Grants for Junior Research Groups

(*1981) has obtained his PhD at the Institute for Genetics in Cologne after studying biotechnology in Madras and Bangalore in India. Since 2012 he worked at the SALK Institute and later at the University of California at San Diego where he is devoted to the differentiation of pluripotent stem cells in the mesoderm as cardiomyocytes. And his research group at the Institute of Neurophysiology, University of Cologne Leo Kurian will follow the theme of "Unraveling functional long non-coding RNAs Choreographing human cardiovascular development and regeneration".

(*1977) acquired after studying biology in Bielefeld, a Masters Degree in medical ethics at Imperial College London. After the completion of her doctoral thesis at the Institute for Reconstructive Neurobiology at Bonn University Clinic she remained there as a postdoctoral fellow and has dealt with the derivation of various neuronal cell types from pluripotent stem cells. As part of her proposal Julia Ladewig wants to establish at the Institute of Reconstructive Neurobiology 2D and 3D cell cultures to mimic cortical malformations. The title of the working group is: "A pluripotent stem cel based model for congenital cortical malformations."

(*1976) studied pharmacy in Valencia and earned her doctorate in immunology at the Universidad Autonoma de Barcelona, Spain. As a postdoctoral fellow, she came to the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Biomedicine to study the special abilities of adult spermatogonial stem cells. The foundations for the lifelong production of sperm from stem cells and the balance between self-renewal and differentiation of these cells could serve as a model for other tissues and their regeneration abilities. Natalia Tapia will establish a working group entitled "Dissecting the molecular mechanisms that regulate human spermatogonial stem cell fate decisions" at the Institute for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine, University of Düsseldorf.