VAAM Young Scientist Network - Archive
Past activities and meetings of the VAAM Young Scientist Network
- 16.09. 14.30h, via Zoom
Meeting Young Scientist Network
"From Late Postdoc to Early PI: Applications, Funding, Appeals & Alternative Paths"
Together with five invited speakers, we will explore the transition from postdoc to independent researcher – including application strategies, funding opportunities, dealing with rejections, and personal career decisions.
Our speakers offer diverse and inspiring perspectives:
Prof. Dr. Julia Kurth Since 2025, Associate Professor of Microbiology at the University of Münster. Prior to that, she led a junior research group at the Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology and the Philipps-Universität Marburg. She completed her postdoctoral training at Radboud University and Wageningen University (Netherlands), supported by a DFG Research Fellowship. She received her PhD in Microbiology from the University of Bonn in 2017 under the supervision of PD Dr. Christiane Dahl. Most recently, she was awarded an ERC Starting Grant (2025–2030).
https://www.uni-muenster.de/Biologie.IMMB.Kurth/team/julia_kurth.html
Prof Dr. Natalia Tschowri
Since 2020 Professor of Cellular Microbiology at the Leibniz University Hannover. Prior to this, she led an Emmy Noether-funded research group at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, investigating cyclic di-nucleotide signalling in Streptomyces. She completed her postdoctoral training at the John Innes Centre in the UK, supported by an EMBO Long-Term Fellowship. Tschowri earned her PhD in Biology from the Freie Universität Berlin, where she studied blue light signalling and its role in biofilm formation in Escherichia coli in the laboratory of Prof. Regine Hengge.
https://www.ifmb.uni-hannover.de/en/natalia-tschowri
Prof Dr. Jan-Ulrik Dahl Since 2024, Associate Professor of Microbiology at Illinois State University (USA), where he also holds the Dr. Fred Gletten Endowed Chair of Biological Sciences. He joined Illinois State in 2019 as an Assistant Professor and successfully tenured in 2024. He completed his postdoctoral training at the University of Michigan (USA) in the laboratory of Prof. Ursula Jakob, supported by a DFG Research Fellowship. He received his PhD in Molecular Enzymology from the University of Potsdam in 2013 in the laboratory of Prof. Dr. Silke Leimkühler
https://about.illinoisstate.edu/jdahl1/
Prof Dr. Dirk Tischler Since 2019, Professor of Microbial Biotechnology at the Ruhr University Bochum (Germany), where he was previously appointed as Junior Professor and successfully tenured. Prior to that, he led a junior research group in white biotechnology at the TU Bergakademie Freiberg, focusing on the discovery of novel biocatalysts and metabolic pathways from (meta)genomes of soil bacteria, particularly actinobacteria. He received his PhD in 2012 under the supervision of Prof. Michael Schlömann, working on styrene monooxygenases. His current research centers on redox-active biocatalysts and their sequence–structure–function relationships.
https://www.mbt.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/mbt/index.html.de
Prof. Dr. Bork Berghoff
Since 2024, Professor of Microbiology at the University of Ulm. Prior to this, he served as interim professor at the Institute for Microbiology and Molecular Biology (MiMo) at the Justus Liebig University Giessen (2023–2024), where he also led a research group from 2016 to 2023. His research focuses on regulatory RNA, redox signaling, and stress adaptation in bacteria. He completed his postdoctoral training at Uppsala University (Sweden). Berghoff received his PhD in Microbiology from the Justus Liebig University Giessen in 2011 and habilitated in 2020 with a venia legendi in Microbiology and Molecular Biology.
https://www.uni-ulm.de/nawi/bio2/research/prof-dr-bork-berghoff/
- 03.07.2025, 2pm, via Zoom
Talk Franz Narberhaus, Ruhr University Bochum: “Behind the Scenes of Grant Reviews: How Decisions Are Made”
Protocol
BS 05/ 25 - 27.5.2025, online
Agenda
-Welcome
- Election of a speaker team
- Network database
- Future activities
- Presentation by Nicole Frankenberg-Dinkel “How does a professorial hiring work in Germany?”
- Miscellaneous
