applications from clinical establishments.
In 2006, priority themes were established between the Medical Faculty and University Clinics concentrating on further strategic development of disease-oriented treatment centers. This includes clinical and laboratory disease-oriented research focusing on the areas of: transplantation medicine, oncology, metabolic and vascular medicine, neurological diseases, organs of movement, as well as dentistry and oral health. Further development of these main themes produced numerous outstanding research results in 2007. In addition to this progress at the Medical Faculty, scientific research within the “profile-forming research areas” (PRA) of “Molecular and cellular communication,” “Brain cognition and speech” and “Changing environment and disease” continued to develop at the University of Leipzig.
The application to join the Federal State Excellence Initiative in autumn 2007 also promotes clustering of top research directed at three concepts:
- Medical NeuroCenter (MedNeZ): optimizing focal therapy in diseases of the central nervous system
- LIFE – Leipzig Interdisciplinary Research Cluster of Genetic Factors, Clinical Phenotypes and Environment
- SYBIL – Interdisciplinary Centre for System Biology Leipzig – Monitoring and Modelling Cell and Tissue Formation
These concepts illustrate interfaculty cooperation within top research directed at improving links between clinical research and patient care.
Outstanding research results and already funded projects are briefly presented below:
KFO “Atherobesity, fat and blood vessels”
(Focus on metabolic and vascular medicine)
Funded by the DFG, the clinical research group “Atherobesity, fat and blood vessels” (speaker Prof. Michael Stumvoll, Medical Clinic and Policlinic III / Endocrinology, Diabetology and Nephrology) is an outstanding example of clustering top research through intensive collaboration between laboratory and clinical scientists.
The research aims are to understand the molecular causes of endothelial dysfunction in patients with adiposity and thus a basis for creating successful strategies for prevention and intervention of adiposity-associated altherosclerosis. This links expertise from three complimentary clinical fields (pediatric endocrinology, endocrinology/diabetology and cardiology/angiology) with a research group from the Faculty for Biosciences, Pharmacy and Psychology.
2007 saw the first important results from the area of metabolic research, when scientists from the University of Leipzig together with European groups from France, Iceland, Sweden, and Germany identified the FTO gene (short for “fat mass and obesity associated”), a gene thought to be responsible for obesity in children and adults.
The joint project “Longitudinal Childhood Adiposity Research in Germany: Translation of science into clinical management (LARGE)“ (speaker Prof. Wieland Kiess, University Clinic for Children and Young People) was chosen for support in the BMBF (German Ministry for Education and Research) funded theme “Disease-associated competence network adiposity”.
ICCAS- Innovation Center for Computer Assisted Surgery
(Main focus: neurological diseases, oncology, metabolic and vascular medicine)
The Innovation Center for Computer Assisted Surgery (ICCAS) analyses the course surgical operations with modern IT tools, and then produces surgical workflows and integration profiles for the conception, specification and simulation of medical technical prototypes for computer assisted surgery. At the Center, two newly created young scientist research groups and one established research group work at the interface between surgery and information technology. The aim is to gain a key position in the development of surgery in the future with respect to model-based individualized surgery. To date, the Center has been funded with a total of twelve million Euro from the BMBF, the Federal State of Sachsen and the German Research Council (DFG). The “Electronic Phantom for evaluation and surgical training” – called ElePhant – was developed within less than two years. ElePhant is designed to be a simulation system that can be used not only for surgical training but also for planning complex individualized operations. To successfully market this system, the company PHACON GmbH (3D Life Modeling and Simulation) was started in 2007 as a spin-off from ICCAS.
KSL – Clinical Study Center Leipzig
(Main focus: oncology, metabolic and vascular medicine)
In 2007, the KSL started up at the Medical Faculty (leader: Prof. Markus Löffler, Institute for Medical Informatics, Statistics and Epidemiology). This pioneering coordination center for clinical studies (KKSL) is a leading national center for conceiving, evaluating and coordinating clinical trials, and represented international particularly in the areas of oncology, cardiology and sepsis research. At the end of 2006, the Medical Faculty received four million Euro in funding from the BMBF to develop the existing research structure into a “clinical study center in Leipzig”. During 2007, competence in clinical study research was extended further with the creation of 25 new positions, mostly for highly qualified staff.
IZKF – Interdisciplinary Center for Clinical Research
(Main focus: metabolic and vascular medicine / PRA: Molecular and cellular communication)
The fifth funding phase of the Center began in 2007, financed completely by the Medical Faculty. The external referees confirmed the overall concept of the Center in September 2006. All the main topics of the IZKF Leipzig and other establishments of the Faculty further develop expertise especially in cell biology research. This information is not only useful for pathogenesis research, but also serves as starting point for developing innovative diagnostics and therapeutics. Questions arising from research at the IZKF are followed up in the newly established clinical DFG research group “Atherobesity”, the DFG research group “Neuronal and glial P2 receptors” and the DFG graduate college “InterNeuro”.
BBZ – Biotechnological Biomedical Center
(Main focus: transplantation medicine, PRA: Molecular and cellular communication)
The Medical Faculty is connected to the BBZ through the professorship for “Cell techniques and applied stem cell biology”, Prof. Augustinus Bader, and “Molecular cell therapy”, Prof. Peter Seibel.
PET Center – Positron Emission Tomography Center
(Main focus: Neurological diseases, PRA: Brain cognition and speech)
An inauguration event in 2007 marked the official start of operating a PET/CT facility at the Clinic and Polyclinic for Nuclear Medicine at the University of Leipzig. This ultra modern medical equipment combines the function of a PET camera with computer tomography, reaching a completely new standard in tumor imaging diagnostics, routine psychiatric and neurological diagnostics and nuclear medicine research. In certain cases, PET/CT also opens up new possibilities for scientists investigating diseases such as Alzheimer’s, depression and schizophrenia. Researchers with Prof. Sabri and others want to use nuclear medicine techniques to develop methods for early recognition and control therapy of these and other neurological and psychiatric diseases. The joint project “NorChloro-Fluoro-HomoEpiBatidin (NCFHEB) – a potential PET marker for early Alzheimer’s disease (speaker Prof. Osama Sabri, Clinic and Polyclinic for Nuclear Medicine) was recommended for funding within the BMBF supported theme “Molecular Imaging in Medicine - MoBiMed”.
Paul Flechsig Center for innovative diagnostics and therapy for neurodegenerative diseases
(Main focus: Neurological diseases, PRA: Brain cognition and speech)
Since July 2007, the Paul Flechsig Center, under the direction of Prof. T. Arendt, PFI for Brain Research, has been funded by the SMWK. Researchers at the Paul Flechsig Institute discovered that under certain conditions adult nerve cells can replicate their genetic material, although these cells do not actually divide. Whereas tumor cells replicate in an uncontrolled manner due to their defects and thus cause cancer, replication of the DNA in a nerve cell leads to their death in the long-term.
Further outstanding research results and new acquisition of grant-funded projects at the Medical Faculty in 2007
An international research team under Prof. Torsten Schönberg, Institute for Biochemistry at the Medical Faculty, together with the MPI for Evolutionary Anthropology, succeeded in sequencing a Neanderthal gene fragment that carries the melanocortin type I receptor gene. Analogous to equivalent mutations in humans, the scientists came to the conclusion that possibly some Neanderthals had red or blond hair and even a pale skin. In the future, the methods used in this study could give new glimpses into how extinct humanoids, animals and plants lived. Also forensic genetics, a discipline of forensic medicine, will profit from the procedures used in this study. These results were published at the end of 2007 in the top-ranking scientific journal “Science”.
Since 2001 the group “Psycho-oncology in ear nose and throat medicine” in the Department for Social Medicine at the University of Leipzig, have carried out a long-term study of the psychosocial situation of laryngectomy carcinoma patients. The results show that larynx-less people are often psychologically burdened, but seldom use corresponding offers of help such as psychosocial advice.
Funded by German Cancer Aid since 2007, the research project “Psychiatric comorbidity and psychosocial care following laryngeal resection” now makes it possible to collect prospective data. The three-year project should revealed factors influencing the risk a psychiatric disease arising in patients following laryngeal resection. In addition, it is interested in the proportion of patients taking up offers for psycho-oncological care.
The second project phase of the Mentoring Project “EliMed” to promote and link up promising female students studying medicine at the University of Leipzig started in November 2007. With this support, high-performing female medical students can carve a path towards leading positions. “EliMed”, funded in 2007 and 2008 by the Medical Faculty at the University of Leipzig, is coordinated and scientifically supervised by the independent department for Medical Psychology and Medical Sociology under the direction of Prof. Elmar Brähle in cooperation with Prof. Dorothee Alfermann from the Center for Women and Gender Research at the University of Leipzig.
A new method in the Clinic and Polyclinic for Neurosurgery now allows one to measure cerebral auto-regulation following brain hemorrhage. This enabled the team to 1) detect that disruption of auto-regulation can lead to further strokes, and 2) recognize patients with such risks. A team under the leadership of Prof. Jürgen Meixensberger, Clinic and Polyclinic for Neurosurgery, has now shown that so-called cerebral auto-regulation is a critical risk factor for patients with a certain form of brain hemorrhage, called subarachnoid bleeding, to suffer subsequent strokes.
The first EU projects within the 7th framework program were granted to the Clinic and Polyclinic for Radiation Therapy and Radio Oncology, the IMISE and the Clinic and Polyclinic for Diagnostic Radiology.
In the EU Program “Public Health”, the Medical Faculty provides two coordinators for joint projects: Prof. Regina Kluge, Clinic and Polyclinic for Nuclear Medicine coordinates the project “European network for pediatric Hodgkin’s lymphoma“; Prof. Ulrich Hegerl, Clinic and Policlinic for Psychiatry, the project: “European Alliance Against Depression” / 2nd funding phase.
After submitting a project outline in 2007, together with the TU Dresden, for a trans-region SFB application on the theme: “Matrix engineering for controlling healing processes in bones and skin tissue. From materials to the clinic”, Prof. Jan-Christoph Simon, Clinic for Dermatology, Venerology and Allergology, was invited to resubmit a full application.
In the context of the total redevelopment of clinics and faculty, which plans to complete almost total restructuring of the medical quarter infrastructure by the end of 2012, the opening of the new center for Women and Children’s Medicine was a landmark in 2007.
Besides building new clinics, conversion of the old Skin Clinic into a central research building and renovation of the Carl Ludwig Institute as a central study building are both progressing at a pace.
Collaboration with business and company startups
Joint initiatives between research establishments and industry are supported in the initiative of the German Ministry for Economy, ProInno II. The Medical Faculty was successful in 2007 with three applications:
Prof. Steffen Leinung – Surgical Clinic and Polyclinic II “Collection, analysis and classification of monitoring data, model building, and standardizing of surgical techniques”
Prof. Attila Tarnok – Heart Center, Clinic for Pediatric Cardiology, “Developing a highly compact instrument for point-of-care cell diagnostics (cytometry), short description: method development and diagnostic evaluation”
Prof. Ulrich Sack – Institute for Clinical Immunology and Transfusion Medicine “Developing a procedure for quantitative immunofluorescence analysis to make medical laboratory diagnostics more objective”
Support program of the Medical Faculty (financed by Federal State grants) and performance-oriented distribution of funds (LOM)
The formel 1 program (in 2007 support for 18 projects following external refereeing) was taken over by the research support program of the Medical Faculty and is completely financed from Federal State grants.
The program for supporting medical PhD projects – PhD funding – is gaining increasing popularity with the students. In 2007 eight medical students received support (free semester and research materials).
Again in 2007, the Medical Faculty awarded a performance-related research bonus of 10% of DFG grants acquired in the previous year to the scientists in question.
The performance-oriented awarding of funds (LOM) was based on the same evaluation criteria as last year.
At the end of 2007, a large number of young scientists participated in the 6th Research Festival organized by the Medical Faculty, the Faculty for Biosciences, Pharmacy and Psychology and the Interdisciplinary Center for Clinical Research (IZKF). This event supported the subject and faculty-spanning exchange of young scientists. After assessing more than 320 poster presentations, a total of 18 poster prizes were awarded.
Intended in the future to be a yearly event, the “Therapy college of Leipzig University Medicine” took place for the first time in 2007. The aim is to present the main research topics of the Medical Faculty beyond specialist subject borders and to discuss projects together. To start off, the main focus was “Health sciences and psychosocial medicine”.
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