JSMC Newsletter 2020/02
This is the last newsletter in this exciting and challenging year. The JSMC wishes you all a relaxing and restful Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Featured Events
Below, please find a small selection of upcoming events. A complete and up-to-date list is available in the Event Calendar on the JSMC website www.jsmc.uni-jena.de. All courses are open to all JSMC PhD students. Course registration follows the first-come, first-served rule.
December 16, 2020, 16:00
MiCoCo: Exploiting recent advances in cryo-Electron Microscopy to decipher the molecular details of bacterial virulence and antibiotic resistance
Lecturer: Dr. Julien Bergeron, King's College London, Randall Division of Cell and Molecular Biophysics
Location: online
December 16, 2020, 18:00
Covid Cafe
Due to lockdowns and limited social life, our doctoral speakers invite you to have an online social hour every two weeks. They invite you to join them on Wednesday at 6 pm for a friendly chat.
Link: https://uni-jena-de.zoom.us/j/94379894572
Meeting ID: 943 7989 4572
Passcode: 052833
January 20, 2021; 16:00
MiCoCo: Archaea - interactive components of diverse microbiomes
Lecturer: Prof. Dr. Christine Moisl-Eichinger, Center for Microbiome Research at the Medical University Graz
Location: online
January 26 and 29, 2021; 9:00 – 11:00
Jena Alliance Life in Focus course: Career Planning - Intensive course
Lecturer: Dr. Iris Köhler
Location: online
February 22 - 26, 2021
IMPRS course: Introduction to basic statistics and R
Lecturer: Dr. Grit Kunert
Location: online
March 29 - 31, 2021
MiCom 2021 - 8th International Conference on Microbial Communication for Young Scientists
Location: online
More info soon here: www.micom.uni-jena.de
News from the JSMC Community
About the „Meet the new Speakers” event at Dec 9 2020 (from Lena & Ayda)
Last week, we invited all JSMC members, their friends, and their family to meet the new speakers during a scavenger’s hunt throughout the city center of Jena. Unfortunately, the weather decided to tease us badly: directly on time, at 5.30 pm, it started to rain and the rain lasted until 8.30 pm – with the hunt being scheduled for 6 to 8 pm. What a bad timing!? Though, nevertheless, 7 courageous teams braved the elements, found their ways through the trials and tribulations that we prepared for them, and finally accepted our challenges: to identify Christmas songs from looking at music sheets, to prove us that they know what a “distance of 2m” means, to think about ingredients of Christmas beverages and sweets, and finally to demonstrate us that people are not only proficient in the lab or at the computer but still maintain a sportive nature and walk through the park on so-called “Laufdollis”.
We hope that you enjoyed the hunt and solved the riddles and we are looking forward to see you next time, probably only virtually for now but again outside and in person next year once circumstances allow for it.
And last but not least, it needs to be said that it was a great pleasure for us to organize this event together with Lia and Teresa. We want to thank them for their great work as JSCM speakers and their dedication. By taking over their duties, we wish them the very best for the future!
Lena & Ayda
JSMC Website: Check your entries
At the end of the year please check your entry on the JSMC website (www.jsmc-phd.de) and let us know if you would like to update your record with a photo or CV. Under „Research“ you will find publications by our doctoral researchers. Please keep us up to date and inform us about your publications.
JSMC Newcomers 2020
There have been some JSMC newcomers in the last few months. We want to take this opportunity to introduce and welcome them to the JSMC!
Mathias Jansen
Is supervised by Prof. Hube (HKI). He started his research on “Evolutionary adaptations to life in the gut by Candida albicans” at the Department Microbial Pathogenicity Mechanisms (HKI) in October 2020.
Malte Siemers
Started his research in October 2020 in the Institute of General Microbiology at the FSU. His project is “Autoinducer-controlled riboswitches in commensal and pathogenic bacteria” under the supervision of Prof. Papenfort (FSU).
Harikumar Suma
Joined the Department of Paleobiotechnology at the HKI in October 2020. He is supervised by Dr. Stallforth (HKI) and Prof. Mittag (FSU) and works on the project “Stable Predator–Prey Interactions on Structured Surfaces”.
Manuel Gomariz
Is supervised by Dr. Fröhlich (FSU) and Prof. Papenfort (FSU). He started his research on “Global Analysis of RNA-RNA Interactions in Caulobacter crescentus” at the Junior Research Group Bacterial RNA Biology (FSU) in October 2020.
Paul Rudolph
Started his research in January 2020 at the Department of Applied Systems Biology at the HKI. His project is “Spatiotemporal Modeling and Simulation of Fungal Infection Processes” under the supervision of Prof. Figge (HKI).
Nauman Saeed
Joined the Junior Research Group Evolution of Microbial Interactions (HKI) in May 2020. His project is “Molecular basis of amoeba-fungus interaction” under the supervision of Dr. Hillmann (HKI) and Prof. Agler- Rosenbaum (HKI).
Sophie Tröger
Is supervised by Prof. Brakhage (HKI) and Prof. Hoffmeister (FSU). She started her research on “Antifungal Resistance: Antifungal lead development by natural compound screen (AReST)” at the Department of Molecular and Applied Microbiology (HKI) in April 2020.
New Doctors 2020
We would like congratulate all new doctors on their successful graduation and wish them all the best for the future.
Hanka Brangsch
Thesis title: Control of heavy metal resistance genes in Streptomyces
Tilottama Mazumdar
Thesis title: Adaptive strategies of Enterococcus mundtii to different living conditions in the gut microbiome of Spodoptera littoralis larvae
Michal Flak
Thesis title: Secondary metabolites in the interaction of Aspergillus fumigatus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa in cystic fibrosis sputum
Vincensius Oetama
Thesis title: Chlorophyllide binding protein in Spodoptera littoralis: Functional Characterization and Analysis
Career, Funding and Information
Around the world in 24 days: The Leibniz IPHT Christmas stories
Have you already seen the Leibniz IPHT advent calendar? International researchers share 24 wonderful, funny and heartwarming Christmas stories from 24 different countries. You can open one door each day on twitter or here: https://calendar.myadvent.net/?id=aa2cdc3971a9d07ad435872d6e97dd1a.
Science - Dance your PhD contest
The "Dance Your PhD" competition of Science has been announced for the 13th time! This is the ultimate opportunity to test your skills in presenting your dissertation in a comprehensible way and without words. Deadline is the 29th January 2021. The announcement page can be found here: https://www.sciencemag.org/projects/dance-your-phd
ANY IDEAS FOR THE NEXT JSMC NEWSLETTER?
---> send them to office@jsmc.info!