Events

Prof. Josef Penninger - "RANKL – Bones, Sex, and Mammalian Evolution"

Penninger investigates genetic causes of diseases and has discovered RANKL (Receptor Activator of NF-κB Ligand)—a key regulator of bone remodeling and osteoporosis. Interestingly, RANKL also plays an essential role in the formation of the lactating mammary gland during pregnancy. This provides an unexpected molecular paradigm linking bone morphogenesis and lactation, a prerequisite for the survival of mammalian species. In his lecture, Josef Penninger will focus on this exciting connection.

more Information
 

Institute for Molecular Infection Biology (IMIB): Science academies honor work of IMIB founding director Jörg Hacker

On the occasion of the opening of the interacademy conference “MICROBIOLOGY 2023: from single cell to microbiome & host”, Jörg Hacker was welcomed as the guest of honor at the Institute for Molecular Infection Biology (IMIB) of the University of Würzburg (JMU) yesterday afternoon. The founding director of the IMIB has played a major role in shaping research in Würzburg for many years. Hacker, a bacteriologist, is considered a pioneer of molecular infection research and is also a co-founder of the interdisciplinary and cross-faculty Research Center for Infectious Diseases (ZINF) at JMU.

From 2010 to 2020, Jörg Hacker was president of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina. To honor Hacker, “MICROBIOLOGY 2023” is being organized by Leopoldina in cooperation with the science academies of France, Sweden and the United Kingdom at IMIB Würzburg. Originally planned for 2020—at the end of Hacker's appointment as Leopoldina president—the COVID-19 pandemic thwarted this plan.

The interacademy conference, which features top international speakers and is organized with the support of the Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach Foundation and the Würzburg Helmholtz Institute for RNA-based Infection Research (HIRI), is scheduled to last until tomorrow, September 22.

The organizers of „MICROBIOLOGY 2023“ with their guest of honor, Jörg Hacker: (from left): David Holden (The Royal Society, UK), Staffan Normark (Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences), Jörg Hacker (Leopoldina), Jörg Vogel (Leopoldina), Pascale Cossart (Académie des sciences, France)

Photo credit: Helmholtz Institute Würzburg, Luisa Macharowsky