Dresden International Graduate School for Interdisciplinary Life Sciences

We hosted 9 scientific talks covering the fields of Biophysics, Gene expression, Plant Cell Mechanobiology, Cell Nuclear, Neuroscience, Cancer Research and Diabetology.

Alumni Career path talks gave the opportunity for life expertise sharing and created a space of mutual understanding in conversations.

• Nikolaos Kyritsis – Principal Investigator at UCSF, USA
• Vittoria Avaro – Predoc at CRTD, Calegari Lab
• Martin Sztacho – Postdoct. Fellow at Inst. of Molecular Genetics, Prague
• Erdinc Sezgin – Assistant Professor SciLifeLab, Karolinska Institutet, SE
• Ivan Radin – Research scientist at Washington University St. Louis, USA
• Peter Hoboth – Research Associate at Inst. of Molecular Genetics, Prague
• Theresia Gutmann – Research Associate at MPI-CBG, Dresden

The nine Career Path talks gave insight into the variety of job fields our Alumni took after leaving DIGS-BB, including Startup Founders, Career coaches, Medical Writers, Assisting CEO of a huge enterprise in Microbial Manufacturing, Junior Group Leader, Service Facility Management, Administrative Positions, Patent Law, Life Cycle Assessment, and more. While we assumed that this session might be most beneficial for Predocs, we got lots of feedback from Alumni that they appreciated this a lot.

• Irena Zurnic Bonisch – Publication Writer at Modis Life Science, BE
• Peter Hoboth – Research Associate at Inst. of Molecular Genetics, Prague
• Axel Erler – Associate Director / Commercial Development at LONZA, SUI
• Joanna Kalucka – Assistant Professor at Aarhus Institute, SE
• Tobias Heckel – Teamlead Genomics, Siemens Healthineers, DE
• Maria Begasse – Head of Admin/ COO at Physics of Life, TU Dresden
• Heiko Keller – LCA and sustainability expert at IFEU Heidelberg
• Sebastian Höpfner – Patentanwalt at Bird & Bird LLP, Munich
• Nicola Bauer – self-employed Walk & Talk Coach at Laufrat, Munich

The Alumni expert led workshops enjoyed great popularity and left the participants with practical tips of Do’s and Don’ts as well as hands-on material.

How To Switch from Academia to Industry

… aimed at all levels and backgrounds. Nicola Bauer introduced the audience to the importance of an open mindset and offered hands-on tools for skills assessment and traits, before defining the next steps towards a new position, for any scenario with or without switching fields. Svea Cheeseman and Daniel Cavalli embellished the journey with practical tips and best practice examples.

Speakers:

• Nicola Bauer – Laufrat, Career advice at Helmholtz Centre Munich & Consultant
• Daniel Cavalli – Life Science Consultant at Catalyze Group
• Svea Cheeseman – Mass Photometry Product Manager for Biopharma

How to Launch – from scientific idea to startup

… introduced to the decision-making process, the entrepreneurial risk and sometimes long breath it might take to create a product, find the right approach and point in time to go into business and attract customers.

After an overview on starting a science enterprise by dresden|exists’ Iris Steinebrunner, we had the opportunity to hear about the becoming of RecTech, a startup launching just now. Frank Buchholz and Felix Lansing introduced the decision-making process and sometimes long breath it might take to create a product.

DyNAbind, a niche enterprise founded by DIGS-BB Alumni Michael Thompson and Francesco Reddavide celebrates their 5th birthday already. Their company offers DNA-Encoded Libraries to drug discovery labs of all sizes. Michael offered insight into challenges coming after the startup phase when it is all about long- term sustainability and settling in the market. Oliver Wüseke offered insights into a different approach where the focus lies on a customer needs analysis before shaping the service or product in juxtaposition to finding a target audience after product development.

Speakers:

• Iris Steinebrunner – Startup Manager for Life Sciences at dresden|exists
• Frank Buchholz – Professor & group leader, co-founder of RecTech
• Felix Lansing – Chief Scientific Officer at RecTech (precision genome surgery)
• Michael Thompson – CEO at DyNAbind
• Oliver Wüseke – Chief of Staff at Mantra Bio (exosome engineering platforms)

How To Make an Impact – Branding and Communication

… concentrated on the aspects of communication, self-presentation and purposeful audience targeted writing, with tips for social media content creation.

As a session starter, Amani Said led interactive exercises regarding self-perception and the story each of us creates and how to pursue steps towards. Irena Zurnic Bonisch gave a glimpse into efficacy and understandability of written context as well as target audience definition and adjustment of the written content. Benjamin Griebe from PR office at TU Dresden summed up how to navigate communication on platforms like Twitter, LinkedIn and other social media.

Speakers:

• Amani Said – Career Coach, Trainer, Speaker
• Irena Zurnic Bonisch – Publication Writer at Modis Life Science
• Benjamin Griebe – Press Office at Technische Universität Dresden

At the World Café session, Predocs and Alumni brainstormed and left feedback for further project ideas to become implemented in further planning and shaping of the Alumni program, tailoring the content to the needs of the DIGS-BB community.