Category Archives: How was…

How was...

How to bring innovative ideas to real world applications – Merck Serono Innovation Cup 2015

The pharmaceutical industry is known as a tough business. Pharmaceutical companies have to bring new candidate drugs through the long preclinical and clinical development phases – a process, which is both expensive and prone to failure at any of the different steps of testing or even after its final registration and clinical application. Altogether, the whole development phase takes about twelve years. In order to … Continue reading How to bring innovative ideas to real world applications – Merck Serono Innovation Cup 2015 »

How was...

Finding your way in Tokyo – Eva’s internship at Waseda University

Eva Beins recently completed a two-week internship at the Takeoka Lab in Tokyo, Japan to learn about “Nanosheet technology” and how to apply it to her PhD project. Eva is pursuing her PhD at the Institute of Molecular Psychiatry , where she studies the role of the endocannabinoid system in neuroinflammation and psychiatric disorders. Eva already specialized in her Masters on Neuroscience and is also … Continue reading Finding your way in Tokyo – Eva’s internship at Waseda University »

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Spring School Ettal: Understanding the Immune System as a whole System

Last Spring I found myself very focused on my own very specific PhD topic. Nevertheless, I was curious about the latest findings and questions in other fields in immunology. Filled with the wish to hear about other topics and to meet up with PhD students and postdocs from all over Germany and from other countries, I participated in the Spring School organized by the German … Continue reading Spring School Ettal: Understanding the Immune System as a whole System »

How was...

“Successfully pass your PhD” – Retrospection on a MeTra workshop

How to recruit women to top positions is commonly discussed these days, as the government has just decided to implement a quota for women in the directorates of Germany´s 100 biggest market-listed companies. Starting in 2016, about 30% of the positions in the governing bodies of Volkswagen, Daimler and Co. have to be filled by women. When it comes to work, the principle of equal … Continue reading “Successfully pass your PhD” – Retrospection on a MeTra workshop »

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The statistical literacy course by Dr Rick Scavetta

Based on the observation of twelve PhD students, the likelihood for the spontaneous appearance of beads of sweat while coming across a capital sigma (Σ) followed by square roots and indices is actually rather high – biologists are not terribly famous for their affinity to maths and statistics.   But wait – was the sample size of twelve highly motivated ImmunoSentation IITB PhD students attending … Continue reading The statistical literacy course by Dr Rick Scavetta »

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ENII Summer School of Immunology in Sardinia

`Come on, you just want to attend the Summer School because it takes place in Sardinia and it’s sunny, right?` This might be in fact what your PI will say when you ask to attend the Summer School of the European Network of Immunology Institutes (ENII) in Sardinia. This annual meeting for experienced PhD students and young PostDocs in the field of immunology took place … Continue reading ENII Summer School of Immunology in Sardinia »

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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 »