Welcome to the homepage of the GRK 1482
GRK stands for "Graduiertenkolleg" and means a research training school for PhD students with an embedded and coordinated education program.
We are proud to offer such a dedicated program that is supported for a period of 4.5 years by a substantial fund of the German Research Foundation (DFG).
Our consortium of partners unifies a huge spectrum of expertise centered around the intestine - the organ that separates food and human metabolism.
The intestine acts as a highly selective barrier and communication organ between the nutritional environment and the mammalian metabolism. As a unique organ feature, the gut hosts also a metagenomic ecosystem represented by the gut microbiota.
The incoming food with its particular composition but also food-borne pathogens and probiotic organisms pose permanent challenges to the intestine. Signals derived from the interaction of food components with intestinal cells are transmitted by neuronal and hormonal networks to peripheral tissues and this communication is part of nutrient and energy homeostasis and immunological control.
Our GRK addresses specific intestinal functions in health and disease such as transport of nutrients and non-nutrient components (amino acids, iron, phytosterols), gut microbial functions with challenges by pathogens and probiotics and the responses of the enteric nervous system, the intestinal and systemic immune systems and the hormonal control circuits that determine overall body homeostasis. Special emphasis is put on the role of environmental factors causing disbalances of intestinal functions that lead and contribute to the development of chronic inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) such as Morbus Crohn and Colitis ulcerosa. The experimental research projects are embedded into an educational program with mandatory scientific seminars, lab-courses and a personal career development program based on personal mentoring, soft-skill teaching and courses on career options in academia and industry.
