The event will take place at the Humboldt Graduate School, Luisenstr. 56, 10117 - Berlin
The Berlin Postdoc Day 2023 (#PDD23) is an annual event organized by a team of Berlin-based PostDocs with heterogenous affiliations (MDC, FMP, FHI, Charité, and BAM). This year, the event will be held on November 2nd as part of the Berlin Science Week and it is open to all Postdocs and last-year PhD students working on all disciplines in the Berlin area. It will be held in person.
During the past years the Postdoc Day has reached a very broad audience, engaging Postdocs from various disciplines. Therefore, it is a huge occasion to network with peers and to share your work. Submit an abstract and take the chance to win the “Best Pitch Talk” or the “Best Poster Presentation” Award!
Besides having selected scientific talks from our applicants in the morning, the afternoon program will be focusing on different career pathways and workshops, to help you navigate the job market and make the best conscious decision about your future. If you submit an abstract, you will have the chance to attend our lively poster session, a great opportunity to connect with other Postdocs, learn about their work and, who knows, perhaps even find new friends or collaboration partners!
Let yourselves get inspired and network as much as possible!
The Berlin Postdoc Day 2023 will be held at the Humboldt Graduate School Luisenstraße 56, 10117 Berlin
A glimpse into the beautiful Humboldt Graduate School building
A peek into last year´s event
8:00 - 9:00: Registration
9:00 - 9:30: Welcoming Remarks from the Humboldt University and the Max Delbrück Center
9:30-10:30: Selected Pitch Talks (6 talks from selected Postdocs - format 8+2 min Q&A )
10:30 - 11:00: Coffee break
11:00 - 12:00: Selected Pitch Talks (6 talks from selected Postdocs - format 8+2 min Q&A )
12.00 - 12.15: Voting for “Best Pitch Talk”
12.15 - 13.30: Lunch Break provided by Jasmin Catering (Authentic Syrian cuisine in Berlin with flexible, family-style service, and a social mission too)
13:30 - 15:00: Career Inspiration Session: "From Postdoc to…"
15.00 - 17.00: Poster Session + Parallel workshops (TBD) - Coffee break will be served during the Poster Session
17:00 - 17.30: 1 min pitch talk 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)
The top 3 talks voted by PDD23 attendees will receive 300€.
The top 3 posters voted by PDD23 attendees will receive 150€.
Giulia Glorani (MDC)
Amir Hossein Kayvanjoo (MDC)
Julia Kraxner (MDC)
Valeriia Sapozhnikova (MDC)
Neelay Kailask Mehendale (FMP)
Angela Harper (FHI)
Arunima Murgai (Charite')
Christina Ertural (BAM)
Maren Meurer (BAM)
Alexander Friedrich (BAM)
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)
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”
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)
The top 3 talks voted by PDD22 attendees will receive 300€.
The top 3 posters voted by PDD22 attendees will receive 150€.
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!
The top 3 talks voted by PDD21 attendees will receive 300, 200 & 100€, respectively.
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).
The top 3 posters voted by PDD21 attendees will receive 150, 100 & 50€, respectively.
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)
Check the Hopin event page for latest updates and changes to the program
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
The best talks and posters will be chosen by participants’ vote on the day.
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:
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
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.
Early bird registration: 01 April 2019.
Deadline for registration (abstract submission): 20 April 2019
Date: Friday 1 June 2018
08:30 Registration and poster setup
09:00 Opening and welcome by Lisa Wagner
09:15 Keynote by Michela Matteoli introduced by Tania López Hernández
“A long journey with the synapse: from the SNARE function to the immune-synaptopathies concept”
10:15 Structure Biology/Development/Physiology session chaired by Antoine Wallabregue
10:15 Daniel Stöppler (FMP, FU)
“Insight into small molecule binding to the neonatal Fc receptor by X-ray crystallography and 100kHz magic-angle-spinning NMR”
10:30 Jesse Veenvliet (MPIMG)
“tGastruloids: a 3D culture system to model mid-gestational development in a dish”
10:45 Ian Orozco (MDC, FMP)
“A gain of function mutation in the ClC-2 chloride channel causes hyperaldosteronism”
11:00 Career Development parallel sessions and Networking (coffee provided)
– CV check by Sandra Krull, Konstantina Diamantara, Hanna Singer, Stefanie Scharf
– Scientific visualisation by Philipp Jordan
– Grant writing workshop by Ioannis Legouras
– Meet the keynote speaker
12:00 Imaging session chaired by Lisa Wagner
12:00 Min-Chi Ku (MDC)
“A heart/hard condition: Imaging the progression of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy”
12:15 Baptiste Coxam (MDC, BIH)
“Interplay of Notch signaling and haemodynamics controls arteriovenous remodeling in the zebrafish trunk”
12:30 Lunch
13:00 Posters
14:30 Systems Biology session chaired by Sebastiaan van Heesch
14:30 Katharina Baum (MDC and LIH (Luxembourg Institute of Health))
“Gene expression at the interface of single cell and population dynamics – a quantitative approach to infer mRNA and protein dynamics from omics data”
14:45 Emanuel Wyler (BIMSB; MDC)
“Dissecting the expression dynamics of signaling genes in HSV-1 infection using single-cell RNA-sequencing”
15:00 Katrina Meyer (MDC)
“Mutations in disordered regions cause disease by creating dileucine motifs”
15:15 Frederick Rehfeld (Charité)
“The novel RNA-binding protein ARPP21 controls dendritic branching by functionally opposing the miRNA it hosts”
15:30 Coffee with (optional) fitness session sponsored by Campus Vital
16:00 Neurobiology session chaired by Sarah Ashley
16:00 Zohreh Farsi (MDC)
“Functional mapping of spontaneous and evoked neurotransmission reveals intersynaptic heterogeneity”
16:15 Maria Jäpel (FMP)
“Clearance of SNARE Complexes by the scaffold protein intersectin”
16:30 Marion Rivalan (Charité, HU)
“Spontaneous differences in serotonin levels and associated behavioural symptoms in healthy rat individuals”
16:45 Tolga Soykan (FMP)
“Towards a mechanistic model of formin-dependent synaptic vesicle endocytosis”
17:00 Closing summary, Beer hour starts
17:15 Awards
The best talks and poster will be chosen by participants’ vote on the day.
The postdoc/final year PhD student giving the overall best talk will be awarded a full travel grant to a conference/training course of their choice. The maximum cost covered will be 2000 EUR.
The postdocs/final year PhD students giving the runner-up talks (3) will be awarded a half travel grant to a conference/training course of their choice. The maximum cost covered will be 1000 EUR.
The best poster will be awarded a Nikon camera.
Deadline for submitting abstracts for talks and posters is 1 May 2018.
Abstracts selected for a talk will be notified by 10 May 2018, at the latest.
Registration, for attendance only, is possible up till 25 May 2018.
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
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
The Berlin Postdoc Day aims at showcasing the work of Postdocs in Berlin, establishing synergies among institutes, and supporting Postdoc career.
The event attracts ~150 postdocs from all research fields and it reaches all of the scientific institutions and universities located in the Berlin area, one of the biggest science agglomerate in Europe.
We believe that this would be a highly valuable event for industry partners to connect with brilliant postdoctoral fellows, who often represent key players in scientific discovery and an untapped source of innovation and research progress.