Monthly Archives: October 2016

Hard Science

Immune Checkpoint Blockade: A milestone on the way to cure cancer

For a scientist, one of the most exciting things to happen is when basic principles established in laboratory models lead to new therapeutic approaches for humans. Most recently, the understanding of several checkpoints in T cell self-tolerance, infection and transplantation led to the development of immune checkpoint blockade to treat cancer. The use of drugs blocking specific checkpoints, such as Programmed Death 1 (PD-1) and … Continue reading Immune Checkpoint Blockade: A milestone on the way to cure cancer »

Going Interdisciplinary

Physics fact #1: You can be cooled to -273.15 °C and still be 0 K

The stereotypical physicist featured in “The Big Bang Theory” is rather sceptical about biology and has some problems accepting their girlfriend’s job as a biologist. Fortunately, that does not necessarily hold true in real life. Prof Matthias Geyer and Dr Donald Guu are enriching the Cluster’s scope by their background in physics. They both agree on the fact that physics opens many doors – here, … Continue reading Physics fact #1: You can be cooled to -273.15 °C and still be 0 K »

Meet the expert

Talking to the bigwigs: from TLRs to microbiota, precision medicine and the love to do research

Networking and exchanging ideas is undoubtedly one of the major reasons for attending a conference. And yet, many PhD students (including us) are often shy about approaching the leaders and visionaries of our research field. This year, we decided to change our behavior: we challenged ourselves to finally start conversations with some invited speakers. The conference “Molecular Mechanisms of Inflammation” in Trondheim was ideal for … Continue reading Talking to the bigwigs: from TLRs to microbiota, precision medicine and the love to do research »