News

Li is now a Doctor of Philosophy!

On January 20th Xianhe Li defended successfully his thesis “SPOTS: A Novel Mitochondrial Response to Stress at the Outer Mitochondrial Membrane”.
Congratulations Li, well deserved!

Lena wins the Volkswagenstiftung grant on Community Immunity

Dr. Sophie Steculorum, Max-Planck-Institut für Stoffwechselforschung and Lena are the winner of the Volkswagenstiftung grant.

As a private research funding organization, Volkswagenstiftung supports researchers with creative ideas aimed at changing the world of science. Lena and Sofia, with their project on Community Immunity, definitely met the requirements, striving to discover novel strategies to fight epidemics by identifying compounds that activate anti-microbial responses in healthy individuals.
Congrats Lena and Sofia!

Bruna is admitted to Mentoring Program for International Female Scholars

Congrats to Bruna for being selected for the Mentoring Program for International Female Scholars offered by the University of Cologne.

The IFS program, which this year celebrates its 10th anniversary (2012-2022), offers one-on-one mentoring between mentors and mentee and is embedded in a targeted framework program which combines network meetings, training and workshop. One of the indirect aims is also combatting the high attrition rate among women in academia.

More info here: https://verwaltung.uni-koeln.de/abteilung43/content/mentoring/ifs_mentoring/faq/index_ger.html

EMBO welcomes Lena and others 23 as Young Investigators

Another great achievement for Lena, who has been selected as one of the newest members of the EMBO Young Investigator Programme, joining the existing network of 135 current and 390 former members of the programme.
The EMBO Young Investigator Programme supports excellent group leaders who have been in independent positions for less than four years and have an excellent track record of scientific achievements.
Once again, congrats Lena!

More here https://www.embo.org/press-releases/embo-welcomes-24-young-investigators/

EMBO welcomes 24 Young Investigators

Who is the next Cell Scientist to Watch? It's Lena, of course!

Confirming her astonishing progresses in the field, Lena was indicated as Cell Scientist to Watch from the Journal of Cell Science.
The great results she is accumulating have not passed unobserved!
Read her interview here ——> https://doi.org/10.1242/jcs.260704

We are curious to see what her next achievement is gonna be!

And the 2022 Binder Innovation Prize goes to....Lena!

Thanks to her discoveries in the field of the metabolism of infection, Lena was awarded the BINDER Innovation Prize 2022.
Since 1998, this prize has been awarded annually by the German Society for Cell Biology (DGZ) together with BINDER, for outstanding work in the field of basic cell biology research.
Congrats Lena!

Tania's work on mitochondrial pyrimidine metabolism has earned her a talk session at the Cell Symposia: Multifaceted Mitochondria

Congratulation to Tania for being selected as speaker at the Cell Symposia: Multifaceted Mitochondria, taking place in Seville, Spain, from 6th to 8th November 2022.
In this occasion she will have the chance to present her exciting discoveries on mitochondrial metabolism: “Reprogramming of mitochondrial pyrimidine metabolism protect host cells during infection”.
Good luck Tania! We know you will rock it!

Back to origin - joint lab retreat in Padua, Italy

Last year for lab retreat, our group managed to enjoy few days in Monshau. It was just our group in an isolated house immersed in the nature.
This year we expanded our horizons, flying all the way down to Padua, Italy, for a joint lab retreat.
There we spend some days with groups that shared a common origin: all the PIs of those groups were, as Lena, former members of Prof. Luca Scorrano lab.
We thus had the opportunity to have a glimpse of what was the environment that formed our boss, to see how different the science can get between groups that originated from the same point.
All this in that idyllic setting which is Padua, surrounded by astonishing views, delicious food and fascinating people. See you soon Padua, thank you for having us!

Padua, 14-16 September 2022

Another great achievement for Lena: finalist in the 2022 Eppendorf Award for Young European Investigators

Congratulations to Lena on the great placement as finalist in the 2022 Eppendorf Award for Young European Investigators for her work on the relationship between mitochondrial health and microbial fitness.

This award acknowledges her outstanding contributions to biomedical research in Europe based on methods of molecular biology, including novel analytical concepts.

Keep on rocking!

https://corporate.eppendorf.com/en/company/scientific-awards/european-award/2022-award-finalist-lena-pernas/

Source: https://corporate.eppendorf.com/en/company...

#ToxoXVI: Patrick is selected for a talk in the 16th International Congress on Toxoplasmosis and Toxoplasma gondii Research

The biennial meeting on Toxoplasma Biology and Toxoplasmosis is the most important event for researchers in this field. Its XVI version was held in Riverside, California from May 22-26 2022. During this meeting representatives from almost all laboratories working on this parasite were present and thanks to his fascinating project “Cellular Senescence: A Hideout for Chronic Microbial Infections?”, Patrick was selected to give a turbo talk for the audience. Congrats Patrick!

Spread the word, Chahat! An insight of our work @MPI-AGE for the big public of Cologne.

Speaker on behalf of our Institute, last Thursday May 19th, Chahat gave an intriguing and amusing talk at the exhibition on aging “Cellular aging – Order is half the battle” by Steffi Sonntag at the VHS (Volkshochschule) of Cologne.
Chahat and Prof. Dr. David Vilchez (CECAD – Cluster of Excellence in Aging Research at the University of Cologne), presented to the broad public different aspects of the processes going on during aging, one in the context of an infection, the other focusing on the importance of an ordered environment inside the cells of our bodies.
The explanations of the two experts were embedded in an exhibition on aging at the VHS, which could be visited in this time.

Long waited and well deserved lab retreat in Monschau

After almost two years, in which we were constantly told to isolate ourselves and to avoid other people's company, our group was finally able to spend few days close to each other. We got to know better the people that work next to us every day, remembering what being in a group meant before the pandemic.
We thought that the best way to achieve this was to get in a house surrounded by nature where we could fully enjoy the time with our colleagues without external distractions, escaping from a solitary routine that has accompanied us all since early 2020.
Between an excursions in the Eiffel park, lightening talks, projects future prospects, self-made meals and a walk in Monschau, we spent three incredible and interesting days full of laughter.

Sara is off to BoP!

Sara was admitted to the 2019 Biology of Parasitism course at Woods Hole at the Marine Biological Laboratory and won a Boehringer Travel Fellowship to support this endeavor! Send us postcards and popovers from Pie in the Sky!!!