IGS GFG Alumni

Since September 2001 the International Graduate School has accepted 84 students and associated students. Until now, 72 graduated (state: November 2011) and the majority of those have already left Cologne.

Since October 2009 our new Graduate School in Development Health and Disease: "From embryo to old age: the cell biology and genetics of health and disease“ has open for applications. Both schools share the main idea, structure, activities and institutes.

First Year Report class 2007 and Best Paper Award 2009

On Friday, 29th of May, students of the class 2007 presented the first year reports in the lecture hall of the Genetics Institute. The afternoon session ended with the "Best paper award 2009" ceremony.

Dr. Julia Hunn (class 2001) was awarded for her first author paper about "Regulatory interactions between IRG resistance GTPases in the cellular response to Toxoplasma gondii" published in EMBO Journal.

Dr. Eva Nowack (class 2005) was awarded for her first author paper "Chromatophore genome sequence of Paulinella sheds light on acquisition of photosynthesis by eukaryotes" published in Current Biology.

Farewell party for Dr. Brigitte von Wilcken - Bergmann

On 17th of April we all could once more remember the first days of our stay in Cologne, refresh our memories about struggling with AOK, Vermieter aka. landlord, or about Second Year Report excursions... At the international buffet with lots of home cooked dishes, beer, sparkling wine and music students and faculty were saying "good bye" to Brigitte. The special feature was a song sung together for and about Brigitte with an accompanying picture slide-show of all IGS GFG classes. Rick Scavetta (class 2005) held a speach thanking Brigitte for her efforts and neverending help on behalf of all present and past students. Prof. Maria Leptin and IGS GFG/DHD coordinator Dr. Isabell Witt held speaches on behalf of professors and the Graduate School's staff.

Best Paper Award 2008

Dr. Christof Osman (class 2003) received a prize of 500€ for his first author paper "Prohibitins interact genetically with Atp23, a novel processing peptidase and chaperone for the F1F0-ATP synthase" published in Molecular Biology of the Cell.

Best Paper Awards 2007 and 2006

In the previous years the prize went to Dr. Maurijn van der Zee (class 2002) and Dr. Palanimurugan Rangasamy (class 2001). The former was awarded for his first author paper "Sog/Chordin is required for ventral-to-dorsal Dpp/BMP transport and head formation in a short germ insect" published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA.
The latter received the prize for his first author paper "Polyamines regulate their synthesis by inducing expression and blocking degradation of ODC antizyme" published in the EMBO Journal.

Undergraduate Science Award

In the year 2004 IGS GFG awarded Gevork Mnatzakanian form the University of Toronto (Canada). His paper "A previously unidentified MECP2 open reading frame defines a new protein isoform relevant to Rett syndrome" was published in the Nature Genetics.

Ute Scholl from the University of Aachen (Germany) was awarded in the year 2007 for her paper "Barttin modulates trafficking and function of CIC-K channels", which was published in PNAS.

Second Year Report retreats

During the second year report retreats we are trying to combine the scientific event with some sightseeing and relax. We are heading to some beautiful places with picturesque countryside. There is always some short history background related to the place in a guided tour around.

This is the time, when all the students who started their PhDs together have another chance to get all together and enjoy it! This is probably the last chance before all get spread again aiming to the next step of their careers.

Class 2005 visited Xanten during the one-day-retreat. Previous batches: 2004, 2003 and 2002 visited Mayen and Gerolstein.

In October 2009, class 2006 spent 3 days in the Belgian town of Tilff. For photos by Jingtao Li click here »