Bio Alumni - Newsletter der Fakultät für Biologie

Faculty news

Dear alumni of the faculty of biology,

In addition to the daily challenge of reconciling research and teaching, a faculty also faces the task of actively shaping its future. That is why we spoke with the re-elected Dean of the Faculty of Biology about his balance of the last two years and his plans for the future.

Prof. Leister, you are at the beginning of your second term as dean, what do you rejoice about when you look back on your first term?
I consider it a great success that the distribution of doctrine has now been resolved more fairly. I also very much like the fact that cooperation at professorial level has become more harmonious. This is extremely important for our attitude towards the university management - the more closed we appear, the more successfully we can implement our wishes. In addition, thanks to the commitment of our Dean of Studies, Prof. Dr. Heinrich Jung, and the course coordinator, Dr. Michael Bögle, the urgently needed Bachelor reform has been completed.

Open House Day, July 2019

Photo:
Carolin Bleese

Where do you see the greatest challenges for the faculty in the coming years?
2026 is the next round of the German Excellence Initiative - we as a faculty should start with a good concept for an Excellence Cluster and this should be prepared in the coming years - e.g. through suitable appointments. Our faculty has an excellent output and we can be confident in our performance. In order to develop the necessary faculty spirit, the establishment of a faculty board is an important instrument, as it will develop and advance the strategic concept.
Prof. Leister, thank you for this interview!

The Faculty of Biology has a special responsibility with regard to the public educational mission and its external impact. For this reason, we offer a wide range of events for different target groups. We would like to draw your special attention to our activities for schools. Organised by Dr. Martina Bryce, we offer a wide range of topics such as species diversity, genetics and water research. A new addition will soon be "Excursion in grassland with schoolchildren". In this context, we would like to draw your attention to our next Open House Day on Wednesday, 8 July 2020.

Yours Beate Hafner,
Alumni-network Faculty of Biology

Research

Human Biology

Bringing cancer medication safely to its destination

Treating cancer more selectively and more effectively – this could be achieved with an innovative technology developed by teams of researchers at the Leibniz-Forschungsinstitut für Molekulare Pharmakologie and the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München. The process transforms proteins and antibodies into stable, highly functional drug transporters, with which tumor cells can be detected and killed.
Read more: BioAlumni web portal 14.08.2019

Zoology

Insect evolution: Messages in amber envelopes

In the Eocene epoch – between 56 and 33.9 million years ago – much of Northern Europe was covered by a huge forest, now referred to as the Baltic amber forest. The forest was probably dominated by pines and oaks, but also comprised representatives of many other deciduous species and conifers, including tropical taxa. The resins produced by the forest account for all of Europe‘s amber, including the samples in which the LMU zoologists Viktor Baranov, Mario Schädel and Joachim T. Haug have now discovered many examples of entrapped midge and fly larvae. In a paper published in the online journal PeerJ 2019, they point out that these finds refute the widespread notion that amber is devoid of such fossils. LMU press release 25.10.2019

Molecular Biology

Recipe for making a fruitfly

Fruitflies and humans have a lot in common. Indeed, about 60% of all fruitfly genes have identifiable counterparts in humans. Research carried out in the fruitfly Drosophila melanogaster has yielded a wealth of information on the basic molecular mechanisms that control animal development. However, it remains largely unclear how many copies of each of the proteins involved are produced and essential for the orderly development of a multicellular organism. In a new study, Jürg Müller at the Max Planck Institute (MPI) for Biochemistry, in collaboration with research groups led by Axel Imhof (Professor of Molecular Biology at LMU’s Biomedical Center) and Michiel Vermeulen (who is based at Radboud University in Nijmegen), have quantitatively characterized the set of proteins required to regulate the development of the Drosophila embryo. More specifically, they measured the absolute copy numbers of all proteins and the chemical modifications on histone proteins in the cell nuclei of the embryo. Their findings appear in the current issue of the journal Developmental Cell. LMU press release 22.10.2019

Alumni portraits

Viktoria Korzhova

PhD in Neuroscience 2019
Graduate School of Systemic Neurosciences (GSN)

Application Specialist,
Neurotar

Which tasks do you have now?
Currently, I work as an Application Specialist in a Finnish company called Neurotar. Our company makes equipment that enables scientists to do high-precision tests like microscopy and electrophysiology in awake behaving mice. My tasks include customer support, communication with prospective customers, marketing strategy and website & social media management. As our company is not very big, I am often involved in other processes like the development of our products and business planning.

Please describe your career steps towards your current position.
After I finished working in the lab in 2017 and was still writing my PhD thesis and paper, I worked in the coordination center of the International Max Planck Research School for Molecular Life Sciences (IMPRS-LS). There I was involved with administration

of soft skills courses for the PhD students, organization of IMPRS seminars and retreats, management of website and social media as well as marketing and student recruitment. I enjoyed being part of the coordination office a lot, but I was interested in gaining experience in the commercial sector and thus decided to take my current position at Neurotar.
Outside of work, I am actively engaged with science communication activities in Munich since 2016, because I always felt that as a scientist paid by state money I should not only generate new knowledge but also bring it closer to people. I was the co-founder of Pint of Science festival and 15x4 events in Munich and the founder of Soapbox Science Munich. I also gave multiple talks myself at different events in Germany (including Fame Lab and 15x4 Munich) and in my home country Russia.

Read more: BioAlumni web portal

Jeffrey Zielich

Dr. rer. nat. 2018
Graduate School Life Science Munich (LSM)

Account Manager,
Thermo Fisher Scientific

Could you please shortly describe your current position?
I am working as an Account Manager at Thermo Fisher Scientific within our Business Development subdivision. I am responsible for customers from the biopharmaceutical industry. I am basically the single-point-of contact when it comes to products like high-resolution Mass Spectrometry, HPCL and UHPLC as well as CDS Software. My role is very cross functional and includes several strategic approaches.

How did being part of the Graduate School LSM help you find or adjust to your current position?
The LSM enabled me to conduct several very useful courses during my PhD e.g. GMP course, Business Basics (LMU career service) and Project Management (LMU career service).

Learning all about cutting-edge methods at the LMU helped to understand the potential direction for the market.

What is your general advise for current doctoral students?
If you plan to start a career outside academia I recommend to conduct as many courses and trainings relevant for your new role to stand out from the crowd. Try to find someone, a friend who is one step ahead e.g. working in a pharmaceutical company and ask this friend for tips and tricks. Ask about the selection process or how work is in general.

Read more: BioAlumni web portal

Events

Edgar Meinl (BMC, LMU):
Multiple Sklerose und verwandte Erkrankungen: Angriff des Immunsystems auf das Gehirn
Tuesday, December 3 7 pm

Talk within the series „Wissenschaft für Jedermann”
Big lecture hall of the Max-Planck-Institute
Am Klopferspitz 18
82152 Martinsried

Program 2020

Luisa Cochella (Research Institute of Molecular Pathology, Vienna):
Transcriptional and post-transcriptional mechanisms of cell diversification
Friday, December 6 12 noon

Christa Schlepper (University of Vienna):
Impact from the third domain of life:
The role of Archaea in biogeochemical cycles and greenhouse gas production
Friday, January 14 12 noon

Talks within the “Keynote Seminar Series”
Big Lecture Hall B00.019 at LMU Biocenter
Großhaderner Str. 2-4
82152 Martinsried

Keynote Seminar Series 2019/2020

Save the date:
Open House Day at the Faculty of Biology

Wednesday, July 8, 2020 from 10 am to 3 pm
LMU Biocenter

Impressum
BioAlumni
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität
München
LMU Biozentrum
Großhaderner Str. 2-4
82152 Martinsried

Editorial
Dr. Beate Hafner

Contact
E-Mail: alumni@bio.lmu.de
Phone: +49 89 2180-74714
Web: www.bio.lmu.de/bioalumni/

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