Biomedical and Disease-Oriented Life Science PhD Education

Doctoral candidates performing molecular and disease-oriented life science research in one of the research groups at the CMMC or the associated institutions are enrolled in either in the Graduate School for Biological Sciences (GSfBS) at the Science Faculty or in the Interdisciplinary Graduate Program Molecular Medicine (IPMM).

The IPMM is a jointed venture of the Medical and the Science Faculty and is aiming at life scientists and research-oriented physicians. The IPMM was also one of the first programs in Germany to offer structured complementary training to physicians comparable to an MD-PhD. These two long established graduate schools both provide high-level structured training programs covering disciplines ranging from molecular medicine, human diseases, molecular biology, biochemistry, biophysics, bioinformatics, genetics, including microbial, animal model organisms and having an integrated curriculum aimed at producing the next generation of leaders in the field of molecular medicine whether in academia or the wider market.

The Umbrella Function of the GSfBS and the IPMM 
Together the GSfBS and the IPMM are representing an umbrella structure for all externally funded  and cross-faculty graduate schools and programs. These programs are usually focused on one specific area of research, doctoral students are offered, in addition to the above mentioned training, workshops directly related to their focus of research as demonstrated by the Gradute School of Ageing Research, the Research Training Groups  (RTGs) as well as the integrated Research Training Groups (iRTG) of the Collaborative Research Center (CRCs) at the University of Cologne. Clinician Scientists

Interdisciplinary Program Molcular Medicine

Spokesperson: Prof. Dr. J. Vogt (Medical Faculty) and Prof. Dr. E. Rugarli (Science Faculty)
Joint Coordination: PD Dr. C. Niemann (Scientific Curriculum), Dr. D. Grosskopf-Kroiher (Transferable Skills), Dr. D. Mutschler and Dr. C. Azyk (Submission & Graduation)

Graduate School for Biological Sciences

Spokesperson: Prof. Dr. Niels Gehring
Coordination: Dr. Isabell Witt

Overview of specialized third-party funded Programs

The Cologne Graduate School of Ageing Research (CGA) in Germany is a joint venture of the University of Cologne Excellence Cluster on Stress Responses in Ageing-Associated Diseases (CECAD), the University Hospital Cologne, the Max Planck Institute for Biology of Ageing and the Max Planck Institute for Metabolism Research.

Spokespersons:
Prof. Dr. Tatiana Korotkova (Institute of Vegetative Physiology, CECAD and CMMC)
Prof. Dr. Adam Antebi(Max-Planck-Institute for Biology of Ageing)
Coordination: Dr. Daniela Morick / Dr. Julia Zielinski

https://www.ageing-grad-school.de/home/

International RTG 3110 - funded by the DFG (start April 2025)

The cooperation partner is Sungkyunkwan University in Seoul, South Korea.

Spokesperson: Prof. Dr. Reinhard Büttner (Institute for Pathology)
Spokesperson: Prof. Dr. Yoon-La Choi (Institute of Pathology - Sungkyunkwan University Seoul)

 

The cross-faculty CCRC prgramm is the research training group 2407 of the Faculty of Medicine - funded by the DFG.

Spokesperson: Prof. Dr. Stephan Baldus (Clinic I of Internal Medicine and CMMC)
Vice Spokesperson: Prof. Dr. Stephan Rosenkranz (Clinic I of Internal Medicine and CMMC)
Coordination: Dr. Monika Schlosser

https://kardiologie.uk-koeln.de/forschung/dfg-funded-ccrc-graduate-program/ 

The cross-faculty RTG-NCA is the research training group located of the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences - funded by the  DFG.

Spokesperson: Prof. Dr. Ansgar Büschges (Institute of Zoology)
Coordination: Dr. Katerina Vlantis

https://rtg-nca.uni-koeln.de/

The cross-faculty CCRC prgramm is the research training group 2550 of the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences  - funded by the DFG.

Spokesperson: Prof. Dr. Jan Riemer (Institute for Biochemistry - Faculty of Mathematices and Natural Sciences)
Coordination: Alexander Rüter

https://grk2550.uni-koeln.de/about-rtg-reloc

The cross-faculty iRTG is the integrated research training group of the CRC 1451 of the Faculty of Medicine. 

Spokespersons: Prof. Dr. Gereon R. Fink (Dept. of Neurology)
Vice-Spokespersons: Prof. Dr. Tatiana Korotkova (Institute for Vegetative Physiology) and Prof. Dr. Ansgar Büschges (Cognitive Neurosciences INM-3 | Research Center Jülich GmbH)
Scientific Coordination: Dr. Claudia Schmidt
IRTGCoordination: Dr. Claudia Wegscheid

https://www.crc1451.uni-koeln.de/index.php/young-researchers/

The cross-faculty mito-RTG is the integrated research training group of the CRC 1218 of the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences. 

Spokesperson: Prof. Dr. Elena Rugarli (Institute for Genetics / CECAD and CMMC)
Vice-Spokesperson: Prof. Dr. Aleksandra Trifunovic  (Institute for Mitochondrial Diseases and Ageing / CECAD and CMMC)
Coordination: Dr. Isabella Gaziano

https://sfb1218.uni-koeln.de/mito-rtg

The cross-faculty iRTG is the integrated research training group of the CRC 1403 of the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences.
 

Spokespersons: 
Prof. Dr. Manolis Pasparakis (Institute for Genetics, CECAD and CMMC) and 
Prof. Dr. Hamid Kashkar (Institute for Molecular Immunology, CECAD and CMMC)
Coordination: Dr. Emmi Wachsmuth

https://sfb1403.uni-koeln.de/

The integrated research training group of the TRR 259 is a Collaborative Research Center located at the University Bonn, Cologne, and Düsseldorf - funded by the DFG.

Spokesperson: Prof. Dr. Georg Nickenig (Medical Clinic and Polyclinic II - University Hospital Bonn)
Vice-Spokespersons: Prof. Dr. Stephan Baldus (Dept. III for Internal Medicine - University Hospital Cologne) and Prof. Dr. Malte Kelm (Dept. for Cardiology, Pneumology and Angiology - University Hospital Düsseldorf)
Coordination for Cologne: Dr. Arne Bublitz

For further information, please visit: https://www.trr259.uni-bonn.de/en/irtg

Clinician Scientists Schools and Programs

Spokesperson: Prof. Dr. Christian Reinhardt (Dept. I of Internal Medicine)
Scientific Coordinator: Prof. Dr. Christiane Bruns (Dept. of General, Visceral and Tumor Surgery)

http://www.ekf-cologne.de/home/

Speaker: Prof. Dr. Dr. Roland Ullrich (Dept. I of Internal Medicine)
Vice Speaker: Prof. Dr. Michael Hallek(Dept. I of Internal Medicine)
Coordination: Dr. Viktoria Linne

https://msso-cologne-bonn.de/about

Over the past 10 years, the Faculty of Medicine has systematically built a comprehensive program of supporting modules to support clinician scientists interested in both clinical and research careers as clinician scientists.

  • Cologne Clinicin Scientits Program (CCSP)
  • Advanced Cologne Clinician Scientist Program (Adv. CCSP)

For further information: https://medfak.uni-koeln.de/en/forschung/personenfoerderung-karriere/clinician-scientist

EU-funded Programs

Ageing@EITHealth is a pan-European doctoral programme that brings together EIT Health academic and non-academic partners to train a new generation of PhD specialists in gerontology, neuroscience and epidemiology with solid innovation and entrepreneurship competencies.

About EIT Health:https://eithealth.eu/ 

CECAD is an EIT health Partner: www.cecad.uni-koeln.de/career/eit-health/

EIT Health Ageing PhD School at CECAD: https://eithealth.eu/project/eit-health-ageing-phd-school/

Spokesperson: 
Prof. Dr. M. Cristina Polidori
Full Professor and Head of Ageing Clinical Research, Dept. II of Internal Medicine Medizin

Contacts: 
Dr. Aakanksha Bansal
EIT Health Project Manager

Dr. Sarah Denzel
EIT Health Projectmanager

Discover more: