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Molecular Medicine Partnership Unit

The MMPU is a joint venture between the Medical Faculty of the University of Heidelberg and the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL).

News Archive

2017 and earlier

December 2017 Press Release
Jan Siemens receives an ERC Consolidator Grant for his outstanding research on Temperature Detection and Thermoregulation
Press release Heidelberg University Hospital (in German)

November 2017 Press Release
Rohini Kuner receives the HMLS Investigator Award 2017 for her ongoing efforts to consolidate innovative interdisciplinary research and for her active support and encouragement of young researchers.
Press release Heidelberg University Hospital (in German)

October 2017
Sir Hans Krebs Preis and PHOENIX Pharmazie Wissenschaftspreis 2017 awarded to Jan Siemens. For the 21st time, the PHOENIX group honors excellent work in the field of pharmacological Research and Development.
News article (in English)
Press release Phoenixgruppe (in German)

June 2017 Press Release
MMPU researcher Martina Muckenthaler describes how iron overload also affects the lung.
Press release Heidelberg University Hospital (in German)

December 2016 Press Release
Matthias Hentze receives the 2016 HMLS award for his significant contributions to the development of Heidelberg as a research location and for his outstanding research on the control of gene regulation.
Press release Heidelberg University

August 2016 News Article
„We need this kind of research“. German Federal Minister of Health visits EMBL and is impressed by MMPU research.
News article in Mannheimer Morgen as pdf (in German)

August 2016 Press Release
MMPU Wissenschaftler beschreiben in Science, wie das Gehirn einer Überhitzung bei Fieber entgegenwirkt.
In Science MMPU researchers describe how the brain prevents overheating when body temperature is increased.
News article in Spektrum.de (in German).
Press Release Heidelberg University Hospital (in German).
Press Release HUH as pdf (in German).
Deutschlandfunk Radio interview (in German).
News article in ScienceNews Magazin (in English).

July 2016 Press Release
Study provides insights into workings of new HIV drugs and how virus becomes resistant
Press Release EMBL
Press Release Heidelberg University Hospital (in German)
pdf

June 2016
EMBL Partnership Conference on Perspectives in Translational Medicine took place in the context of the EMBL Partnership Programme and brought together EMBL and its local and remote partner institutes operating in the field of molecular medicine.
Read more about EMBL Partnerships

October 2015 Press Release
Bridging the gap between basic research in molecular biology and medicine.
Eine Brücke schlagen zwischen Grundlagenforschung und Medizin.
Press Release Heidelberg University Hospital (in German)
pdf

July 2015 EMBL News
Union makes success.
With the goal of joining forces to further scientific and medical research, EMBL and the Medical Faculty of the University of Heidelberg have renewed the successful Molecular Medicine Partnership Unit (MMPU) agreement until 2025.
Read article

February 2015 Press Release
How to calm down pain hypersensitivity
Heidelberg scientists find peripheral GABA to counteract TRPV1 sensitization
Press Release Heidelberg University Hospital (in German)
News article PainResearchForum

February 2015 EMBL Press Release
The battle for iron.
The search for therapies against this anaemia of chronic disease (ACD) could take on new directions thanks to a study published in Blood.
Press Release EMBLPress Release Heidelberg University Hospital

February 2015 EMBL NEWS etc. science
Beyond sequencing
Human geneticists and cell biologists have gone beyond vague links between genes and disease to pinpoint cause and effect, in a study they see as both a poster-child for cross-discipline collaboration and a call for caution.
more

November 2014 EMBL Press Release
Scientists from the MMPU group HIV-1 formation and its inhibition have obtained the first structure of the immature form of HIV at a high enough resolution to pinpoint exactly where each building block sits in the virus. The study, published online in Nature, reveals that the building blocks of the immature form of HIV are arranged in a surprising way.
Press Release EMBL
Press Release Heidelberg University Hospital

August 2014
Unpacking iron overload:
A rare form of an iron overload disorder kills pancreatic function, MMPU scientists find.
Press Release Heidelberg University Hospital

December 2013, EMBL&cetera newsletter
MMPU on a mission
Many medical research-related questions were discussed at the 12th public MMPU Research Day in Heidelberg.

February 2013, EMBL&cetera newsletter
Top clinicians join as MMPU fellows
Three top-level clinician scientists have been awarded the first Heidelberg Research Center for Molecular Medicine (HRCMM) Career Development Fellowships (CDF).

February 2013 EMBL Press Release
Zeroing in on heart disease
Innovative strategy pinpoints genes underlying cardiovascular disease risk.
Studies screening the genome of hundreds of thousands of individuals have linked more than 100 regions in the genome to the risk of developing cardiovascular disease. Researchers from EMBL and the University of Heidelberg are taking these results one step further by pinpointing the exact genes that could have a role in the onset of the disease. Their findings are published today in the Public Library of Science (PLoS) Genetics.
more 
Universitätsklinikum Heidelberg Pressemitteilung

June 2012
The new Heidelberg Research Centre for Molecular Medicine (HRCMM), part of the Excellence Initiative II ( a programme run by the German federal and state governments) assigns 3 different fellowship opportunities for exceptional medical students and top-level clinicians, who wish to pursue careers in translational medicine: medical students, medical researchers during their advanced fellowship training, and established physicians are encouraged to apply. Details are on our website Jobs and Fellowship.
In case of interest contact Andreas Kulozik or Matthias Hentze.

January 2012
Two additional MMPU Group leaders receive ERC Advanced Grants: Rohini Kuner, PI of the MMPU group “Chronic Pain” and Matthias Hentze, PI of the MMPU groups “Blood Diseases “ and “Iron Homeostasis”. ERC Advanced Grants allow exceptional established research leaders to pursue ground-breaking, high-risk projects that open new directions in their respective research fields or other domains.

November 2011
Three further groups joined the MMPU: Anne-Claude Gavin (EMBL Heidelberg) and Anthony Ho (Department of Internal Medicine V: Hematology, Oncology and Rheumatology, Heidelberg University Medical Center) study early warning signals of aging, John Briggs (EMBL, Heidelberg) and Hans-Georg Kräusslich (Department of Infectious Diseases, Virology, Heidelberg University Medical Center) look how to interfere with the assembly and maturation of infectious HIV-1, and Paul Heppenstall (EMBL Monterotondo) and Rohini Kuner (Institute of Pharmacology, Heidelberg University Medical Center) search for molecular mediators of chronic pain. The MMPU now consists of eight international teams with more than 70 scientists from across the world.

August 2011
Two MMPU groups moved into common space provided by the University of Heidelberg, the Otto-Meyerhof-Zentrum (OMZ), Im Neuenheimer Feld 350. The OMZ was built in 2001 and serves as additional building for medical research groups from the Heidelberg University Medical Center with a strong focus on interdisciplinarity. Otto Meyerhof, a German physician and biochemist, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1922 for his work on muscle metabolism.

July 2011
Peer Bork received an ERC Advanced Grant for his proposal ‘Cancerbiome’ which pioneers research into microbial communities associated with cancer. The European Research Council (ERC) is the EU funding body that implements the specific FP7 Programme ‘Ideas’.

June 2011 EMBL&cetera newsletter
From patient to bench and back
Valuable insights presented by members from the 5 research groups and 6 invited guest speakers at the 8th public research day held at the ZMBH.

April 2011, University Hospital Heidelberg press release
Kleinste Nukleinsäurestückchen regulieren Schlüsselhormon des Eisenstoffwechsels
Novel insights into the role of miRNAs .The liver-specific microRNA miR-122 controls hepcidin, the key hormone that regulates systemic iron homeostasis in mice. Work of the group “ Iron Homeostasis”  in collaboration with 2 groups of the medical faculty of the University of Heidelberg and from the DKFZ was published in Journal of Clinical Investigations.

April 2011 EMBL press release
What’s your gut type?
Bakterien WG im Darm
Peer Bork, EMBL, co-heading the MMPU group “Cancer Early Detection”, and his collaborators in the international MetaHIT consortium, have found that humans harbour three different types of gut microbial communities. The story, published in Nature, has been covered by far more than 100 newspapers around the world, for example in the New York Times.

February 2011, EMBL press release
Blood-clotting protein linked to cancer and septicaemia
Scientists of the group ” Diseases of mRNA metabolism” have discovered how stressed cells boost the production of the key blood-clotting factor, thrombin. Their work, published in Molecular Cell, shows how cancer cells may be taking advantage of this process, and opens new possibilities for fighting back against cancer and septicaemia.

December 2010 EMBL&cetera newsletter
Perspectives for Translational Medicine in Heidelberg
The MMPU contributed to the 625 year celebrations of Heidelberg University by organizing a special one day symposium to build bridges between medicine and molecular research and to strengthen state-of-the-art translational medicine.

17 November 2010 University Hospital Heidelberg press release
Symposium Translationale Medizin: Vom Labor zum Patienten – ein Brückenschlag von der Grundlagenforschung in die Klinik

June 2010 EMBL&cetera newsletter
Feet of strength
MMPU 4U – 4 MMPU PIs participated at the Heidelberg Half- Marathon. “Feet of strength” were needed to run Heidelberg’s grueling hills and dales.

December 2009, EMBL&cetera newsletter
Open doors at the MMPU
The 5th public Research Day took place at the new Advanced Training Centre (ATC) at EMBL. Members of each group as well as one guest speaker presented their recent findings.

12 August 2009, Pressemitteilung Universitätsklinikum Heidelberg
Bessere Überwachung von Bronchitis und Lungenüberblähung / Heidelberger Wissenschaftler von Universitätsklinikum und EMBL veröffentlichen in Nature Chemical Biology Heidelberger Wissenschaftler haben im Tiermodell einen neuen diagnostischen Test für Lungenerkrankungen wie chronische Bronchitis und Lungenüberblähung (Emphysem) entwickelt, der in Zukunft auch am Menschen eingesetzt werden kann.

2 August 2009, EMBL press release
Scientists open doors to diagnosis of emphysema
Work by scientists at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) and its Molecular Medicine Partnership Unit (MMPU) with the University of Heidelberg, Germany, has shed new light on the underlying disease process of emphysema using a technique which could in future be adapted for use in diagnosis.

7 July 2009, EMBL press release
Scientists identify cholesterol-regulating genes
Scientists at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) and the University of Heidelberg, Germany, have come a step closer to understanding how cholesterol levels are regulated.

7 July 2009, Informationsdienst Wissenschaft
Neue Gene für die Regulation des Cholesterin-Stoffwechsels
Wissenschaftler des Universitätsklinikums Heidelberg und des Europäischen Molekularbiologischen Labors (EMBL) sind dem Verständnis der Regulation des Cholesterinspiegels einen großen Schritt näher gekommen.

June 2009, EMBL&cetera newsletter
Biology goes green
The Molecular Medicine Partnership Unit (MMPU) of EMBL and Heidelberg University has uncovered the first step in the recycling of a crucial molecular tag that ensures correct translation, helping protect against genetic diseases.

16 April 2009, FAZ.NET
Lebenswächter am seidenen Faden
Zellen müssen sehr genau und zugleich ökonomisch arbeiten, wollen sie über Generationen hinweg ihre Aufgaben fehlerfrei erfüllen können.

February 2006, EMBL&cetera Newsletter
Three new groups strengthen research/medicine links

18 July 2005, Joint Press Release EMBL / University of Heidelberg
Partnerschaftseinheit Molekularmedizin jetzt in zweiter Phase
Molecular Medicine Partnership Unit initiates second phase

15 May 2003, Nature article
The Muenster match

25 January 2002, EMBL Press Release
Neue Forschungseinheit in der Universitätskinderklinik / EMBL
New research unit established between Heidelberg University Clinic and EMBL

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