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Symposia & Retreats

iGRAD-Plant Retreat 2023

The iGRAD-Plant Retreat will be held on September 25-26, 2023 at Burg Wegberg.

More details will follow soon.

The iGRAD-Plant Symposium 2023 was held on Wednesday, February 15 at HHU Düsseldorf.  

MSU guest speakers were

Berkley Walker
David Kramer
Jianping Hu
Shinhan Shiu
Melissa Lehti-Shiu
Susanne Hoffmann-Benning

Additionally HHU speakers were Guido Grossmann and Ute Armbruster (newly appointed in January) will participate.

See program for details: Schedule iGRAD-Plant Symposium 2023

The iGRAD-Plant Retreat 2022 was held as a joint Retreat with Michigan State University in East Lansing, MI, USA from June 21-26, 2022.

Program

The iGRAD Plant Retreat 2021 was held from October 6-8, 2021 with participation of the iGRAD-Plant fellows and faculty members at Jugendherberge Düsseldorf.

Additional guests in the afternoon session were faculty and PhD students from Michigan State University who joined via Zoom.

Speakers from MSU included Shin Han Shiu and Danny Ducat

See Program for details: Program 2021

The iGRAD-Plant Mini Symposium 2020 was held on September 29, 2020 at HHU Düsseldorf as an in-person / online hybrid event. Our new PhD students presented their work in front of their peers and project leaders for the first time. Due to current restrictions additional guest could participate in the talks online.

Schedule

Meetings, Workshops and Events

Date: November 9, 1:00 - 3:30 pm on HHU Campus & November 10, 9:00 am - 1:00 pm  via Zoom.

At the HHU Career Day 2023, guests from different sectors will present their current jobs and employers and tell you how they got there. Get to know career opportunities outside the university, talk to speakers and like-minded people and get new impulses for your own career!

On top of that the HHU Career Day 2023 focuses on professional skills: learn more about desired competences and your own competence portfolio and how to communicate and use your skills successfully in the application process.

More details on the program, our guest speakers and registration will follow soon.

Program: https://www.hera.hhu.de/en/seminars-and-courses/career-day 

Equal opportunity day “Together Successful. Make the change!”

Equal opportunity day “Together Successful. Make the change!”

Wednesday, September 27, 2023

In the afternoon Professor Heather Hofmeister will give a talk on “Making the unconscious conscious to improve the climate of science”.  All members of the organizing Collaborative Research Centres and Research Training Groups are welcome! This will be followed by a podium discussion and time for networking.

In the morning we will offer three parallel workshops for female scientists.

This event is jointly organized by CRC 1208, CRC 1535, RTG 2158, IRTG 2466, RTG 2482, CRC 1116, RTG 2578.

Registration is now open. Please find the program and the registration link on the following website: https://www.grk2158.hhu.de/qualifikationsprogramm/equal-opportunities/successful-together-make-the-change 

Photosynthetic energy transformation

Date: Tuesday, July 18, 1 – 6 pm, room 26.14.02.014 (seminar room AG Weber)

Instructor: Helmut Kirchhoff, Washington State University, WA, USA

Content:  Life has to be constantly fueled with energy to support the myriads of cell functions (cell division, development, metabolism, synthesis and degradation of building blocks, adaptation and defense, etc.). Establishing and maintaining these functions requires a constant input of metabolically usable energy (for example ATP) provided by mitochondria and chloroplasts. The workshop will introduce the principles how biological systems transform energy with a focus on photosynthetic energy transformation in chloroplasts. A particular focus will be given on design principles of energy converting membranes: What structural parameters were tuned by evolution to enable efficient energy conversion and regulation.

Students will learn:

  • Principles of biological energy transformation
  • Structure of photosynthetic membranes (from molecules to membranes)
  • Function and regulation of energy transformation
  • Design principles of energy converting membranes
  • Challenges for energy transformation in dynamic environments
  • Can we optimize photosynthesis for a 2nd green revolution?

At the start of the winter term 2022/2023 the IRTG held the first scientific workshops for the new qualifying fellows. NEXTplant PIs introduced the new PhD students to their respective research area and methods.

October 24, 2022: Kick off Meeting and Plant Biology Seminar with NEXT plant PI Robert vanBuren from Michigan State University.  Research VanBuren Lab

Oct 25 - Nov 11: NEXTplant Workshop pt I

  • Biostatistics I: Introduction to statistical data analysis, Parametric and non parametric tests, Non linear regression analysis and quality check (Ovidiu Popa)
  • Biostatistics II: Linear models for the analysis of experimental data, Two factorial ANOVA and mixed models, regression and principles of experimental designs with exercises (Benjamin Stich)
  • The plant immune system, Microbial virulence (Michael Feldbrügge, Vera Göhre, Florian Altegoer)
  • Good Data Management Practices (CEPLAS Data Management Team)

Dec 12 - 21: NEXTplant Workshop pt II

  • Plant Biochemistry and Physiology: Cell Biology, Photosynthesis, C-metabolism (Andreas Weber, Markus Pauly)
  • Analytics (Photometry, LC, GC, MS), Metabolomics (flux, stable isotopes) (Shizue Matsubara, HHU Plant Metabolism and Metabolomics Facility)
  • 1st NEXTplant Fellows literature seminar
     

On May 18 it finally happened again! Kids in the area of Düsseldorf had the opportunity to learn more about the exciting world of plants in the botanical gardens. The Fascination of Plants Day is a yearly event that tries to teach children more about the many facets of algae and plants. Organized by CEPLAS, the botanical garden and the Institute of Quantitative and Theoretical Biology (including members of NEXT-plant), the school students (3rd - 4th grade) conducted their own small experiments. After having a lecture like real university students the children headed to the botanical gardens. At four small setups with the titles  “Plants are green”, “Plants glow”, “Plants have strength” and “Plants have friends” they learnt in a playful way more about plant sciences. Also a tour trough the diversity of the botanical gardens was included. It was a lot of fun! (Tim) - CEPLAS press release
 

May 2, 2022: iGRAD-Plant Excursion to Syngenta Seeds.

On May 2nd we had the great opportunity to visit Syngenta Seeds GmbH in Bad Salzuflen as a joined trip from NEXT-Plant and CEPLAS graduate schools. Syngenta is located in a beautiful countryside, about a 2 h train ride from Düsseldorf. After an interesting introduction into the company, we received a tour through the R&D and production facilities. There we could see how Syngenta conducts breeding research on a variety of crops such as maize, oil seed rape and barley. Having a chance to directly talk to the breeders, we gained great insights into how research questions are being addressed in industry. We had an informative and inspirational experience at Syngenta Seeds. (Vanessa & Sebastian)

May 5 & July 13, 2022: PDP Workshop for the second cohort of iGRAD-plant fellows.

General Information about the PDP

The PDP (Personal Career Development Plan) is a 2-part career workshop organized by iGRAD, that guides the iGRAD-Plant fellows through their path of decision-taking about their career, in accordance with a thoroughly established list of identified personal strengths, interests and values. Some of the questions covered in the workshop are:

Which criteria are important for me in the choice of my future career? Which career paths are compatible with these criteria? What do I need to know now, if I intend to follow an academic career? Which interdisciplinary skills/qualifications are required for my intended career path? How can I coordinate my strategy for advanced professional education with my career choice? Where can I find relevant job vacancies and how do I read the advertisements? Where can I find useful advice and tips about applying for a position?

The PDP sessions are planned in the second year of the doctorate, in order to encourage iGRAD-Plant fellows to reflect at an early stage about their career and professional requirements, individual abilities and personal philosophies, critical for taking appropriate decisions about the personal career path.

The workshop consists of two parts and is planned for fixed groups. Participants are grouped by the iGRAD-Plant coordinator and informed by Email at an appropriate time before course starts.

March 14-17, 2022: RNA-Seq data analysis workshop organized by iGRAD-Plant fellows, led by Dr. Hans-Jörg Mai (institute of botany)

Planned schedule/content:

- Software installation
- Processing the raw data
- Read mapping and quantification
- Steps of quality control
- Statistical evaluation
- Data visualization

In case of an on-site event computers with the corresponding softwares will be available and the course will be in the practical rooms of the institute of botany (26.14.01). In case of an online event, you will be guided by Hans-Jörg through the software installation on your computer. A data set for the course will be provided.

Confocal Microscopy Workshop with CAi

November 24 - 26, 2021

Workshop on confocal microscopy by Sebastian Hänsch from the Center for Advanced Imaging (CAi) - organised by iGRAD-Plant fellows

10 participants in 3 groups

Contents:

  • Theoretical and practical aspects, benefits & limitations of confocal imaging at CAi.
  • Focus on two confocal microscopes (Machines: Zeiss LSM880 & Leica TCS SP8) that are often used by plant researchers and that offer special options e.g. in terms of sensitivity and resolution.
  • Preparation of standard plant samples like infiltrated N. benthamiana leafs as demonstration object as well as mounting of protoplast samples.
  • Participants can prepare and use samples of interest.

 

Date: November 4, 9:30 am - 13:30 & November 5, 9:30 - 12:30  via Zoom.

At the HHU Career Day 2021, guests from different sectors will present their current jobs and employers and tell you how they got there. Get to know career opportunities outside the university, talk to speakers and like-minded people and get new impulses for your own career!

On top of that the HHU Career Day 2021 focuses on professional skills: learn more about desired competences and your own competence portfolio and how to communicate and use your skills successfully in the application process.

Please check the event website for more details on the program, our guest speakers and registration.

Get insights into different career paths and benefit from personal experiencs of our Alumni! 

There are plenty of career options for (plant) scientists and finding your personal career objectives is very challenging for most early career researchers. Therefore, we are very happy that Alumni of our programs are willing to share insights about their career with current PhD students and postdocs from our programs as part of our new career series.  The seminar series will take place from late August 2021 to mid-September 2021 on three Friday afternoons, approx. from 2-5 pm (online via Zoom).

Sessions & Speakers

August 27: Careers in Industry - R&D and consultancy

  • Dr. Panpan Jiang, Project Lead at BASF Vegetable Seeds, Netherlands, as of August 2021 scientific manager I product support at Bayer AG, Germany
  • Dr. Claire Lessa Alvim Kamei, Team Lead DNA Operations at Hudson River Biotechnology, Netherlands
  • Dr. Filipa Tomé, Innovation consultant at Innovayt A/S, Portugal
  • Dr. Felix Frey, Consultant, VDI/VDE Innovation + Technik GmbH, Germany

September 10: Careers in Academia:

  • Dr. Yang Bai, Principal investigator at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, China
  • Dr. Sara Farrona, Principal investigator at the Plant & AgriBiosciences Centre (PABC), Ryan Institute, National University of Ireland
  • Prof. Dr. Maria von Korff Schmising, Full professor at Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Germany
  • Dr. Peter K. Lundquist, Assistant professor at Michigan State University, USA

September 17: Careers in the Public sector - Research, education and data management & Technology Transfer

  • Dr. Silke Gerlich, Postdoc at the Institute for Advanced Simulation - Section Materials Data Science and Informatics (IAS-9) at Forschungszentrum Jülich & HMC (Helmholtz Metadata Collaboration); previously Coordinator at Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes, Bonn
  • Dr. Maida Romera Branchat, MSC Programme Coordinator at Münster University
  • Dr. Mara Schuler-Bermann, Start-up Advisor-Technology Scout, Saarland University
  • Dr. Antonella Succurro, Scientific Officer at the West German Genome Center (WGGC) and Life and Medical Sciences (LIMES) Institute, Bonn

Participants

All doctoral and postdoctoral researchers from the organizing institutions (CEPLAS, iGRAD-Plant, Max-Planck-Institute for Plant Breeding Research) are welcome to particiate. 

Registration via: https://www.ceplas.eu/en/training-careers/ceplas-courses-and-excursions/branch-out-alumni-career-series/ 

 

April 2021  &June/July 2021: PDP Workshop for the first cohort of iGRAD-plant fellows.

General Information about the PDP

The PDP (Personal Career Development Plan) is a 2-part career workshop organized by iGRAD, that guides the iGRAD-Plant fellows through their path of decision-taking about their career, in accordance with a thoroughly established list of identified personal strengths, interests and values. Some of the questions covered in the workshop are:

Which criteria are important for me in the choice of my future career? Which career paths are compatible with these criteria? What do I need to know now, if I intend to follow an academic career? Which interdisciplinary skills/qualifications are required for my intended career path? How can I coordinate my strategy for advanced professional education with my career choice? Where can I find relevant job vacancies and how do I read the advertisements? Where can I find useful advice and tips about applying for a position?

The PDP sessions are planned in the second year of the doctorate, in order to encourage iGRAD-Plant fellows to reflect at an early stage about their career and professional requirements, individual abilities and personal philosophies, critical for taking appropriate decisions about the personal career path.

The workshop consists of two parts and is planned for fixed groups. Participants are grouped by the iGRAD-Plant coordinator and informed by Email at an appropriate time before course starts.

From October 21 to November 29 the IRTG held a scientific workshop for the new members.  PIs introduced the new PhD students to their respective research area and methods. Additionally, national and international guest scientists contributed to the program.

Overview of topics and guest lecturers

 

 

On October 9, 2019 the official kick-off meeting of the new IRTG took place. Presenters included spokesperson Prof. Andreas Weber and the managing director of the iGRAD Dr. Christian Dumpitak. After the talks faculty members as well as old and new fellows had the chance to meet up for the first time.

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