insightLMU - en.uni-muenchen.de · What´s inside Research Interview: Maximilian Burkhart and Nicola Holzapfel Orphans of medicine by Clemens Grosse The Care for Rare Foundation,

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AcademicsOrphans of medicine 2VIU’s multicultural platform in alluringly beautiful setting 3 ResearchThe good life 1Sushi and the science of synapses 4Alzheimer’s disease: Overlooked for 30 years – A new kid on the block 4Nanostructures for contactless control 4 PeopleFeathers in focus 5 In ShortLMU again rated top university in Germany 6New hospital in downtown Munich 6New DFG Research Unit on intracellular logistics 6Wheelchair basketball: Medical student wins the European Championship 6

Lighten our darkness: Detail of Caravaggio‘s “The Seven Cardinal Works of Mercy” (1606).

The good life

LMU philosophers Christof Rapp and Monika Betzler discuss with economist Martin Kocher what characterizes a morally good life, and confront moral philosophy with behavioral science.

www.en.lmu.de/newsMore news on LMU Munich at

For the complete article, see

What´s inside

Research

Interview: Maximilian Burkhart and Nicola Holzapfel

Orphans of medicine by Clemens Grosse

The Care for Rare Foundation, which was set up by LMU pediatrician Professor Christoph Klein, is dedicated to further­ing research into the etiology and treat­ment of rare diseases.

continued on page 2

insightLMU / Issue 3, 2015

The international newsletter of LMU Munich

insightLMU

VIU’s multicultural platform in alluringly beautiful setting by Elizabeth WilloughbyA campus with students from various countries working towards various de­grees isn’t unique, but it is if the campus is shared by universities from around the world providing students with pro­grams that cross disciplines. continued on page 3

Feathers in focus by Anja Burkel

In the lab, LMU biochemist Christian Haass studies Alzheimer’s, but on week­ends he goes in search of rare birds. His enthusiasm for ornithology has even taken him beyond the Arctic Circle – in the middle of winter. continued on page 5

www.en.lmu.de/news/insightlmu/2015/03_01.pdf

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Academics

Orphans of medicine

insightLMU / Issue 3, 2015

or other of some 7,000 rare diseases. A patient from Beirut provided the im­petus for Klein’s Care for Rare Founda­tion, which was set up in 2009 with the aid of law professor Andreas Staudacher and is dedicated to elucidating the causes of, and providing effective care for those affected by uncommon disor­ders. The Foundation’s first campaign raised 150,000 euros to pay for the Leb­anese child’s treatment.

From discovery to cure

“Our goal was to establish a foundation based on clinical findings and biomedical research,” Klein explains. The Founda­tion provides financial aid for individual cases, but its major goal is to stimulate international collaboration between researchers, boost basic research into unusual diseases and train early­career researchers to study them. The Founda­tion’s goal is expressed by its motto: “From Discovery to Cure”. To this end, the Care for Rare Alliance maintains a worldwide network that includes institu­tions and researchers in the USA, Canada, Israel, India, Thailand, Latin America and elsewhere. “The Alliance is a group of clinicians and re search ers who are work­ing to ensure that someday all children with rare diseases can be cured – irre­spective of their origins and their par­ents’ financial resources,” says Klein.

By providing short­term fellowships, the

Twelve­month­old Knowah takes a lively interest in the world around him, but he has Wiskott­Aldrich Syndrome, a rare form of immunodeficiency that is associ­ated with eczema, episodes of severe bleeding and life­threatening infections. The only effective treatment is a bone­marrow transplant, which requires a genetically compatible donor. Since no suitable unrelated donor was available in his case, Knowah’s parents, who come from the Philippines, stepped into the breach. Following a long series of consultations with doctors there, his parents realized that their son could not be treated in his homeland. An internet search led them to LMU’s Professor Christoph Klein, Director of Dr. von Hauner’s Children’s Hospital in Munich. Not only does his group possess a wealth of experience in bone­marrow trans­plantation, but he himself has set up a registered charity devoted to providing optimal care for children with rare dis­eases. Meanwhile, his Care for Rare Foundation has called for contributions to cover the costs of Knowah’s treatment.

As a pediatrician, Klein is often con­fronted with patients suffering from rare disorders that are essentially incurable because their pathology is poorly under­stood. Motivated by modern advances in the treatment of pediatric tumors, he de­cided to do everything he could to rem­edy this situation: “Children who, only 50 years ago, would not have survived into adulthood now have a very good chance of being cured,” he points out. He hopes to do the same for what he calls orphans of medicine – children afflicted with one

The Care for Rare Foundation, which was set up by LMU pediatrician Professor Christoph Klein, is dedicated to furthering research into the etiology and treatment of rare diseases.

by Clemens Grosse

Foundation’s Academy Program helps physicians learn how to recognize and treat rare diseases, while long­term sup­port is also available for early­career re­searchers eager to contribute to the field. “Above all, we hope to inspire the upcom­ing generation of medical professionals to get involved in identifying the causes of rare diseases, and this is best done by giving them the freedom and resources to undertake innovative lines of re­search,” says Klein. Thanks to the Werner Reichen berger Foundation, Klein’s organization now offers an annual Care for Rare Science Award, worth 50,000 euros, which is intended to support proj­ects submitted by junior researchers.

Klein‘s long­term goal is to make the State of Bavaria a pioneer in the fight to save children with rare disorders, while keeping patient welfare firmly in view: “Respect for the child’s personal dignity must be the touchstone of everything we do,” he says. His Foundation therefore places great emphasis on making both physicians and the general public more aware of the plight of these children. The work of the Care for Rare Foundation is dependent on the generosity of volun­tary donors, philanthropists and strategic alliances. Since 2009, lots of children have already benefited from its activities – but many more young patients still await effective treatments.

Translation: Paul Hardy

Professor Klein with twelve-month-old Knowah from the

Philippines and his parents.

www.care-for-rare.org

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Taking comparative literature at LMU, Sarah started at VIU in September for similar reasons to Julia’s.

“Since problems can’t be resolved any­more on a national or one­dimensional basis,” she says, “fostering international and interdisciplinary approaches be­comes crucial in facing the problems of today’s globalized world.”

First steps

Sarah found the university and the city compelling from the start. Despite chal­lenges such as room sharing (space is limited in Venice) with an Italian (she wanted to learn the language better), she found the atmosphere at VIU friendly and welcoming, and the cultural diversity enriching. She also enjoys the camara­derie.

“Everyone here is new,” she says, “and gathering in the evenings around live music, or sitting outside on the canal makes it easy to get to know people.”

VIU is an opportunity both recommend. Julia’s advice to students of partner uni­versities: “Go to the homepage of VIU and check out the upcoming courses. If you see something that interests you, don’t hesitate to apply. It’s a powerful experience. You will never regret it.”

VIU’s multicultural platform in alluringly beautiful setting

Academics insightLMU / Issue 3, 2015

LMU, geography and sociology student Julia Schneider decided to attend the environmental courses being offered at VIU during her 5th semester.

“In the sustainability and city develop­ment course,” says Julia, “issues were discussed by geographers, urban planners and architects, but also by environmental engineers and students of sociology, politics and history. I would love to have had even more time for those really intense discussions.”

What also impressed her was the VIU network – in cooperation with so many institutions, there is a great supply of in­ternship opportunities for students. Julia received word at the end of May that she was accepted for an internship to work on city development and the climate ad­aptation of Venice. Looking forward to her return to Venice Laguna, it seems the atmosphere is universally enchanting.

“Living there is the best,” say Julia. “You find small restaurants, wander the narrow streets, see the Palazzo Ducale every day at different times. There is nothing like standing in the middle of Piazza San Marco at 2 a.m. completely alone. This side of Venice, with empty streets along the ca­nals, quiet and foggy on a Sunday morn­ing, it’s an amazing thing to experience.”

Only a five­minute boat ride from Piazza San Marco, Sarah Hechler says, “VIU is probably one of the most beautiful places in the world to study.”

Celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, Venice International University (VIU) functions as a satellite campus for 13 leading universities worldwide, including US­based Duke University, Beijing’s Tsing hua University, Tel Aviv University, and LMU, the only participating univer­sity from Germany. Each regularly sends students and faculty for course work that is multidisciplinary in focus and intercul­tural in approach.

Choosing one semester of any year, stu­dents come together on the Venetian is­land of San Servolo to discuss in English language such things as sustainable de­vel op ment, climate change, urban growth, global ethics, cultural heritage, migration and other challenges of today.

It’s about perspectives

“VIU’s principal premise,” says LMU Pro­fessor Dr. Günter Zöller, “is that higher education should reflect the global nature of knowledge both in its generation and dissemination.”

A frequent teacher at VIU, he says it’s the international setting that keeps him coming back: “Teaching at VIU is like teaching in several different countries at once, by having students from so many cultures gathering in one classroom at the same time.”

With a desire to know what students of other disciplines were thinking, and to build on her first two years of studies at

A campus with students from various countries working towards various degrees isn’t unique, but it is if the campus is shared by universities from around the world providing students with programs that cross disciplines.

By Elizabeth Willoughby

VIU Campus on the Venetian island of San Servolo

www.univiu.org

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Research insightLMU / Issue 3, 2015

Neurobiology

What is the molecular basis of learning? Here LMU biochemist Michael Kiebler shares his insights into how associative learning is encoded in the brain.

Sushi and the science of synapses

For the complete article, see www.en.lmu.de/news/insightlmu/2015/03_02.pdf

By Martin Thurau

Biochemistry

Alzheimer’s disease is associated with the appearance of characteristic neuro­toxic protein aggregates in various re­gions in the brain. Chemical analysis re­veals that these insoluble deposits are made up of a family of short protein fragments, referred to as beta­amyloid peptides, which are derived from a pre­cursor protein called APP by the se­quential action of two enzymes. A team of researchers led by Christian Haass has now made a discovery which has po­tentially far­reaching implications for our understanding of the condition: “A second mode of APP cleavage exists, which generates an alternative peptide,” says Haass. Its discoverers refer to the newly characterized protein fragment by the Greek letter eta, christening it ‘amyloid­η’. “The processing pathway that produces it has been overlooked for

Alzheimer’s disease: Overlooked for 30 years – A new kid on the block

LMU chemists have developed photonic crystals from ultrathin nanosheets which are extremely sensitive to moisture. “These photonic nanostructures change color in response to variations in local humidity. This makes them ideal candi­dates for the development of novel user interfaces for touchless devices such as ticket machines,” says Professor Bettina Lotsch of the Department of Chemistry at LMU and the Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research in Stuttgart. “The humidity around a fingertip is slightly higher than the overall level of moisture in the ambient air,” explains Katalin Szendrei, a member of Prof. Lotsch’s group. “This difference can be detected by our photonic sensor, and causes it to change color – without any contact.” Photonic crystals are periodically ar­ranged nanostructures which have the ability to reflect, guide and confine light. They are also found in nature, for example in mother­of­pearl or opals. Lotsch and her team have now developed photonic crystals based on nanosheets of phos­phatoantimonic acid. This material is extremely moisture sensitive and at the same time chemically stable, transparent and easy to delaminate into ultrathin nano­sheets. In comparison with other vapor sensors based on nanosheets, the new photonic architecture displays markedly shorter response times, higher sensitivity and long­term stability. “This unique com­bination of properties enables it to track and color­code finger movements in real time,” says Pirmin Ganter, who also works in Bettina Lotsch’s group. In addition, the new system is stable on exposure to air, and therefore functions in the constantly varying environment of the real world. Lotsch and her collaborators have already applied for patent protection and, together with the Fraunhofer EMFT in Munich, they are already working on a prototype screen.

Nanostructures for contactless control

Chemistry

30 years. This is because investigators including myself have focused their at­tention on elucidating the origins of the beta­amyloid and on attempts to cure Alzheimer’s by inhibiting production of this peptide.” In collaboration with neu­robiologist Dr. Hélène Marie based at the IPMC­CNRS in Valbonne and col­leagues from the Technical University of Munich, the LMU researchers have also studied the effects of the eta­amyloid on nerve­cell function in the brain. Beta­amyloid is known to make nerve cells hyperactive, and now it turns out that the eta­amyloid antagonizes this effect. “So here we have two small peptides snipped from the same precursor pro­tein, which have opposite effects on neuronal activity, and whose actions must normally be carefully balanced.” These findings have immediate implica­tions for ongoing clinical trials in hu­mans, all of which are targeted to beta­amyloid. Haass suggests that investiga­tors need to be on the look­out for any signs of unanticipated side­effects.

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Last year Professor Christian Haass went on holiday to Greece, this year he was in Norway – and he didn’t head for the beaches or museums. He was on the lookout for rare birds. “Our vacations are generally planned,” he says, “to give me a chance to observe very special species of birds.” Haass, a biochemist and neuro­biologist in LMU‘s Faculty of Medicine, spends much of his leisure time in the field: He is a passionate ornithologist. “To visit the Arctic coasts at the Norwe­gian/Russian border in February is a wonderful experience. One is alone with snow, ice and storms.” In fact, he and his wife celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary on the wintry shores of Northern Norway. But Christian Haass also goes in search of rare avian fauna on most weekends. “There are some marvelous locations near Munich where one can see great birdlife.” A favorite haunt is the Ammersee, and in winter he often heads for the Starnberger See.

A spectacular sighting

Ornithology has fascinated him for as long as he can remember: “My father used to say that I learned to walk in order to get closer to birds.” At the age of 10 he joined a bird­watching club and, about 8 years ago, he was a founding member of the Society for Field Ornithology in Ba­varia (Otus e.V.). “I’m interested in all kinds of birds,” he says, “but on vacations I look for really unusual species.” His most spectacular sighting so far was Ross’s gull (Rhodosthetia rosea). “It is an

People insightLMU / Issue 3, 2015

exceptionally beautiful, indeed unique species, but little is known about its migration and distri­bution, and it is almost impossible to find in Europe.” He finally came across it in northern Norway, after scanning thousands of sea gulls

Feathers in focus by Anja Burkel

In the lab, LMU biochemist Christian Haass studies Alz-heimer’s, but on weekends he goes in search of rare birds. His enthusiasm for ornithology has even taken him beyond the Arctic Circle – in the middle of winter.

at miserable weather conditions.

On field­trips, Haass, equipped with bino culars, spotting scope and camera, spends hours prowling field boundaries, and the shores of lakes and ponds. He does not use camouflage or a hide, but avoids brightly colored clothing. “My strategy is to find a promising location, hunker down and wait. Especially dur­ing the migratory season, in spring and fall, that is usually enough.”

The plight of the sparrow

Haass documents rare sightings photo­graphically and with sound recordings. “Observations of very rare species must be checked and verified by reviewers before publication,” he explains, adding that not all ornithologists meet the high­est scholarly standards. “Unfortunately, ornithology produces its share of shoddy work,” he says. “A few years ago, a pa­per ostensibly reporting the ‘rediscov­ery’ of an extinct species of woodpecker appeared in ‘Science’. It aroused a huge amount of interest, but the ‘sighting’ turned out to be the product of wishful thinking.” As a biochemist who studies

Christian Haass rings a wandering albatross.

the cellular and molecular mechanisms that underlie dementias, he finds such lack of rigor difficult to understand: “The whole point of doing science, whether it be ornithology or neurobiology, is to un­cover new facts, to find out things that are true!” But a different problem threat­ens the very foundation of ornithology itself: Populations of almost every bird species are in decline – the trend is alarming. Meadowland species are acutely endangered, as are species that undertake long migrations. Even species like swallows and sparrows are under threat. “And the major culprit is modern agriculture.”

What really fascinates him about birds, Haass says, “is their sheer beauty, in combination with the changing hues of the landscape through the seasons.” And every new excursion is as exciting as the last. “Ornithology used to be regarded as a hobby for faintly ridiculous types. But it has developed into a hard­core scien­tific discipline – that is also full of color.”

Translation: Paul Hardy

www.otus-bayern.de

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The new hospital now being built in downtown Munich exemplifies the turn away from the traditional division of university medicine into individual spe­cialisms in favor of an interdisciplinary medical center. Work on the new inter­disciplinary clinic on the site of LMU’s Downtown Medical Center has just be­gun. When it is completed in 2020, the new building will house departments of Internal Medicine, Surgery, Emergency Medicine and Obstetrics. The new hospi­tal marks a new departure and is a crucial element in the reorientation of patient care and medical education at LMU. “The decision to build the new Portal-klinik was taken in order to ensure that our teaching capacity in the clinical phase of medical education could be maintained, and that we could continue to provide bedside teaching for our stu­dents. Nowadays, in addition to theoreti­cal knowledge and simulated learning

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In the latest edition of the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rank­ing, LMU retains its position in 29th place in the overall table, and once more tops the list of German universities. “This re­sult once again documents the con sist­ently high level of research and teaching at LMU and confirms its status as the leading university in Germany,” says Professor Bernd Huber, the President of LMU. The top three places in the latest THE University Rankings go to California Institute of Technology, the University of Oxford and Stanford University.For further information on the Times Higher Education World University Ranking (THE) 2015, see

LMU again rated top university in Germany

In Short insightLMU / Issue 3, 2015

New hospital in downtown Munich

Imprint

LMU will serve as the host institution for a newly constituted Research Unit funded by the German Research Foun­dation (DFG) and devoted to the study of the molecular processes responsible for the intracellular transport and lo cali­zation of messenger RNAs. The new interdisciplinary research network has received a DFG grant amounting to 2 million euros in its first funding period. “Transport of mRNAs is regulated by a dedicated set of components, but very little is known about how these factors interact to control this essential pro­cess,” says Professor Dierk Niessing of LMU’s Biomedical Center, who is the spokesperson for the new Unit. He and his colleagues intend to characterize – for the first time – all of the components of the relevant transport complexes, and will elucidate their structure and function in several model organisms, including Saccharomyces cerevisiae (brewer’s yeast), a filamentous fungus, the fruitfly Drosophila melanogaster and the mouse. “The new Research Unit provides the ideal context for this sys­tematic approach, as it brings together specialists in diverse disciplines such as cell biology, structural biology and bio­informatics,” Niessing points out.

New DFG Research Unit on intracellular logistics

Published by the Executive Board of

Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München

Luise Dirscherl (editor in chief)

Dr. Kathrin Bilgeri (executive editor)

Communications & Media Relations

Layout: Christine Meyer Design München

Picture Credits: akg­images/André Held

(p. 1), Klaus Haag/MM (p. 2), Venice

International University (p. 3), NCMIR/

SPL/Picture Alliance (p. 4), Christian

Haass (p. 5), LMU Munich (p. 6).

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situations, this type of hands­on, pa­tient­related training is an absolute must,” says Professor Reinhard Hickel, Dean of the Medical Faculty at LMU.

In September, LMU medical student Johanna Welin and her teammates won the Womens’ European Championship in Wheelchair Basketball in Worcester

Wheelchair basketball: Medical student wins the European Championship

(UK), beating their Dutch opponents (72:62) in the final game of the tourna­ment. The victory also qualifies the team for the Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro in 2016. Welin was a member of the Ger­man squad that took the Gold Medal at the last Paralympics in London, and she was elected Disabled Sportswoman of the Year in Germany in 2012.