20.01.2018 Boost for medical research in Giessen and Marburg

von behring|röntgen|foundation provides funding amounting to one million euros

Official presentation of the funding certificates to the project spokespersons and their collaboration partners (from left to right): Young researchers Dr Hector Cabrera-Fuentes, Dr Sanna Stroth and their project spokesperson Professor Dr Inge Kamp-Becker, Dr Vijay Renigunta, foundation representatives president Friedrich Bohl and vice president Professor Dr Hans-Dieter Klenk, Professor Dr Tilmann Borggrefe, Professor Dr Dominik Oliver, dean of JLU Gießen's faculty of medicine, Professor Dr Wolfgang Weidner, young researcher Dr Judith Gronbach, Professor Dr Stefan Bauer and his collaboration partner Dr Silvia Fischer.

The Marburg-based medical foundation has now provided funding for medical research projects at Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen and Philipps-Universität Marburg for the eleventh time. In total, the grant recipients have been given one million euros to spend on six research projects. The project spokespersons accepted the funding certificates on behalf of their working groups from foundation president Friedrich Bohl in Gießen today.

From 2018 onwards, the funds will be used to finance six collaborative projects involving researchers from both Marburg and Gießen universities as well as individual research projects by young researchers who are focusing on subjects such as lung research, neuroscience and tumour research, for example.

The Professor for autism spectrum disorders at Philipps-Universität and CMBB member Professor Dr Inge Kamp-Becker is one of the funding recipients. Autism spectrum disorders are serious mental disorders that strongly impact on a person's communication and social interaction skills. The term ASD is used to refer to a range of similar conditions, and some of the symptoms are similar to those of other mental disorders. The Marburg-based psychologist Professor Dr Inge Kamp-Becker and her collaboration partners intend to improve the diagnosis of autism with the aid of biomarkers in order to make it possible to distinguish ASD from other conditions. The project, which will receive 200,000 euros in funding, is aimed at being able to treat patients more individually in future.

Background: The federal state of Hesse established the von behring|röntgen|foundation as a charitable incorporated organisation on 8 September 2006. It was set up as a result of the fusion of the Gießen and Marburg university clinics in 2005 and their subsequent privatisation in 2006 with the aim of securing and developing new opportunities for university-based medicine at both sites.

Its board of directors is headed by former federal minister Friedrich Bohl; the board's vice presidents are Marburg-based virologist Professor Dr Hans-Dieter Klenk and Gießen-based ophthalmologist Professor Dr Birgit Lorenz. An advisory council that consists of sixteen renowned scientists from Germany and Austria is responsible for the evaluation of the funding applications submitted to the medical foundation and for recommending projects and key topics.

Every year, the von behring|röntgen|foundation invites members of the medical departments at the universities in Gießen and Marburg to apply for funding. The foundation has already provided grants amounting to 18.2 million euros since its establishment.

• Press release of the Philipps-Universität Marburg