Egypt, Bangladesh, Germany, Ecuador, Georgia, Iran, Kazakhstan, Nepal, Nigeria, the Philippines, Spain, Switzerland, Ukraine, and the United States: The diversity of the countries of origin among the first MemBioMed students is impressive. The international group began their studies about a year ago and has already completed one semester each at the Université de Côte d’Azur in France and the Università di Genova in Italy. Now comes the third semester—here at Osnabrück University.
“Our innovative, transnational degree program is designed to prepare participants to take on a leading role in research on cell membranes and in harnessing their therapeutic potential,” says Prof. Dr. Joost Holthuis, MemBioMed coordinator at Osnabrück University. “The different research focuses at the three study locations complement each other perfectly: In Nice, the focus is on membrane biochemistry and biophysics; in Genoa, on neurobiology and biomedicine; and in Osnabrück, on bioanalytics and imaging.” In Osnabrück, the focus will therefore be on analytical methods for studying membrane molecules, as well as on techniques that visualize processes within membranes.
For the students, their time in Osnabrück begins this week with a summer school. There, they will receive detailed information about their program, get to know the campus and the city, and have the opportunity to make their first important connections. Another central element of the program is orientation for the master’s thesis. This is because the students will soon have to decide in which research group and at which of the three universities they want to conduct their thesis. To help them with this process, all research group leaders participating in the program will present their current research and will then be available to answer questions during a “speed-dating” session. This includes not only the researchers from Osnabrück but also those from Nice and Genoa, who are also on site for this occasion.
The scientific highlight of the summer school will be the international symposium “Spatial-temporal interrogation of living membranes” at the end of the week, which is taking place in cooperation with Research Training Group 2900 “nanomaterials@biomembranes.” In addition to presentations by international researchers on the biology of cell membranes and their therapeutic potential, the symposium offers master’s students an opportunity to network.
Joost Holthuis is delighted to welcome the first MemBioMed students to Osnabrück after a long planning period: “Together with our colleagues in Nice and Genoa, we have developed a curriculum that trains the most qualified and competent international specialists in biomembrane research. It is a special moment to now welcome the first highly motivated students to Osnabrück who will benefit from this program.”
The MemBioMed Master program is supported by the EU with approximately €3.8 million as part of the Erasmus Mundus Joint Master Program. The funding covers a total of four cohorts, including scholarships for the participants. The program begins each fall. For Joost Holthuis, this means that shortly after welcoming the students of the first cohort in Osnabrück, he will head to Nice to oversee the start of the second cohort—which will then arrive at Osnabrück University next year.
Further information about the program is available on the Université de Côte d’Azur website.
Additional information for the media:
Prof. Dr. Joos Holthuis, Osnabrück
University, Faculty 5 Biology/Chemistry, Department of Molecular Cell Biology
