On March 2024, the newly elected GfG board and advisory board members met in Giessen. Topics such as public relations, inclusivity of epigenetics in the company's name, upcoming workshops and conferences, updating the website and much more were hotly discussed.
Many activities and innovations are being tackled!
Awarding of the 2023 Elisabeth Gateff Promotional Prize to Ms. Michelle Rönspies and visit to the founder, Professor GateffThe prize donated by Elisabeth Gateff for an outstanding doctoral thesis in the field of genetics was awarded to Michel Rönspies (KIT) in 2023. The award ceremony took place on April 23, 2024 at 2:00 p.m. at KIT. Interested GfG members could also follow the event online. Ms. Rönspies presented her impressive results in the field of chromosome engineering in plants in a 30-minute lecture. Unfortunately, the founder herself could not be present, so GfG President Sandra Hake presented the €3,000 prize.
Professor Gateff received the award winner, accompanied by GfG President Sandra Hake, at a later date in her garden in Mainz. The personal meeting with the charismatic founder was a formative experience.
The GfG is proud to have such a personality, who is particularly inspiring for young female scientists, among its honorary members and would like to thank her for founding the renowned doctoral award.
On June 5th, 2024, the GfG advisory board members met virtually for the second time in 2024. Important topics at the meeting were the planning of the annual conference in 2025, the new website and considerations about how young scientists can be further promoted.
On April 4, 2024, the GfG workshop “On the way to a professorship” took place for the third time in Berlin. A lot of insider information, tips and tricks as well as answers to many questions will hopefully help all participants with their applications, talks and interviews!
Many thanks to the organizers Ann Ehrenhofer-Murray, Sandra Hake, Reinhard Köster and Frank Kempken.
The GfG would be happy to organize another workshop in 2025. If you are interested, please contact the GfG.
On April 10-12, 2024, a three-day international symposium on chromatin and RNA research took place in the auditorium of the JLU main building, chaired by Prof. Dr. Sigurd Braun (Institute of Genetics, Vice President GfG) together with Prof. Dr. Katja Sträßer (Institute of Biochemistry) was organized. The conference was financed by two EU and DFG-funded graduate programs (Cell2Cell, RTG2355), which are coordinated by the LMU Munich and the JLU Giessen. Registration was free, which meant that many students and doctoral candidates were able to take part.
The event was a total success! A total of 130 local and international participants came. The symposium was chaired by the Vice President for Research at JLU Prof. Dr. Martin Kramer opens. Top researchers from Israel (Prof. Dr. Schraga Schwarz), Switzerland (Prof. Dr. Susan Gasser) and the Netherlands (Prof. Dr. Bas van Steensel) gave the keynote readings. Many more lectures followed from guest speakers and also many young scientists from the two graduate programs. Another highlight was the awarding of the Society for Genetics' poster prize worth 300 euros to Gertjan Laenen (Institut Curie, Paris) by the GfG President Prof. Dr. Sandra Hake.
The lectures covered a wide range of different aspects of gene expression: from genome architecture to epigenetic mechanisms and analyzes at the single cell level to RNA modifications. Their importance during adaptation to environmental changes and infections with various parasites was also highlighted.
On November 11th 2024, members of the GfG board and advisory board met virtually for the third time in 2024. Important topics at the meeting were among others the planning of the annual conference “Epigenetics & Chromatin” in Giessen in 2025 as well as considerations about how young scientists can be further promoted.
