Kick-off 2013
Successful start to the second round of the Manchot Graduate School “Molecules of Infection II”
On the 12th of November 2013 the kick-off event marking the official start of the second round of the Manchot Graduate School “Molecules of Infection II” took place in the Heinrich-Heine-Saal at the Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf. Following favorable evaluation of the first round of MOI, the new edition is again made possible by the generous funding provided by the Jürgen Manchot Foundation. 18 scholarship holders – half of them from the Medical Faculty and half from the Faculty of Mathematical and Natural Sciences - and more than 10 associated doctoral researchers are looking forward to confronting the challenges presented by the Graduate School’s demanding curriculum.
In their addresses at the formal opening of MOI II, the University’s Vice-President for Research and Innovation, Prof. Schmitt, the Deans of the two faculties involved, Prof. Marian and Prof. Windolf, the Vice-Chairman of the iGRAD, Prof. Kern and the Speaker of MOI II, Prof. Hegemann, welcomed the new class and wished the Graduate School every success in the future. In addition, the speakers welcomed Thomas Manchot, Head of the Foundation's Board of Trustees, and personally expressed their gratitude for the generous funding of MOI II.
The guest speaker was the well known scientist Prof. Scherf from the Pasteur Institute in Paris, who gave an exciting and inspiring talk on his scientific involvement with the parasite Plasmodium falciparium, the causative agent of malaria. Prof. Scherf ended his lecture with some remarks on the importance of sponsorship for the young scientific researchers and pointed to his own positive experiences as a scholarship holder.
Altogether this was a splendid start for the young researchers. Over the next few years, the MOI II program no doubt has many more new and fascinating experiences in store for them.