Berlin PostDoc Day

In this Workshop, Dr. Pamela Geldmacher invites you to set out together on the path towards more resilience and strengthening resources, instead of constantly chasing after the "here and now". This is a practical workshop in which tools from the areas of personality development, stress management and mental coaching are used, as well as breathwork, mindful movement and meditation exercises. (sponsored by Freie Universität Berlin)

GOALS

In this 2.5-hour-workshop, you will:

• become aware of your own physical and psychological situation, to outline the current state of resources and to make self-determined adjustments in order to move forward more resilient, motivated and powerful.

THE TRAINER

Dr. Pamela Geldmacher holds a doctorate in media and cultural studies. She is a trained saleswoman for audio visual media, a certified yoga teacher, a mental coach and a moderator. Thanks to her 13 years of experience as a research assistant at the Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Pamela has coupled new research and teaching concepts with everyday university life. She integrates topics such as mindfulness, silence, feedback culture, resilience and motivation into her workshops. With the help of tools like Breathwork, Personal Development, Mental Coaching, Mindful Movement Body and Energy Work, she now accompanies people through a journey into alternative methods to live a resilient, motivated and powerful (work)life.

A lot of the stress researchers experience is inherent in the academic system: short-term contracts, pressure to finish the doctoral thesis and to publish, competing with many other talented people, constant (self-)evaluation and (self-)criticism, high dependency on your supervisor (for better or worse), struggling with low salaries, dealing with visa restrictions, you name it, and you already know it. But SOME of the stress is inherent in our thinking and ways of interacting with co-workers. What if there was a way for you to use THIS portion of the stress as a superpower? A door to yours and your team members’ needs? What if you learned to understand needs as something beautiful that points you in the direction of better mental health, more caring relationships, and a healthier academic system? What if you could retrain your thinking so that you can also communicate in a way that makes it more likely that you and everyone else gets what they need to make their life more wonderful? (sponsored by Berlin University Alliance)

GOALS

In this 3-hour-workshop, you will:

• gain a basic understanding of Nonviolent Communication

• a mindset of empathy (and self-empathy) and radical honesty

• a communication structure consisting of 4 steps: (1) Observation, (2) Feelings, (3) Needs, (4) Request

• engage in many practical exercises in pairs or small groups to uncover your needs behind judgment and criticism

• witness at least one demonstration of how you can ask for what you need so that it’s more likely you will get it

THE TRAINER

Dr. Ulrike Schneeberg is a certified trainer and coach (International Coaching Federation) with a focus on improving collaboration and leadership practices by cultivating a more caring and clearer way of communication. She works with researchers across different levels of hierarchy. Her academic “heritage” in literature, culture and languages is influenced by six years of international experience in Paris, Cambridge (UK) and Montreal. She lives in Berlin with her loved ones.

The workshop "Introduction to Podcasting for Researchers" aims to provide you with the basics of podcasting and assist you in presenting your research results in this format. The workshop is specially designed for researchers and offers individual support in small groups with max six persons. (sponsored by Leibniz-Forschungsinstitut für Molekulare Pharmakologie)

GOALS

In this 3-hour-workshop, you will:

• learn how to transform your research into an engaging podcast and present scientific content in an understandable way.

• understand how to choose the right format, create a concept, record techniques, editing, and publishing. Successful examples of podcast production are also shared, using the example of the “Wirkstoffradio” podcast.

 THE TRAINER

Dr. Bernd Rupp was born in 1972 in Creglingen. After studying pharmaceutical chemistry in Isny im Allgäu and at HHU in Düsseldorf, he completed his doctorate at the Institute of Pharmaceutical Chemistry at HHU Düsseldorf in the field of molecular modelling/drug design under the supervision of Hans-Dieter Höltje. Since 2006 he has been working at the Leibniz Research Institute for Molecular Pharmacology (FMP) in Berlin, currently in the group "Structural Chemistry and Computational Biophysics". As a postdoc at the FMP, he develops chemoinformatics routines and databases for the design of new compound libraries. He also supports several projects on research data management. In addition to his scientific work, Bernd is involved in wissenschaftspodcasts.de and "Chaos macht Schule", where he advocates for new communication channels in science and education in order to make knowledge more accessible and understandable to a wider public.

Data-driven products are becoming more and more ubiquitous. Humans build data-driven products. Humans are intrinsically biased. This bias goes into the data-driven products, confirming and amplifying the original bias. (sponsored by Berlin University Alliance)

GOALS

In this 1.5-hour-workshop, you will:

• learn how to identify your own -often unperceived- biases and reflect on.
• discuss the consequences of unchecked biases in Data Products.

 THE TRAINERS

Dr. Tereza Iofciu is an experienced data practitioner and career coach, leading a coaching team and teaching data science at neue fische. She is a co-organizer of the PyLadies Hamburg group and is part of the Python Software Foundation Code of Conduct and Diversity & Inclusion working groups. She has been awarded the Python Software Foundation 2021 Q1 community service award. She is also part of the DISC Steering Committee team and an Ambassador for Observable.

Dr. Noa Tamir  had been involved with the R and PyData communities for some time, with a focus on community building and DEI. They are a NumFOCUS member of the Board of Directors and DISC committee, PyLadies Organizer, and chaired the PyData Berlin 2022 conference. In addition, they are a Lead Data Science Coach at neue fische, contributing to pandas, and are currently developing the Contributor Experience Community and Handbook with Inessa Pawson and Melissa Mendonça.

Ignite your innovative potential. Reflect your skillset as an Innovator and discover what you already bring to the table! Practise your entrepreneurial mindset while exchanging great ideas with your fellow PhDs or postdocs. (sponsored by Young Entrepreneurs in Science - Falling Walls Foundation) 

GOALS

In this 3-hour-workshop, you will:

• Get to know the different aspects of an innovator's skill set. 
• Reflect about your personal skill set as researcher, innovator, and entrepreneur. 
• Understand how those skills contribute to a team.

 THE TRAINERS

The workshop will be held by Sarah Scheck and Hanna Lange who share a background in international and cultural business studies. They a coaches for innovation and user-centric methods at Young Entrepreneurs in Science, a professional coaching programme for doctoral candidates and postdocs of all disciplines at German universities and research institutions encouraging them to discover their entrepreneurial potential.

Every stage of a researcher's career is built on foundations of writing and other forms of communication, yet this topic is rarely taken seriously in European schools and universities. Students who don't master the basic skills will struggle with every paper, crucial applications for jobs and funding, and routine requirements of their jobs. The ability to clearly and effectively communicate science is somehow connected to the quality of a scientist's thinking and research – but why should that be true? And what are the implications? Communication problems have an underlying logic that can be captured in a general model to explain what goes wrong and how they can be fixed. The model has very clear implications for how we teach communication and how we ought to be teaching science. It suggests a way of thinking about writing and giving talks that not only make these tasks a lot easier, but can ultimately improve your research. (sponsored by Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine).

GOALS

In this 3-hour-workshop, you will:

• get an overview of the theoretical introduction using examples to expose problems and giving you a new way to think about communication tasks.
• learn tools and strategies to apply to your writing and presentations.

THE TRAINER

Besides being a diplomat trying to negotiate new boundaries between science, humor, and art, Russel Hodge is one of Europe’s most respected science communicators and teachers. In 1997 he was plucked from a peaceful existence as a writer and musician to launch the Office of Information and Public Affairs at EMBL. He helped shape it into one of the most respected centers of public outreach for molecular biology in the world. He currently works as science writer and communications trainer at the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in Berlin. He has written thousands of articles, dozens of book-length journalistic reports for institutes across Europe and the US, and published 9 books on science. He is a co-author on 11 original scientific papers, has written highly successful international grants, and most recently written and illustrated a children’s book on evolution. Alongside humorous pieces on his blog, he is carrying out important work on the theory, practice and didactics of science communication. Some of his work can be found here, as well as for his artwork which can be seen here.

Program

8:00 - 9:00: Registration

9:00 - 9:30: Welcoming Remarks from Prof. Dr. Christopher Schneider, Vice-President of Research at the Humboldt University; Prof. Dr. Sabine Hunke, director of the Humboldt Graduate School; Dr. Jean-Yves Tano Scientific Coordinator - ASPIRE at Max Delbrück Center (MDC)

Scientific Session

9:30: Alexander Friedrich, Postdoc - "The AIFRI Project - Artificial Intelligence For Rail Inspection", Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -prüfung (BAM)

9:40: Arunima Murgai, Postdoc - "Hijacking the Cancer Cell - Are We One Step Closer to the Cure?", Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin

09:50: Clara Patricia Marshall, Postdoc - "Synthesis of catalysts for the challenges of renewable energy storage", Fritz-Haber-Institut der Max-Planck-Gesellschaft (FHI)

10:00: Alessandro Santuz, Postdoc - "Proprioceptive information must reach the brain to ensure robust locomotion", Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC)

10:10: Nils Köbis, Postdoc, "How Artificial Intelligence influences human ethical behavior", Max Planck Institute for Human Development

10:20: Delwen Franzen & Maia Salholz-Hillel, Postdoc & Final-year PhD student - "Improving clinical trial transparency with tailored report cards: a pilot intervention at the Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin", QUEST Center for Responsible Research

10:30 - 11:00: Coffee break

11:00: Charlie Vanaret, Postdoc - "Unifying nonlinear optimization - a cake metaphor", Konrad-Zuse-Zentrum für Informationstechnik Berlin (ZIB)

11:10: Vince Arafiles, Postdoc - "Crossing borders: direct cytosolic delivery of proteins using cell-penetrating peptide additives ", Leibniz-Institut für Molekulare Pharmakologie (FMP)

11:20: Kornelia Johann, Postdoc - "Taking a shot at obesity - Development of a novel CRISPR-based gene therapy to combat metabolic disease", German Institute of Human Nutrition Potsdam-Rehbrücke, Germany

11:30: Chris Liedl, Final-year PhD Student - "From flashing fireflies to quantum choirs: Spontaneous synchronization in superradiance", Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (HU)

11:40: David Wegner, Postdoc - "Luminescent Quantum dots – the next-generation nano light bulbs", Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -prüfung (BAM)

11:50: Sofia Elizarova, Postdoc - "A fluorescent nanosensor paint detects dopamine release at axonal varicosities", Leibniz-Institut für Molekulare Pharmakologie (FMP)

12.00 - 12.15: Voting for “Best Pitch Talk”

12.15 - 14.15: Poster session + Lunch Break with voting session for “Best Poster Presentation” (Lunch provided)

14.15 - 14.30: Voting session for “Best Poster Presentation”

Career Inspiration Session: "From Postdoc to…"

14.30 - 15.30: (12+3min Q&A)

Editor - Margherita Citroni, Senior Editor and Team Manager at Nature Publishing group

Group Leader - Sofia Kirke Forslund, Junior Group Leader at ECRC (MDC/Charité, Berlin)

Strategy Consultant - Can Sonmezer & Lukas Pluska, Consultants at Scitaris

Project Manager -  Anna Maria Elert, QI Digital Manager at BAM

15.30-16.00: coffee break

16.00 - 17:00: (12+3min Q&A)

Management in High Tech Company - Jürgen Stuhler, Vice President of the Business Unit Quantum Technology at TOPTICA

Scientific Communicator - Gabriel León, La Ciencia Pop

Policy Analyst - Fabrizio Larcher, Analyst at the Directorate-General for Energy, European Commission

Entrepreneur - Marianna Prokopi-Demetriades, co-founder of Theramir Ltd, Promed Bioscience, and RSL Revolutionary Labs Ltd

17.00 - 17.30: 1 min pitch from the best 6 posters and final voting session for “Best Poster Presentation”

17.30 - 18.00: Award ceremony & closing remarks

18.00 to ...: Pizza & socialize!! (Refreshments and pizza provided)

Prizes

Talk prizes

The top 3 talks voted by PDD22 attendees will receive 300€.

Poster prizes

The top 3 posters voted by PDD22 attendees will receive 150€.

Schedule

08:00 – 09:00    Registration

09:00 – 09:15    Opening

09:15 – 10:15    Scientific communication workshop – Elodie Chabrol

10:15 – 10:25    Coffee break

10:25 – 10:30   Introduction of Young Entrepreneurs in Science – Sebastian Al-halabi from Falling Walls

10:30 – 12:00    Postdoc Talks – Chair: Pablo Suárez-Cortés, MPIIB.

Talk #1 Technology and Innovative Business Modes for or against sustainability? Holistic Analyses in Crisis-Affected Contexts. 
Lubna Rashid. Technische Universität Berlin (TU); Alexander von Humboldt Institut für Internet und Gesellschaft.

Talk #2 The role of online ratings and reviews in digital discrimination.
Judith Kas. Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung (WZB). 

Talk #3 Obesity suppresses anti-tumour immunity.
Lydia Dyck. Trinity College Dublin; Max-Delbrück-Center for Molecular Medicine.

Talk #4 The sixth sense: Intraspinal sensory neurons control quadrupedal movement
Katrin Gerstmann. Max-Delbrück-Center for Molecular Medicine. 

CANCELLED Talk #5: Optogenetic perturbations of RNA expression in tissue space.
Ivano Legnini. MDC Mitte (BIMSB). 

Talk #6 Modeling and Forecasting the Dynamics of the Natural Gas Transmission Network in Germany with the Demand and Supply Balance Constraint.
Nazgul Zakiyeva. Zuse Institute Berlin.

12:00 – 13:00    Lunch Break

13:00 – 14:00    Poster Session

14:00 – 15:00    Postdoc Talks – Chair: Giovanna D. Ielacqua, MDC

Talk #7 Physical mechanisms of chromosome spatial organization.
Simona Bianco. Max-Delbrück-Centrum für Molekulare Medizin (MDC)

Talk #8 Applications of Video Game Development in Biomedical Research.
Adam Streck. MDC Mitte (BIMSB)

Talk #9 Association Plots: in the search of cluster-specific genes in single-cell transcriptome data.
Elzbieta Gralinska. Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics.

Talk #10 Single-photon turnstile.
Martin Cordier. Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (HU).

15:00 – 15:15    Sponsor talk – Alexander Wallroth from Catenion

15:15 – 15:30    Coffee break

15:30 – 16:30    Keynote speaker – Uri Alon

16:30 – 17:00    Poster Pitches

17:00 – 18:00    Prizes & Conclusion & Socialize

18:00 – ...          Socialize & Pizza!

 

Prizes

Talk prizes

The top 3 talks voted by PDD21 attendees will receive 300, 200 & 100€, respectively.

Winners

1. Single-photon turnstile. Martin Cordier. Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (HU).

2.  Obesity suppresses anti-tumour immunity. Lydia Dyck. Trinity College Dublin; Max-Delbrück-Center for Molecular Medicine.

3. The role of online ratings and reviews in digital discrimination. Judith Kas. Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung (WZB). 

Poster prizes

The top 3 posters voted by PDD21 attendees will receive 150, 100 & 50€, respectively.

Winners

1. A role for the hearing gene Cib2 in somatosensory system. Dimitra Mazaraki. Max-Delbrück-Centrum für Molekulare Medizin (MDC)

2. A Single-photon turnstile – or how to interfere photon statistics. Maximilian Schemmer. Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin

3. Molecular mechanisms of presynaptic biogenesis in human neurons. Filiz Sila Rizalar.
Leibniz-Institut für Molekulare Pharmakologie (FMP)

Schedule

Check the Hopin event page for latest updates and changes to the program

Friday, November 13th on Hopin

09:00 – 09:15 Introduction

09:15 – 10:15 Keynote speaker – Prof. Emanuelle Charpentier, MPUSP Berlin

10:15 – 10:30 Coffee break

10:30 – 12:00 Postdoc Talks

12:00 – 13:00 Lunch Break

13:00 – 14:00 Poster Session

14:00 – 15:00 Chalk Talk Workshop with Matteo Cassese

15:00 – 15:15 Coffee break

15:15 – 15:30 Sponsor speaker from Bayer

15:30 – 16:30 Postdoc Talks

16:30 – 17:00 Poster Session

17:00 – 18:00 Prizes & Conclusion & Socialize

Prizes

The best talks and posters will be chosen by participants’ vote on the day.

Schedule

Date: Thursday 6th of June 2019

08:30 Registration and poster set up

09:00 Opening and welcome – Marie Walde, MDC

09:15 Keynote lecture: “Visualising the invisible”, Prof. Nenad Ban, ETH Zürich

10:15 Session 1 – Chair: Miguel Arbesu, FMP   

10:15–10:35 “Differential dynamic behavior of histone tails with in-vitro reconstituted nucleosomal arrays”, Stamatios Liokatis, Principal investigator, FMP

10:35 – 10:55 “Structural studies of mutants of the NaK channel”, Sonja Minniberger, PhD student, FMP

11:00 Parallel sessions:

• “Success through communication: how to communicate and network impactfully through social media”, Amani Said, Beyond the labs
• “Visual communications principles for scientific posters and presentations”, Philip Jordan
• Sabine Oertelt-Prigione, TBA
• CV check – Sandra Krull, Uwe Lohmeier, Stefanie Scharf, MDC Postdoc Office

12:00 Session 2 – Chair: Ying Chow, FMP

12:00 – 12:20 “Deep neural networks for interpreting RNA binding protein target preferences”, Mahsa Ghanbari, Postdoc, MDC/HU

12:20 -12:40 “A landscape of circadian and ultradian alternative splicing events in mammalian tissues”, Rukeia El-Athman, PhD sudent, Charité/FU/HU

12:40 – 14:00 Lunch & Poster Session

14:00    Session 3 – Chair: Guus Heynen, MDC

14:00 – 14:20 “Gene expression cartography”, Nikos Karaiskos, Postdoc, MDC

14:20 – 14:40 “Compartmentalisation insulates gene expression during embryogenesis”, Michael Robson, Postdoc, MPImg

14:40 – 15:00 “The translational landscape of the human heart”, Sebastiaan van Heesch, Postdoc, MDC

15:00    Coffee Break

15:30    Session 4 – Chair: Jean-Yves Tano , MDC

15:30 – 15:50 “Quantifying the Immunopeptidome with PLAtEAU”, Eliot Morrison, Postdoc, FU

15:50 – 16:10 “Image global, detect local”, Marie Walde, Postdoc, MDC

16:10 – 16:30 “Aquatic ecosystem effects of replacing large herbivorous wildlife with livestock in savanna landscapes”, Frank Masese, Postdoc, Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB)

16:30 Closing summary – Jean-Yves Tano, MDC

17:00 Evening reception & Awards
 

Prizes

The best talks and posters will be chosen by participants’ vote on the day.
Monetary prizes for best talks (750€, 500€, 250€).
4x travel grants (500€) for best posters.

Deadlines

Early bird registration: 01 April 2019.
Deadline for registration (abstract submission): 20 April 2019

Schedule

08:30  Registration

09:00 Opening and welcome by Prof. Dr. Dorothea Fiedler (Director FMP Berlin)

09:30-10:30 Keynote speaker 1 Prof. Dr. Andreas Mayer (UNIL, Lausanne, CH)
Acidocalcisomes – active players in metabolism rather than simple storage organelles?
Introduction by Dr. Martin Lehmann (FMP)

10:30-11:00 Session 1: Mammalian Metabolism chaired by Dr. Elena Cano-Rincón (MDC)

Talk 1: Dr. Bharath Ananthasubramaniam (Charité, HU) – Synchrony and entrainment: The yin and yang of the mammalian circadian clock
Talk 2: Dr. Jane Reznick (MDC) – Fructose driven glycolysis supports anoxia resistance in the naked mole rat

11:00 – 11:30 Coffee Break

11:30-12:30 Session 2: Neurobiology chaired by Dr. Tolga Soykan (FMP)

Talk 3: Dr. Marta Maglione (FMP, Charité) – Spermidine protects from age-dependent structural and functional changes at hippocampal synapses
Talk 4: Dr. Mathias Böhme (FMP) – A modular active zone design supports presynaptic plasticity
Talk 5: Dr. Luis R. Hernandez-Miranda (MDC) – Identification of an essential brain centre for vocalisation
Talk 6: Dr. Tania López-Hernández (FMP) – Homeostatic control of brain function: Role of astroglia in neuroprotection

12:30-14:00 Lunch and Poster session

12:30-13:15 Posters odd numbers
13:15-14:00 Posters even numbers

14:00-15:00 Keynote speaker 2 Prof. Dr. Peter Seeberger (MPI Colloids & Surfaces, Potsdam, DE)
Preventing and Fighting Infectious Diseases: Carbohydrate Vaccines and Flow Chemistry
Introduction by Dr. Javier Moreno (FMP)

15:00-15:30 Session 3: Systems Biology & Genetics chaired by Dr. Sebastiaan van Heesch (MDC)

Talk 7: Sascha Willuweit (Charité) – For the greater good – Combining Y-chromosome, NGS and bioinformatics in forensics
Talk 8: Dr. Jordi Solana (MDC) – Cell type atlas and lineage tree reconstruction of whole adult planarians by single cell sequencing

15:30-16:00 Coffee Break

16:00-16:30 Session 4: Cardiovascular and cancer chaired by Dr. Claudia Matthäus (MDC)

Talk 9: Dr. Andre Rosa (MDC) – Blood vessels on the move: Deciphering and targeting actin dynamics driving cell migration in vascular formation
Talk 10: Samantha Exner (Charité) – Identification and validation of the angiotensin II receptor type 1 as a possible anti-cancer target in neuroendocrine tumours

16:30-17:30 Keynote speaker 3 Prof. Dr. Adolfo Saiardi (UCL London, UK)
Inositol phosphates: metabolism, signalling and evolution
Introduction by Dr. Wing Ying Chow (FMP)

17:30-end Award ceremony and get together at the Beer Hour 

Prizes

We had some pretty great prizes for you in 2017:

1x iPhone 6S with ExoLens® PRO with Optics by ZEISS Wide-Angle Lens (kindly provided by Zeiss); 3x Travel grants for a conference or meeting of choice (kindly provided by the MDC, FMP and BIH) and 1x Nikon 3D camera (kindly provided by Nikon). Also, we’ll give away 3×60 euro vouchers for Campus Vital to keep all of you (or, at least three of you) fit and happy!

If you have any more questions, please don’t hesitate and contact us