BIOQIC Newsletter – 1st edition 2017
Welcome to BIOQIC!
We are pleased to welcome you at the website of the new research training group BIOQIC of the German Research Foundation (DFG GRK2260), which has started in April 2017. Our mission is to train young scientists in the field of biophysical tissue properties quantified by medical imaging modalities. Research focus and information to the projects can be found on our website. BIOQIC is headquartered in the Department of Radiology at Charité Campus Mitte in Berlin, Germany. The scientific teams working together within BIOQIC consist of basic scientists as well as clinical experts. Supervision of PhD students by tandem teams of basic scientists and clinicians is a hallmark of BIOQIC. All BIOQIC PIs are listed on our website.
In this newsletter:
- The BIOQIC recruitment process
- BIOQIC teaching
- Calendar
Recruitment process for BIOQIC
The recruitment process for BIOQIC started in December 2016 with the placement of the open PhD positions on several job portals including Jobvector (www.jobvector.de), Findaphd (www.findaphd.com) and academic positions (http://academicpositions.eu/), as well as on our BIOQIC website (www.bioqic.de). Shortlisted candidates were invited to attend an assessment center which took place on February 20th 2017, at the Radiology Department at the Charité Campus Mitte. During this assessment center, candidates introduced themselves, gave a presentation about their own research experience and presented a scientific article with discussion. The interviews took about one hour per candidate and all principle investigators (PIs) associated with BIOQIC were involved in the interviewing process, either in person or via representation by a colleague. We received much feedback from the candidates who appreciated the opportunity to meet and discuss with their potential supervisors. Discussions were continued during the lunch and dinner buffets and candidates had the chance to visit their potential future labs and/or working places. The candidates could therefore obtain a good insight in the different projects available and meet the PIs associated with them. It also provided a good opportunity to get to know each other in a less formal way than during the interviews.
Ongoing recruitment and teaching
At present, 13 of the 15 PhD positions have been filled and the first 6 PhD students have started in April: a warm welcome to Anna, Nader, Matteo, Gergely, Felix and Patrick. The next students start their projects at May-1st followed by the last (but not least) round at the 1st of June. Currently, we are still seeking 2 talented young scientists in the field of MR physics to fill project positions PhD02 and PhD10. Therefore a new announcement was placed on Jobvector: link. Furthermore, advertisements will be posted at the upcoming ISMRM conference on Hawaii. The first students had an introduction seminar on April 5th followed by a dinner with pizza in a nearby restaurant. Many questions were raised, some of them of general interest for the entire cohort. We identified a few points such as the student’s affiliation at Charité or Technical University Berlin as well as access to Charité facilities like medical/scientific journals, which we will address in an extra circular to all students. The compulsory entry block seminars on many aspects of Medical imaging technologies are being planned at the moment and will take place from 1-21st of June, 2017. The schedule is almost completed but changes are possible. The series will provide all students with the interdisciplinary research background gathered in BIOQIC including ‘Imaging Physics and Imaging Chemistry’, ‘Biophysics, Tissue Mechanics & Tissue Interaction’ and ‘Mathematics, Signal processing and Quantitative Data Analysis’. A first BIOQIC retreat concluding the seminars is being planned. Please find the tentative schedule of the block seminars below.
A preliminary list of events in 2017 from our calendar (www.bioqic.de/events/) includes:
| June 1-21: | BIOQIC Entry Block Seminars | ||
| June 02/03: | BSIO partner school symposium: “Sharing radically novel visions in Cancer” and “Young Scientists in Cancer” | ||
| June 22-23: | BIOQIC Retreat | ||
| June 29: | BIOQIC Lecture by Marc Kachelrieß on CT technology | ||
| June 30: | 8th Scientific Symposium Ultrahigh Field MR | ||
| September 27: | BIOQIC Day | ||
| September 28-29: | 1st MRE Workshop | ||
| October 4-6: | Conference Physics of Cancer organized by Josef Käs in Leipzig |
Please send me information if you have events to be included in the BIOQIC calendar!
Announcement
Two BIOQIC researchers have been awarded with the ERC advanced grant this year! Congratulations to Josef Käs for his project “What Holds Cancer Cells Back?” and to Thoralf Niendorf for his project “Thermal Magnetic Resonance: A New Instrument to Define the Role of Temperature in Biological Systems and Disease for Diagnosis and Therapy”!
Thanks to all PIs and PhD students and best wishes for a successful start of BIOQIC!!!
Dr. Judith Bergs
BIOQIC Coordinator
Email: judith.bergs@charite.de
Phone: 0049-30-450-527286