DAAD RISE Program: Call 2013

DAAD RISE Program: Call 2013

  • admin
  • 10, 2012
  • News

The German Academic Exchange Service (Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst, DAAD) announced a new call for its program “Research Internships in Science and Engineering” (RISE) for summer internship in 2013. The program works in both ways. German and American Ph.D. students submit internship offers for undergraduates students for a duration of 8 to 12 weeks. German bachelor students can work as research interns at U.S. universities and U.S. undergraduates can work in labs of German universities. The DAAD provides stipends to help cover living expenses, the partner universities and research institutes provide housing assistance. The call is applicable for all fields of biology, chemistry, physics, earth sciences and engineering. Please visit for further information:

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Summer School on Receptor Theory and GPCR signalling via G proteins and arrestins

Prof. Dr. Vsevolod Gurevich, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 8 – 12 October 2012, Leipzig University Arrestins are proteins which regulate the signalling and trafficking of hundreds of different G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCR). But arrestins also interact with other classes of membrane receptors and over 20 diverse types of soluble signalling protein. Arrestins can block GPCR coupling to G proteins in two ways. But they can also modify gene expression by increasing the transcription of certain genes.Several arrestin-binding partners play a key role in the signalling pathways regulating cell proliferation, survival and apoptosis. Since multiple genetic disorders can be associated with excessive signalling by mutant G-protein-coupled receptors, arrestin is an interesting target for

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Summer School on Solid-State NMR Spectroscopy in Biology

Summer School on Solid-State NMR Spectroscopy in Biology

Prof. Dr. Daniel Huster, University of Leipzig 2 -11 October 2012, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN Due to the success of NMR studies on soluble molecules the original NMR spectroscopy on solid materials such as crystals, glasses, powders and polymers has long played an inferior role. However, in the last decade, solid-state NMR spectroscopy has widely been applied to complicated biological questions such as the study of aggregated and amyloidic protein states, membrane proteins, biological tissue or other molecular aggregates of large molecular mass. As there is no principle limit on the molecular mass of the investigated molecules and the fact that the resolution and sensitivity of the technique seems to constantly

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Vanderbilt PhD students in Leipzig

Vanderbilt PhD students in Leipzig

Stephanie and Liz are graduate students in the Meiler Laboratory at Vanderbilt University.  They both work on the computational investigation of GPCRs and their interactions with various ligands. They recently took the opportunity to do a month-long research internship at Leipzig University in conjunction with their collaborators, who perform the wet-lab experiments associated with the proteins they model. Herein, they reflect on their experiences. Liz Dong: For 4 weeks, I worked with the lab of Dr. Torsten Schöneberg on a project involving P2Y12, a receptor involved in platelet aggregation. My part of the project was to build a model of P2Y12 using Rosetta and dock known ligands into the model to

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DAAD RISE Program: Call 2012

DAAD RISE Program: Call 2012

  • admin
  • 10, 2011
  • News

The German Academic Exchange Service (Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst, DAAD) announced a new call for its program “Research Internships in Science and Engineering” (RISE) for summer internship in 2012. The program works in both ways. German and American Ph.D. students submit internship offers for undergraduates students for a duration of 8 to 12 weeks.  German bachelor students can work as research interns at U.S. universities and U.S. undergraduates can work in labs of German universities. The DAAD provides stipends to help cover living expenses, the partner universities and research institutes provide housing assistance. The call is applicable for all fields of biology, chemistry, physics, earth sciences and engineering. Please visit for further

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Collaborative Paper published in “Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry”

Researchers of Leipzig and Vanderbilt Universities published a paper in the journal “Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry” showing the results of their collaborative project on carbaborane research. The paper, published in March 2011, describes new synthesis strategies of indomethacin derivatives with inorganic carbaborane clusters. Indomethacin is a very potent cyclooxygenase (COX)-1 and COX-2 inhibitor with clinical significance as anti-inflammatory drug , The carbaborane-modified drug candidates showed also COX inhibition activity, depending on the carbaborane isomer and the connection pattern. The results gave general insights into the applicability of carbaboranes as drug entities. Synthesis and evaluation of carbaborane derivatives of indomethacin as cyclooxygenase inhibitors Matthias Scholz(1), Anna L. Blobaum(2), Lawrence J. Marnett(2) and

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3rd Vanderbilt-Leipzig Cooperation Workshop

3rd Vanderbilt-Leipzig Cooperation Workshop

The 3rd Cooperation Workshop of Leipzig and Vanderbilt Universities took place in Leipzig on May 25th until 29th, 2011. It was organized by the Top-Level Research Area 3 “Molecular and Cellular Communication” (PbF3) Six faculty from Vanderbilt University visited Leipzig, participated in a scientific symposium, and used the opportunity to get in touch close contact with researchers from Leipzig University and non-university institutions. The guests were heartily welcomed by new university rector, Prof. Dr. Beate A. Schücking on Wednesday evening at the top of Leipzig’s old university building, now the Panorama Tower in the city center. On Thursday, a public scientific symposium took place at the seminar building, eagerly visited by

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Collaborative Paper published in Journal of Biological Chemistry

First results of the successful collaboration between Leipzig University (Germany) and Vanderbilt University, Nashville (Tennessee, USA) have been published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry by end of 2010. Researchers from the labs of Annette G. Beck-Sickinger (Leipzig University) and Vsevolod V. Gurevich (Vanderbilt University) investigated the mechanism and regulation of neuropeptide Y2 receptor internalization. For the first time, the corporate publication “Ligand-induced internalization and recycling of the human neuropeptide Y2 receptor is regulated by its carboxyl-terminal tail” reports on specific sequences located in the receptor’s C-terminus which determine arrestin-dependent/independent internalization and recycling events, thus contributes to a better understanding of the regulation of G protein-coupled receptor trafficking pathways. Cornelia Walther,

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Two Leipzig students at Vanderbilt

  • admin
  • 12, 2010
  • News

Sabina Kanton and Henrike Indrischek (biochemistry undergraduates from Leipzig University) took the opportunity to visit Vanderbilt University for a 5 week research stay in September and October 2010 with a special tender of the DAAD RISE program. Here is their report about this experience. Why Vanderbilt University? Both of us wanted to gain practical experience and get an insight into the work of a research group abroad. We were just curious to get to know the atmosphere of such a prominent American university and of course were keen on improving our scientific English. Research projects I (Henrike Indrischek) worked in the group of Hassane Mchaourab at the Institute of Molecular Biology

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2nd Scientific Workshop at Vanderbilt, November 2010

During November 10th – 14th, researchers from Leipzig University in Germany will visit Vanderbilt to deepen and expand a collaboration between the two Universities. Faculty from Leipzig University will present their research in a kick-off symposium on November 10, 1:30pm in 208 Light Hall. A wine and cheese reception will follow the presentations at 5:30pm, where the faculty will be present to discuss their research. This collaboration is supported by Vanderbilt’s International Office, the Institute for Chemical Biology, the Department of Chemistry, and the School of Arts & Sciences. This collaboration is also supported by the German Research Foundation (DFG) and the PbF3 of Leipzig University. On November 10th, 2010 in

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Report on summer internships at Vanderbilt 2010

Report on summer internships at Vanderbilt 2010

  • admin
  • 11, 2010
  • News

In 2010 several students from Leipzig University had the opportunity for a research stay at Vanderbilt University. Stefanie Nagel and Anette Schreiber, students of the Master’s degree program in biochemistry at Leipzig University, were two of these. Thanks to the cooperation of Leipzig University and Vanderbilt University in Nashville (Tenneessee, USA), they participated in a 10-week student exchange in summer 2010 and report here shortly their experience. Stefanie Nagel: I performed my internship at Vanderbilt University in the workgroup of Prof. Vsevolod (Seva) Gurevich, Department of Pharmacology, a recognized expert on the field of arrestin proteins. The aim of my project was to characterize the interaction between the human neuropeptide Y

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DAAD RISE Program: Call 2011

DAAD RISE Program: Call 2011

The German Academic Exchange Service (Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst, DAAD) announced a new call for its program “Research Internships in Science and Engineering” (RISE) for summer internship in 2011. The program works in both ways. German and American Ph.D. students submit internship offers for undergraduates students for a duration of 6 to 12 weeks.  German bachelor students can work as research interns at U.S. universities and U.S. undergraduates can work in labs of German universities. The DAAD provides stipends to help cover living expenses, the partner universities and research institutes provide housing assistance. The call is applicable for all fields of biology, chemistry, physics, earth sciences and engineering. Please visit for further

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Students from Vanderbilt with DAAD RISE in Leipzig

Students from Vanderbilt with DAAD RISE in Leipzig

The German Academic Exchange Service (Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst, DAAD) offers since 2005 a yearly program that gives undergraduates from U.S., Canadian and U.K. universities the opportunity for a research internship during the summer holiday weeks. In 2010 four students from Vanderbilt University used the collaborative efforts of the partnership to visit work groups in the fields of biochemistry (AG Beck-Sickinger), medicinal physics and biophysics (AG Huster), and environmental technology andmanagement (Prof. Holländer) to get a hands-on experience of the research at Leipzig University. They stayed 8 to 12 weeks here learning new methods and techniques as well as getting in touch with life in Germany. All of them enjoyed their stay

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Kick-off meeting in Leipzig, June 2010

The Kick-off meeting of the establishment of a university partnership between Vanderbilt and Leipzig University took place in Leipzig from June 16th to 20th. During this first joint scientific workshop seven researchers from Vanderbilt University presented their research an audience of Leipzig faculty and students. Topics of the workshop were parts of research of both universities in the natural and life sciences (organic chemistry, biochemistry, biotechnology, bioinformatics, and biomedicine). Besides the workshop we organized multiple face-to-face meetings with work groups from Leipzig University and introduced the visitors to Leipzig and its research institutions. Until now exists several cooperations of researchers from both universities, for instance in the areas of G-protein coupled

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