Wissenschaftliches Arbeiten ist auch an Universitätseinrichtungen für Ärztinnen und Ärzte mit besonderen Herausforderungen und Problemen verbunden. Eines liegt darin, dass die Anforderungen der klinischen Arbeit zu Beginn der beruflichen Karriere keine zusammenhängende Forschungszeit für die Konzentration auf ein wissenschaftliches Forschungsvorhaben erlauben.
Depression is an enormous burden for those affected and their families. Unfortunately, parental depression is one of the most prominent risk factors: Children of depressed parents are twice as likely to develop a depressive disorder themselves. However, it is still unclear how the interaction between biology (e.g., genetics) and the (social) environment leads to this increased risk. To understand these effects, we will 1. establish a large cohort of parent-child triads (mother, father, child) to analyse transgenerational transmission, 2.
An infection with the fox tapeworm typically affects the liver and varies greatly in severity. In some patients, the immune system can control the parasite, while in others, despite medication, it can spread to other organs like a malignant tumor. This study aims to explore the immune interactions and genetic markers in affected patients, seeking to understand the underlying cause of the different forms of disease. This research has important clinical implications.
Pancreatic cancer is one of the deadliest cancers, with less than 10% of patients surviving five years after diagnosis. In pancreatic cancer, nerves spread throughout the tumor, and they are believed to play a crucial role in the cancer's growth and spread. But how exactly do these nerves help the cancer progress? This question has been difficult to answer because the cell nuclei of nerves, which contain the essential DNA and mRNA, are located far from the tumor, in clusters called ganglia.
Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a malignant hematological disease with a poor prognosis. Standard therapy includes chemotherapy with/without subsequent stem cell transplantation which has several toxic side effects. In order to hide from the immune-system AML cells appear to manipulate immune cells in the bone marrow. It is unclear how this mechanism can be reversed. To understand the interaction of AML and immune cells in the human bone marrow, cell-specific gene patterns associated with treatment response or relapse will be decoded in this project.
Children with borderline intellectual functioning (BIF; IQ 70-84) frequently present with symptoms that are similar to those observed in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), which complicates the clinical diagnostic process. This is particularly the case with deficits in inhibitory control, i.e. the ability to suppress irrelevant impulses or cognitions.
The college deals with the question of how the human genome and epigenome change when long-term dysfunction in cellular and systemic signaling pathways occur due to disease. For example, diseases of metabolism, of the nervous system or cancer are investigated. With this topic, the college builds on the long-standing research and training expertise of the University Medical Center Göttingen (UMG) in the field of molecular cell biology.
