The German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) is supporting a cooperation project between Hannover Medical School and two Georgian universities, Tbilisi State Medical University (TSMU) and Sokhumi State University (SSU), with over € 270,000 over 4 years.

The project is led by Prof. Ulrich Martin, Leibniz Research Laboratories for Biotechnology and Artificial Organs (LEBAO) and the Department of Cardiothoracic, Transplantation and Vascular Surgery (HTTG) at Hannover Medical School (MHH) with the support of Gaby Froriep, coordinator of the PhD program "Regenerative Sciences" at MHH, and Lisa Braukmann (Management and Controlling Finance HTTG Research). The project represents a successful continuation of Prof. Martin's decades-long commitment to Georgia.

With funding from the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), the DAAD promotes university partnerships in Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)-relevant subject areas that contribute to sustainable development in line with the SDGs and to the development of efficient and cosmopolitan universities in the partner countries and in Germany.

The project, which was rated the second-best application out of 89, aims to qualify Georgian students of medicine and biosciences for further scientific and clinical training at the MHH.
As part of the funding, selected students are to be prepared for participation in the renowned Lower Saxony International Summer Academy in Immunology (LISA) at the MHH and the final implementation of their own research project in the Center for Molecular Diagnostics and Biotechnology at SSU and selected laboratories at TSMU via a new theoretical teaching module.  The aim is to enable students to successfully apply for and complete PhD programs at the Hannover Biomedical Research School (HBRS).  This should enable them to make a long-term contribution to the further development of academic education and the improvement of medical care in Georgia.