Monthly Archives: May 2015

How was...

The presentation skills course by Dr Rick Scavetta

Communicating one’s own research to other scientists and to the public constitutes an essential part of a researcher’s work. Apart from peer-reviewed papers and poster presentations, oral presentations in combination with visualisation programmes such as Microsoft PowerPoint or OpenOffice Impress have become standard for that purpose. So, everyone knows how to use PowerPoint, right? You probably also gave more talks in the past than you … Continue reading The presentation skills course by Dr Rick Scavetta »

How was...

The IITB Students’ Network Meeting 2015

“Who are those people that are gathered in the cluster of excellence?” – Answering this question was in fact the driving idea behind the first IITB Students’ Network Meeting, convened in late May. Of course this was not about passing around a list of names, but rather about exploring the cluster’s unique opportunities for exchange and cooperation face to face. Fruitful scientific teamwork is built … Continue reading The IITB Students’ Network Meeting 2015 »

Short Profile

Hariklia Kazila – The ImmunoSensation Cluster was a perfect match for me

Hariklia Kazila started her PhD at the Institute for Clinical Chemistry and Clinical Pharmacology in January this year as a part of ImmunoSensation´s graduate program. Originally from Greece, Hariklia completed her Master’s Degree in Plant Biotechnology at the Agricultural University of Athens. She then worked in the Biopharmaceutical industry in Athens and in Belgium before coming to Germany to start her PhD.   Hariklia, can … Continue reading Hariklia Kazila – The ImmunoSensation Cluster was a perfect match for me »

Hard Science

Recognizing the invaders – recognition of hybrids by the innate immune system

Within their publication “Cytosolic RNA:DNA hybrids activate the cGAS – STING axis“ (EMBO Journal 33, 2937-46 (2014)) Mankan et al. showed that hybrids of RNA and DNA are able to activate the cytosolic DNA sensor cGAS and thus induce a type I Interferon response. We interviewed Arun Mankan, who is a Postdoc at the Institute of Molecular Medicine, about his work on RNA:DNA hybrids.   Arun, … Continue reading Recognizing the invaders – recognition of hybrids by the innate immune system »