Internationalisation - a pillar of development of the University of Maribor Doctoral studies: From study to research and further Using Doctoral Schools to Improve Quality in Doctoral Education good practices Prof. dr. Frank Dieter Uhlig, Dean of the Faculty of Technical Chemistry, Chemical & Process Engineering and Biotechnology, TU Graz»The project will beimplemented in line with the Operational Programme for Human Resources Development 2007-2013, 3rd priority axis: Development of human resources and lifelong learning, activity 3.3: Quality, competitiveness and responsiveness of higher education.«
W I S S E N T E C H N I K L E I D E N S C H A F T Doctoral Schools in Natural Science Examples of Cooperation Frank Uhlig Dean of the Faculty of Technical Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology TU Graz Head of the NAWI Graz project u www.tugraz.at
Doctoral Schools at the location Graz Two Universities And a Unusual Situation in Natural Sciences Frank Uhlig Maribor, 3. November 2014
NAWI Graz is a strategic cooperation of University of Graz and Graz University of Technology in - Teaching - Research - Infrastructure - Doctoral Schools - Research Programs
NAWI Graz faculty work groups Molecular Bioscience, Biotechnology, Plant Science Chemistry, Chemical and Pharmaceutical Engineering Earth, Space and Environmental Sciences Fundamental and Applied Mathematics Physics
NAWI Graz study programmes
Increase of the number of NAWI Graz students 2006-2013
Key Facts: 35 Institutes on both large Universities in Graz > 1,020 FTE personnel > 640 PhD students approx. 25 Mio. Euro third party funds/year
NAWI Graz joint appointments of professors 6 NAWI Graz professorships (since 2010) Mathematics/Computational Sciences (K. Fellner) Algebra (K. Baur) Differential Equations (J. Behrndt) Physical Chemistry (L. Grill) Experimental Physics 1 (M. Sterrer, Start Sep. 2014) Computational Biotechnology (C. Sensen, Start Sep. 2014) 4 Fulbright professorships (since 2010)
NAWI Graz Gender Projects Support for female scientists 30+ research grants 8 travel grants 2 grants for young female researchers teams
Core figures NAWI Graz research Per year 450 active research projects 25 Mio. Euros third party funds 1,000+ journal articles 10 patents
NAWI Graz joint research programmes 5 funded joint doctoral colleges DK Molecular Enzymology fforte Wissenschafterinnenkolleg fforte FreChe Materie DK Numerical Simulations in Technical Sciences DK Discrete Mathematics DK/IGK Optimization and Numerical Analysis for Partial Differential Equations with Nonsmooth Structures 2 joint special research areas SFB Mathematical Optimization and Applications in the Biomedical Sciences SFB Lipotoxicity: Lipid-induced Cell Dysfunction and Cell Death
Core figures NAWI Graz infrastructure funding 2008 2014 100+ joint instrument acquisitions funded Total volume: 5.3 Mio Euros NAWI Graz funding: 2.3 Mio Euros 6 NAWI Graz Central Labs Total volume: 7 Mio Euros NAWI Graz Funding: approx. 2.8 Mio Euros
Graz Advanced School of Science (GASS) joint doctoral training within the framework of NAWI Graz separated PhD curricula on both universities; BUT harmonized statutes 5 involved doctoral schools these regulations of GASS fulfilling the requirements of the Salzburg Criteria state-of-the-art in terms in doctoral training
Graz Advanced School of Science (GASS) Graz University of Technology Curriculum for the Doctoral Program of Engineering Science Curriculum for the Doctoral Program of Natural Science University Graz Curriculum for the Doctoral Programme Natural Science Common Statutes of Doctoral School NAME
Doctoral School Chemistry Doctoral School Chemistry Coordinating Teams Consisting of: teaching staff, PhD students (mainly 3 persons per university) David Reishofer Maribor, 3. November 2014 Doc School Chemistry 23
Doctoral School Chemistry Aims Specification of a "general curriculum" Making Research Visible Facilitating Communication Enhancing Collaborations Providing a Platform for Information EDUCATION NETWORKING VISIBILITY Addressing Specific Needs of PhD Students David Reishofer Maribor, 3. November 2014 Doc School Chemistry 24
Doctoral School Chemistry Organization NAWI Doctoral School CHEMISTRY DocDays Seminars Summer Schools Travel grants... Joint advanced courses/ lectures David Reishofer Maribor, 3. November 2014 Doc School Chemistry 25
Doctoral School Chemistry Curriculum and Statutes David Reishofer Maribor, 3. November 2014 Doc School Chemistry 26
Doctoral School Chemistry Requirements 8 SWS* Lectures with contents related to Chemistry 4 SWS* Communication and Presentation 2 SWS* Privatissimum PhD-Student Seminar * SWS:Semesterwochenstunden = Hours per week and Semester, i.e. 1 SWS corresponds to 15 hours of teaching per semester. David Reishofer Maribor, 3. November 2014 Doc School Chemistry 27
Doctoral School Chemistry Specific Lectures - Examples Paper Writing Writing a Proposal Advanced Topics in Chemistry Modern Aspects of Chemistry David Reishofer Maribor, 3. November 2014 Doc School Chemistry 28
Doctoral School Chemistry Statutes can be Adjusted Statutes are not part of a complicated curricular procedures but can be adjusted. The adjusted rules have to be acknowledged by the Commission for Doctoral Studies and University Courses New members can be added (institutes, professors) David Reishofer Maribor, 3. November 2014 Doc School Chemistry 29
Doctoral School Chemistry Funding and Benefits Invited lectures Catering during the Doc Days/Summer Schools Prizes Travel grants David Reishofer Maribor, 3. November 2014 Doc School Chemistry 30
Doctoral School Chemistry COMMUNICATION Doc Days Summer School Dedicated topics Lectures by prominent researchers Discussions PhD-student lectures with extended discussions Social events (conference dinner ) David Reishofer Maribor, 3. November 2014 Doc School Chemistry 31
Doctoral School Chemistry Doc Days / Summer Schools DocDays (1 2 /year, 1 2 days) June 2009 (First) - current Summer Schools (3 days) (every two years) Both types of events are exclusively organized by PhD students. (Exception: The topics and lecturers for the summer schools are selected by the coordinating teams of the Doctoral School) David Reishofer Maribor, 3. November 2014 Doc School Chemistry 32
Doctoral School Chemistry Examples David Reishofer Maribor, 3. November 2014 Doc School Chemistry 33
Doctoral School Chemistry Abstracts - Evaluations Applying circular permutation to strictosidine synthase Eva Fischereder, Desiree Pressnitz, Horst Lechner and Wolfgang Kroutil Department of organic and bioorganic chemistry, University of Graz evamaria.fischereder@edu.uni-graz.at Keywords: Strictosidine synthase, Pictet-Spengler reaction, circular permutation, monoterpenoid-indole alkaloids, non-natural aldehydes Abstract: Strictosidine synthase (STR) has been recognized as a key enzyme in the biosynthesis of indole alkaloids, including highly therapeutically valuable derivatives, via a Pictet Spengler reaction. 1 STR from Rauvolfia serpentina was subjected to an enzyme engineering technique called circular permutation (cp). 2 Traditionally engineering techniques rely on amino acid substitution to alter enzyme properties, instead circular permutation benefits of reorganizing a poly peptide chain. Conceptually cp of a protein involves the covalent linkage of the native C- and N-termini by a peptide linker, followed by the cleavage of specific peptide bonds elsewhere in the peptide chain. 3 Based on the crystal structure of the enzyme which resembles a six bladed β-propeller fold, two areas where chosen to be permuted. On the one hand a α-helix in blade three and a loop in blade five which together form a cap over the active side. In total eleven permutants where synthesized whereby eight were able to convert the natural substrates tryptamine and secologanine to form stereospecifically (S)-strictosidine. Since not much is known about non-natural substrates transformed by this enzymes the cp library as well as a set of strictosidine synthases from naturalsources were tested against the chiral aldehyde R/S-citronellal. Unexpectedly the non-natural aldehyde showed promising results and was transformed by some natural synthases as well as by candidates of the permutation library. B A 278 273 276 275 Table 1: A = introduced permutation sides, B: biotransformation with the non-natural chiral aldehyde citronellal References: [1] Stöckigt J., Antonchick A. P., Wu F., Waldmann H., Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2011, 50, 8538 8564. [2] Cunningham B. A., Hemperly J. J., Hopp T. P., Edelman G. M., Biochemistry 1979, 76, 3218-3222. [3] Yu Y., Lutz S., Trends in Biotechnology 2011, 29, 18-25. David Reishofer Maribor, 3. November 2014 Doc School Chemistry 13 34
Doctoral School Chemistry Future Joint DocDays Summer Schools Within Graz: Geo sciences MolBio With external partners: Univ. Maribor TU Munich ETH Zürich David Reishofer Maribor, 3. November 2014 Doc School Chemistry 35