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GSC 214:  Jena School for Microbial Communication (JSMC)

Subject Area Microbiology, Virology and Immunology
Term from 2007 to 2018
Website Homepage
Project identifier Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 39071934
 
Final Report Year 2020

Final Report Abstract

The “Jena School for Microbial Communication” (JSMC) was established in 2006 to investigate the communication of microorganisms with other microorganisms as well as with plants, animals including humans and with the abiotic environment. The integrative analysis of results in these three research and training areas contributes to a holistic view of microbial communication and microbiology in general. The education of young scientists within THE JSMC involves non-university research institutions and includes direct participation of companies with exchange of results in collaborative PhD projects. In extension of eleven thematically related Master programmes at the Friedrich Schiller University Jena (FSU), the JSMC attracts highly motivated doctoral researchers from all over the world who are then trained in a structured, interdisciplinary, research-oriented program. The communication of microorganisms relies on presentation and recognition of abiotic and biotic molecules, such as metal ions or the metabolites of bacteria, fungi and higher organisms. The production and decoding of these signalling mediators result in the regulation and development of cellular processes as a response to the environmental and inter-organismal interactions or changes of conditions. The long-term goal of the JSMC is to provide detailed insights into production, excretion, spatial distribution, detection and translation of signals to understand their interactive networks. The interdisciplinary approach established within the JSMC involves biology, chemistry, medicine, geology, opto-physics and systems biology, and is essential to establish model descriptions of homo- and heterogeneous microbial consortia in the environment or as associated with a host. In addition to a high scientific output, an extraordinary involvement and dedication of the doctoral researchers in organising meetings, public outreach, exchange with biotech companies and developing the curricula has resulted from the programme. Moreover, the JSMC has been an essential step in internationalisation with about 40 % of doctoral researchers currently being recruited from abroad, which is substantially higher than the 18% of international doctoral researchers for the whole of the FSU. The JSMC has also been instrumental in developing a doctoral researcher culture at the FSU, which is manifested in various cultural and social events and the organisation of doctoral students in the representative body DR.FSU. Finally, several collaborative research centers and a research Cluster of Excellence have emerged directly from the scholarly network that was established by the JSMC. With the termination of funding for graduate schools by the DFG under the excellence strategy that now focusses on research clusters, the JSMC has secured funding from the Carl Zeiss foundation until the end of 2024, with possibility for extension thereafter. The funding from the Zeiss foundation was awarded for the express purpose of closer aligning doctoral training in the life and optical sciences and will be achieved by uniting the strengths of the JSMC with the Abbe School of Photonics (ASP) under the umbrella of the Jena Alliance of Graduate Schools “Life in Focus”. Objectives or future development include further progressing the mentoring and training of doctoral researchers and its extension to young researchers at the early postdoctoral level. At the same time, we will continue to develop the industry cooperation in Jena with internships for doctoral researchers and postdocs who are interested in a career outside academia in direct collaboration with the Zeiss foundation. In sum, the research and training established by the JSMC will continue to provide a strong basis for the education of competitive and successful scientists in academia and industry.

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