61 Master's certificates awarded in the three degree programmes Biochemistry, Biomedicine and Biomedical Data Science.
Ceremonial presentation of certificates: the graduates of the three bioscience master's programmes. Copyright: Gustav Meyer / MHH
Dr. Eckhard Schenke, board member of the Society of Friends, and Professor Dr. Siegfried Piepenbrock, also a member of the Society of Friends of the MHH, congratulated the best graduates (from left): Vanessa Vollmer and Jule Hupfeld (biochemistry), Jan-Philipp Gerhads (biomedicine), PD Dr. Stephan Traidl (biomedical data science). Copyright: Gustav Meyer / MHH
They submitted the best master's theses: Katharina Mörk, Jan-Phillipp Gerhards and Jana Tauschke, (front from left) with the two spokespersons of Junior GBM, Lydia Bosse and Jenny Fiebig (back). Copyright: Gustav Meyer / MHH
The Hannover Medical School (MHH) honoured the graduates of its three bioscience master's programmes in biochemistry, biomedicine and biomedical data science with a joint graduation ceremony. This year, the festive setting for the presentation of certificates was organised by the still young master's programme in biomedical data science, which was created as part of the RESIST project.
Prof. Dr. Dr. Michael Marschollek, spokesperson for the master's programme in Biomedical Data Science, opened the ceremony and presented the certificates to "his" graduates together with Prof. Daniel Depledge, Ph.D., who has also been responsible for the master's programme since the summer of 2024. Prof. Dr. Jens Bosse, a researcher at the Centre for Structural Systems Biology (CSSB) and a member of RESIST, gave a scientific lecture entitled "Systems structural biology of infectious agents using AI".
"Best degree" and "Best master's thesis"
PD Dr. Stephan Traidl received the "Best Degree" award from the Society of Friends of the Hannover Medical School for the master's programme in biomedical data science. Jana Tauschke received the "Best Master's Thesis" award from the Junior-GBM, Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.
The "Best Degree" award in the other two courses was also presented by the Society of Friends e.V. and went to Jule Hupfeld, Vanessa Vollmer and Niklas Viohl (biochemistry) and Jan-Phillipp Gerhards (biomedicine). The best master's theses in biochemistry and biomedicine were submitted by: Katharina Mörk in biochemistry with the title "Genomic Deletion of Specific O- and/or C-mannosylated Glycoproteins in Human Pluripotent Stem Cells Using CRISPR-Cas9" at the Institute of Clinical Biochemistry and Jan-Phillipp Gerhards in biomedicine with the title "Epitope Editing to Generate an Immunotherapy Stealth Hematopoiesis" at the Department of Hematology and Oncology at Boston Children's Hospital, USA, supervised by Prof. Dr. Michael Morgan, Institute for Experimental Hematology.
Calculations to make transplants last longer
"During my bachelor's degree in biochemistry, I became particularly interested in data analysis and therefore decided to do a master's in biomedical data science," says Jana Tauschke. In her master's thesis, the 26-year-old analysed gene expression data from biopsies of transplanted kidneys. She was able to show that the rejection reactions are significantly more heterogeneous at the molecular level than at the histological level. "Considering further subgroups of rejection reactions could enable more personalised therapy and thus possibly improve the long-term function of transplants," explains Tauschke. She is now doing her doctorate at the Peter L. Reichertz Institute for Medical Informatics in the "Clinical Data Science" working group. Tauschke received a poster prize at the e:Med conference in Hamburg in November 2020 for the presentation of her master's thesis.
She really liked the course, especially the interdisciplinary approach. "Students with either a background in the life sciences or in medicine come together. This is very enriching – not only in terms of content, but also as a "soft skill" for later work," she says. She also liked the many exciting topics, from statistics to data management to machine learning, and the fact that the curriculum for life scientists is further supplemented by modules in human genetics, immunology and imaging. "This mix makes the course very exciting," says Tauschke. She would have liked to have had more practical exercises and possibly further internships. Based on her experiences with the first year of the programme, it would also be good to better assess the prior knowledge of the students, to better coordinate online and in-person material, and to avoid redundancy between modules.
What factors cause susceptibility to infections?
Dr Stephan Traidl, a physician at the MHH's Department of Dermatology, Allergology and Venerology, had already begun the Master's programme while still working in the DFG-funded Clinician Scientist Programme PRACTIS. In his master's thesis, he examined skin samples from patients with atopic dermatitis (neurodermatitis) who had severe herpes infections (eczema herpeticum, EH). He was particularly interested in the data from the transcriptome. His goal was to find factors that make people particularly susceptible to a herpes infection. "We found significant differences in gene expression that indicate increased viral susceptibility in the skin of EH sufferers. Dupilumab, an IL-4R antibody used to treat atopic dermatitis, was only partially able to normalise the antiviral defence," explains the 31-year-old.
"In the master's programme, I particularly liked the thematic focus, which ranged from the basics such as data analysis to omics and artificial intelligence (AI)," he says. The lecturers had really put a lot of effort into designing this young course of study in the best possible way. "The exchange with fellow students was always very good and not only enriched the course itself, but also the research projects," he adds. He recommends further expanding the field of AI and also addressing its application beyond the boundaries of the MHH, for example in the biomedical industry.
Awards for particularly dedicated teachers
In the master's programme in Biomedical Data Science, which was developed within the excellence cluster RESIST, teaching awards went to Dr. Dominik Wolff and his team for the compulsory module "Statistical Machine Learning - AI and Data Analysis", to Prof. Dr. Helena Zacharias and PD Dr Loukia Spineli for the compulsory module "Introduction to Data Analysis" and to Dr Klaus Hendrik Wolf and Dr Ute von Jan for the compulsory module "Digital Image Analysis". In the Master's programme in Biochemistry, Prof. Dr Françoise Routier for the compulsory module "Glycobiochemistry" and PD Dr Susanne Eschenburg for the elective module "Structural Biology" were honoured. In the master's programme in biomedicine, awards were given for the compulsory modules of Prof. Dr. Detlef Neumann (Pharmacology/Toxicology), PD Dr. Tim Scholz (Physiology/Pathophysiology), PD Dr. Berislav Bošnjak (Immunology) and PD Dr. Jens Bohne (Virology) as well as for the elective modules of Prof. Dr Ulrich Lehmann-Mühlenhoff (Molecular Pathology), PD Dr Fatih Noyan (Special Immunology), Prof. Dr Françoise Routier (Glycobiology in Health and Disease) and Dr Rainer Niedenthal (Biochemistry of Signal Transmission and Processing).
61 graduates receive master's certificates
Their Master's degree in Biochemistry was awarded to: Kilian Baritz, Lukas Max Baumann, Linda Johanna Bessert, Gesa Bimmermann, Denis Cherepinskiy, Tom Henrik Daniel, Katharina Friedrichs, Evelyn Gebel, Jule Hupfeld, Tamara Ilievska, Ineke Koch, Lisa Kohrs, Katharina Mörk, Anita-Koula Pralas, Antonia Rolfes, Leonard Alfred Skremm, Lara Thomys, Niklas Viohl, Vanessa Vollmer, Jessica Weeland and Vitalit Wert.
The following students have successfully completed their Master's degree in Biomedicine: Akram Althanoon, Lara-Marie Behrens, Jasmin-Roxane Bothe, Johanna Elisabeth Busmann, Michel Decker, Jenny Fiebig, Jan-Phillipp Gerhards, Franziska Herbig, Gina Herrmann, Mandy Holzberger, Sophia Laugallies, Lars Leemhuis, Finja Lehnhoff, Jaqueline Lindenberg, Diana Peristich, Ariane Piwek, Pia Reimann, Niclas Ritter, Sylvana Sainz von Petzinger, Diana Stalkopf, Annika Strauß and Isabel Witzke.
In the master's programme in Biomedical Data Science, the graduates are: Yasmine Alwie, Daniela Aparatu, Alexander Bräuer, Amina Cheikh Rouhou, Erik Fuhrmann, Marie Griemsmann, Jonas Leins, Sara Lutscher, Marie Mikuteit, Luca Pommerening, Rafael Rada, Sergej Ruff, Viviane Steinberg, Jana Tauschke, Stephan Norbert Traidl, Katharina Wendt, Julia Winkler and Tobias Zettler.
Text: Bettina Dunker