Science Fellowships: Here our 2023 Fellows!
In our work, we strive to enhance the impact of science for the benefit of society. With a focus on embedding a collaborative mindset in the next generation of scientific leaders, our three fellowships offer opportunities for international exchange for outstanding masters, PhD, and medical students in the fields of Drug Discovery, Agriculture, and Medicine. In 2023, we selected 35 brilliant minds from 13 different countries for this unique experience and provided more than 256,000€ in funding.
Our program will re-open for application early in 2024 and you can find more information here.
Meet our 2023 fellows here:
Otto Bayer Fellowships for Drug Discovery Sciences
Nicole Gottscheber
From University of Cologne, Germany, going to University of Cambridge, UK
Project: Conditional activation of IL-2 by using peptide crosslinkers for cancer immunotherapies.
Xiaofen Wu
From Institute for Integrative Biology of the Cell (I2BC), CNRS, UMR9198, France, going to Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences, Germany
Project: Pathogenic virus control of host viability at the level of the ribosome exit tunnel.
Jean Yves Takoua Bella
From Faculty of Medicine & Biomedical Sciences, University of Yaounde I, Cameroon, going to Institute for Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Freiburg, Germany
Project: In silico approach of elucidation of the mechanism of action of a traditional improved medicine from phyllobotryon spathulatum for the management of type 2 diabetes.
Bodunrin Olaseni Ottu
From University of Lagos, Nigeria, going to Institute of Physiology, University of Cologne, Germany
Project: In vitro cytotoxicity studies of ethanolic extracts of Xylopia aethiopica fruit on mouse-induced pluripotent stem cells and their cardiomyocytes derivatives.
Jan Birkel
From Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg, Germany, going to Sir William Dunn School of Pathology, University of Oxford, UK
Project: Development of antiviral compounds against poxviruses based on poxvirus evasion of immunity.
Yiovana Veronica Okraine
From Fundación Instituto Leloir (FIL), Argentina, going to Ulm University, Germany
Project: Identification of the PCNA interactions key for cancer cell survival after chemotherapy using miniTurboID.
Junjie Zheng
From Medical School of Shandong University, China, going to Institute for Prophylaxis of Cardiovascular Disease (IPEK), Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Germany
Project: The phenotypes and characterizations of human and mouse autoantigen-specific B cells in atherosclerosis.
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Anna Wolfram
From Department of Neurology & Interdisciplinary Neuro-Oncology, Hertie-Institut, University Tübingen, Germany, going to Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Castilla-La Mancha, Spain
Project: Phosphaphenalene-gold(I) compounds: Towards enhanced non-alkylating anti-cancer agents for brain cancer.
Sidiq Latifat Olabimpe
From University of Ibadan, Nigeria, going to Institute of Pharmacy, Universität Greifswald, Germany
Project: Isolation and characterization of cysteine-rich circular peptides (cyclotides) with enzyme inhibitory activities from selected Nigerian medicinal plants as drugs lead for diabetes management.
Torsten Bücher
From CECAD, Germany, going to Paul Scherrer Institute, Switzerland
Project: Structural analysis of primary cilia by using cryoelectronic tomography.
Queeneth Ogunniyi
From Department of Pharmacognosy, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Ibadan, Nigeria, going to Institute of Biochemistry and Biology, University of Potsdam, Germany
Project: Metabolomic and pharmacological profiling of five underutilized legumes for the management of diabetes and obesity.
Anna Drabarek
From Technical University of Munich, Germany, going to Department of Cell Biology, Harvard Medical School and Department of Cancer Immunology & Virology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, USA
Project: Role of the eukaryotic translation initiation factor 3 complex (eIF3) in protein synthesis and metabolic plasticity in T cells.
César Amauri Horta Velázquez
From Research Center in Optics, Mexico, going to the Department of Microsystems Engineering (IMTEK) of the University of Freiburg, Germany
Project: Microfluidic and nanophotonic platform for the AI-assisted multiplexed detection of cancer biomarkers.
Jeff Schell Fellowships for Agricultural Sciences
Amdom Berhe
From Department of Land Resources Management and Environmental Protection, Mekelle University, Ethiopia, going to Institute for sustainable Irrigation and Water management in rural areas, Ostfalia University of Applied Sciences, Germany
Project: Adaptation to impact of climate change and variability on spatio-temporal irrigation water requirement: the case of three watersheds in the eastern zone of Tigray region, northern Ethiopia.
Rashi Tyagi
From Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IIT Delhi), India, going to Leibniz Institute of Vegetable and Ornamental Crops (IGZ), Germany
Project: Synthetic microbial communities for biocontrol of Fusarium: Harnessing the functional potential of microbiome.
Hamid Rouina
From Institute of Bio- and Geosciences, Forschungszentrum Jülich, Germany, going to Department of plant biology, School of integrative biology, University of Illinois, USA
Project: From genes to sustainable crop production: Transcending boundaries in gene regulation through gene regulatory network analysis of transcriptome profiles in barley and Brachypodium roots in response to variety of ammonium and nitrate application.
Fabio Herrera
From Universidad de Los Andes, Colombia, going to Leibniz Institute of Plant Biochemistry, Germany
Project: First genome-scale metabolic reconstruction of Theobroma cacao L as a new platform to improve the sustainability of cocoa crops.
Michaël Brière
From Université Laval in Quebec City, Canada, going to Universität Kassel in Witzenhausen, Germany
Project: Optimizing nutrient input and transfer through processing of legumes as fertilizer in vegetable production.
Lucas Lannutti
From Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria, Inst. de Patobiología, Argentina, going to LänderInstitut für Bienenkunde, Hohen Neuendorf, Branderburg, Germany
Project: Development of a novel molecular method for the simultaneous detection of Nosema ceranae and N. apis infections in beehives.
Sanni Gazali Bio
From Faculty of Agronomic Sciences / University of Abomey-Calavi, Benin, going to Institute for Plant Sciences, University of Cologne, Germany
Project: Integrating metabolomics and genetics to uncover the biomarkers associated with the dehiscence trait in sesame (sesamum indicum).
Afsaneh Yousefi
From Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Iran, going to Hohenheim University, Germany
Project: The impact of nitrogen forms on root-microbe communication and plant defense root pathogens in winter wheat.
Olade Charles Sansan
From Faculty of Agronomic Sciences of Abomey-Calavi, Benin, going to Universität zu Köln, Germany
Project: Transcriptomics analysis of drought and heat tolerance in onions.
Carl Duisberg Fellowships for Medical Sciences
Ridwan Olamilekan Adesola
From the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, going to the Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology, University of Wuerzburg, Germany
Project: Adaptation of advanced cell culture and molecular techniques in studying the effects of environmental changes leading to breast cancer among humans and dogs in Southwestern Nigeria.
Dinorah Hernández-Melchor
From Centro de Investigación y de Estudios Avanzados del Instituto Politécnico Nacional (CINVESTAV-IPN), Mexico, going to Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology, Germany
Project: Establishment of CRISPR/Cas9 methodology to introduce genetic modifications in stem cells.
Leopold Klein
From Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen, Germany, going to Queensland University of Technology, Australia
Project: Transformation of the implant paradigm in breast reconstruction surgery.
Inger Hellerhoff
From Technische Universität Dresden, Germany, going to National Institute of Mental Health, USA
Project: Interactions of the gut microbiome with structural and functional brain alterations in Anorexia Nervosa.
Catherina Chiapella
From Universitätsklinikum Düsseldorf// HHU Düsseldorf, Germany, going to Laboratory for immunobiology- UFSC Federal university of Santa Catarina, Brazil
Project: Interaction of dengue virus infection and host cell death mechanisms.
Sophia Okeke
From College of Medicine, University of Ibadan, Nigeria, going to Heidelberg Institute for Stem Cell Technology and Experimental Medicine(HI-STEM) by the German Cancer Research Centre, DFKZ, Germany
Project: Tet2 clonal hematopoiesis as a mechanistic driver of diet-induced liver cancer.
Johannes Grimm
From the Institute of Applied Medical Engineering, RWTH Aachen (Institute for Dynamic Systems and Control, ETH Zurich), Germany, going to Institute for Dynamic Systems and Control, ETH Zurich, Switzerland
Project: Experimental evaluation of a total artificial heart under dynamic conditions.
Veronika Spieker
From Helmholtz Center Munich, Germany, going to Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile / iHEALTH, Chile
Project: Motion-Resolved Abdominal MR: Deep Learning Meets Physics-Based MR Reconstruction.
Melika Tavakoli Yaraki
From Tarbiat Modares University, Iran, going to Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Germany
Project: Investigating the effect of histone deacetylase inhibition on myelin repair and phenotype polarization of glial cells and in an experimental model of multiple sclerosis.
Jilu Jaffet
From LV Prasad Eye Institute, India, going to Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg, Germany
Project: Evaluation of the human lacrimal gland derived mesenchymal stem cell secretome in the restoration of lacrimal function in an in vitro model of dry eye disease.
Liisi Promet
From International Max Planck Research School at the University of Göttingen, Germany, going to Yale University School of Medicine; Olin Neuropsychiatry Research Center, Institute of Living, USA
Project: Neurobiological effects of cannabidiol treatment in a biologically-defined subtype of patients with psychosis.
Sana Motallebi
From College of Engineering, University of Tehran, Iran, going to Institute of Computational Neuroscience (ICNS), University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Germany
Project: Application of control theory to large-scale brain networks to uncover the most effective deep brain stimulation sites in the context of freezing of gait for patients with Parkinson's Disease.
Blair Jovellar
From Hertie-Institut für klinische Hirnforschung/ Universitätsklinikum Tübingen, Germany, going to Gordon Center for Medical Imaging, USA
Project: Memory modulation through real-time brain state-dependent cortical paired associative stimulation.
