Kick-off event for Collaborative Research Center 1607 at the InnoDom

Researching age-related, blinding eye diseases is the mission of the new Collaborative Research Center 1607, which is funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, DFG. To this end, leading scientists from the interdisciplinary consortium and representatives from industry met on April 12 for a kick-off event at the InnoDom in Cologne. Prof. Dr. med. Claus Cursiefen, spokesperson of the CRC 1607, also welcomed the renowned scientist Prof. Martine Jager as a new visiting professor at the Faculty of Medicine.

The causes of many eye diseases are poorly understood and there are no good therapies. Many of these diseases are age-related, meaning that they occur more frequently in an ageing society. Apart from the loss of quality of life and independence for the individual, these diseases will therefore burden society as a whole

The scientists in the new Collaborative Research Center want to achieve significant progress in the understanding of diseases and in clinical translation – i.e. the transfer of basic research to clinical application.  The IP/Transfer representative of the CRC 1607, Mr. Günther, therefore gave a lecture on the topic of IP/Transfer in general medicine. There were also presentations on Open Science and the C3RDM.

The CRC1607 has a unique and important position, as there is currently no other international center that focuses on the role of lymphatic and blood vessels and immune cells in age-associated eye diseases.