CHAMP RESEARCH CENTER

The interdisciplinary scientific center "Center for Health and Medical Prevention", CHaMP for short, of the Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg held its founding members' meeting on October 8 in the Theoretical Lecture Hall of the Department of Pathology.

By the time the administrative and user regulations were published, 67 people from eight faculties of the university had submitted membership applications to the rector's office and were now cordially invited as founding members. More than 50 scientists had accepted the invitation and participated in the lecture hall or by Zoom. The Rector of the OVGU, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jens Strackeljan, welcomed those present, looked back on the long process that had preceded the founding and wished the members success in the collaboration in CHaMP.

Subsequently, Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Christoph Hoeschen (Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology) presented the goals and plans of the CHaMP. He pointed out that the CHaMP with its cross-faculty members is excellently suited to work on the topic of prevention of widespread diseases - in line with the future topic of Precision Medicine: Intervention, Prevention (P:IP). Here, numerous points of connection with faculties beyond medicine arise and "prevention" promises to be a future field of OVGU-focused interdisciplinary research. Prof. Hoeschen presented various specific topics that can be worked on in the CHaMP, as examples immunology and inflammation and material sciences for medicine. These topics result in numerous cooperation interfaces with the two existing centers CBBS (Center for Behavioral Brain Sciences) and CDS (Center for Dynamic Systems) as well as the CAME (Center for Advanced Medical Engineering), which was also recently established. Furthermore, he emphasized that a central goal of CHaMP's future work is the qualification of interdisciplinary scientists. Doctoral students with a connection to CHaMP are to be supported by thesis committees and, if possible, receive interdisciplinary dual supervision. This is supported by courses, for example on the basics of scientific work, the aim of which is also to overcome existing "language barriers" between biology, medicine the STEM field and the economic and human sciences. Finally, Prof. Hoeschen presented the most important structures laid down in the administrative and user regulations of the CHaMP; the speakers, the directorate, the general assembly and the scientific advisory board that is to be established if required.

Next, Jun.-Prof. Dr. med. Sascha Kahlfuss led through the necessary election procedures to establish these structures. First, the election rules were unanimously approved, after which the election of the founding board of directors could take place. This is composed as follows: the medical-biological discipline is represented by Prof. Dr. med. Christoph H. Lohmann and Prof. Dr. med. Burkhart Schraven, the mathematical discipline by Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Sebastian Sager and the engineering discipline by Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Christoph Hoeschen and Prof. Dr.-Ing. Ulrike Steinmann. Prof. Dr. Jeannette Brosig-Koch, holder of the Chair of Behavioral Social Policy (Faculty of Economics) and Prof. Dr. phil. Susanne Peters, Dean of the Faculty of Human Sciences, complete the Board of Directors. As an advisory member, the founding members proposed Dr. rer. nat. Martina Beyrau to the board of directors. At the end, those present had the opportunity to engage in conversation over a small snack in the foyer of the lecture hall.

In its initial meeting, the newly elected Board of Directors will propose three speakers from among its members to the Rector, who will then appoint them. The admission of new members is now also the task of the Board of Directors; several applications for this have already been submitted.

Images: Top: The rector of the OVGU, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jens Strackeljan welcomes the attendees. Bottom: In addition to those present in the lecture hall, numerous members took the opportunity to participate via Zoom. (Photographer: Christian Morawe/UMMD)

On July 11, the recently founded research center "Center for Health and Medical Prevention" (CHaMP) hosted a kick-off evening at the Festung Mark. The members of the CHaMP as well as other scientists of all career levels with an interest in the topic of interdisciplinary preventive medicine were invited.

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jens Strackeljan, Rector of the OVGU, first welcomed the approximately 70 guests who had accepted the invitation. Afterwards, Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Christoph Hoeschen, member of the directorate and speaker of the CHaMP, gave a short presentation reviewing the history of the CHaMP and introduced the most important goals. In an entertaining panel discussion moderated by Prof. Dr.-Ing. Ulrike Steinmann (Director of CHaMP), Prof. Strackeljan, Prof. Dr. phil. Susanne Peters (spokesperson of CHaMP), Prof. Hoeschen and Prof. Dr. med. Thomas Fischer (CHaMP founding member) then spoke about the objectives and future initiatives of CHaMP. To conclude the official part, Prof. Peters (Faculty of Human Sciences) and Prof. Hoeschen (Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology) presented an exemplary project in which the topic "Radioactive Emission" was used to show that interesting new research approaches can also result from the cooperation of disciplines that at first glance have few points of intersection.

Afterwards, there was time for exchanging ideas among the guests over bratwursts and drinks. Numerous interesting discussions also resulted from the overview posters that many of the visitors had brought with them on their scientific topics related to preventive medicine.

If you missed the event and are interested in the topics of the CHaMP or would like to become a member of this new research center, please contact the directorate at champ@ovgu.de at any time. We are also looking forward to further suggestions from our members and all interested parties of the OVGU on this way, e.g. on CHaMP-relevant projects!

Picture: Prof. Jens Strackeljan, Prof. Susanne Peters, Prof. Christoph Hoeschen, Prof. Thomas Fischer and Prof. Ulrike Steinbach during the panel discussion (Photo: private)