English will be the official language of the doctoral program. The recruitment procedure including the introductory talks as well as all lectures and seminars in the course modules will be in English. All students will be required to attend basic and specific courses. The curriculum will provide a common basis of skills and knowledge for all students but also includes courses aiming at a more focussed education in areas most relevant to the students’ particular research projects. The curriculum has to be fulfilled during the 3 years studies.

Thesis committees consisting of three members of the “Initiativkolleg” will supervise the graduate students and monitor the progress of their projects. In an initial meeting the student’s particular research project will be discussed and milestones will be defined. The thesis committee will also select and recommend courses specifically suited for the student’s curriculum. Subsequently, students are required to convene with their respective thesis committees at least twice a year. Members of thesis committees are committed to provide advice and help with respect to the supervised research project at any time.

• Thesis committees
• Students’ seminar (progress reports)
• Journal Club
• Lecture series
• Research visits
• Conferences
• Basic lectures
• Specific scientific topic lectures
• Lecture series

Students’ seminar (progress reports)

Twice a year a seminar will be organized in which all students participating in the doctoral program will present the progress of their research project to the Faculty. This seminar will be a forum for extensive discussion of current problems and results, and it will be a vital instrument for monitoring the success of each student and for promoting collaborations between the individual projects.

Journal Club

In order to further cross-link students from the different project parts, a journal club will be offered to IK graduate students. Topics will rotate in order to get students exposed to different ways of thinking and critical evaluations of scientific work. In addition to the presentation of the results of the publication, it is also expected that students will address the relevance of the selected paper in the context of the existing literature and also discuss the strength and weaknesses of the paper.

The lecture series will feature nationally and internationally renowned invited speakers who are experts in molecular drug target research and related areas. The lecture series will cover diverse topics ranging from the theoretical basis to applied research. This lecture series will thus provide an overview on up-to-date research topics and offers an opportunity to get to know and discuss with leading experts in the field, providing the students with a broader understanding of the subject area and its context.

In order to encourage mobility, each student will spend at least one month with the group of an international collaborator on the respective research project. These research visits will not only be part of the students’ research, they will also promote the students’ social and language skills.

The graduate training program will strongly support the students’ participation in activities of the scientific community. Each student will be encouraged to attend one national or international conference per year where they should meet with the experts in their field and present the results of their research projects. In addition, the doctoral program will organize a mini symposium on “Molecular Drug Targets” in its third year. This symposium will be used to comprehensively present the results of the research projects in the framework of the doctoral program.

• Molecular Pharmacology (S. Hering)
• Ethics in science (as done at present by Dr. Taubald, Theology, UW)
• Science communication and science funding (V. Dirsch)
• Basics of pharmacoinformatics (G. Ecker)
• Medical statistics (N.N.)
• Molecular modelling (P. Wolschann)
• Drug delivery and pharmacokinetics (H. Viernstein, F. Gabor, W. Jäger)
• Regulatory affairs (S. Brosch, EMEA)

• Genetic screens in yeast (R.J. Schweyen)
• GABA_A receptors as drug targets (W. Sieghart)
• Sodium channels as drug targets (R. Lemmens)
• Calcium channels as drug targets (S. Hering)
• Unwanted drug interaction with HERG channels (E. Timin)
• Phytopharmaca (B. Kopp)
• Drug delivery sytems (F. Gabor, H. Viernstein)

A lecture-series “Molecular Drug Targets” will be established where top experts from the field will be invited to give talks.