Scientific work is equally linked to university facilities for physicians facing special challenges and problems. One of these lies in the fact that the demands posed by clinical work in the course of a clinical career do not allow for any interrelated continuous period of research in order to focus on a scientific research project.
The Else Kröner-Fresenius-Stiftung foundation regularly awards six individual fellowships within the entire field of medicine – each for a term of two years – to physicians following conclusion of their advanced training to become specialists. The fellowship is endowed with a total of EUR 300,000, of which up to 80% can be utilised for the recipient’s own salary according to scale or collective agreement. Applicants must be able to produce evidence of outstanding research achievements and be clinically active in a position of responsibility. Six fellowships are awarded nationwide. Interested physicians are requested to personally apply.
Please always note our current calls for proposals for this funding line. You will find them on the website under "Current Topics/Call for Poposals".
Submitting the Paper of the Month:
We invite all project managers, fellowship recipients and members of graduate study programs to submit their publications that have emerged from funding as Paper of the Month. You can find more information here. You can find an overview of the Paper of the Month here.
2022
Formation and detection of impulsivity: insights from multisite, cross-disorder deep brain stimulation and multimodal neuroimaging
A brief description can be found on our website in the menu Currently Funded Projects.
Defining amyotrophic lateral sclerosis associated with mutations in the NEK1 gene
A brief description can be found on our website in the menu Currently Funded Projects.
Deciphering and Overcoming Resistance Towards Afatinib in NRG1 Rearranged Cancers
A brief description can be found on our website in the menu Currently Funded Projects.
The Genomic and Clinical Basis of cardiac Arrest without structural heart disease in Germany: The GenCBAG Investigators
A brief description can be found on our website in the menu Currently Funded Projects.
Mechanisms of hepatocyte senescence mediating disease progression in chronic liver disease
A brief description can be found on our website in the menu Currently Funded Projects.
The role of microglia in the translational 5xFAD wildling mouse model of Alzheimer's disease
A brief description can be found on our website in the menu Currently Funded Projects.
Molecular and clinical characterization of long-term effects in cancer survivors
A brief description can be found on our website in the menu Currently Funded Projects.
Development and clinical translation of novel imaging biomarkers in diagnostic neuro-oncology
A brief description can be found on our website in the menu Currently Funded Projects.
Transcription factor RelA as a therapeutic target in kidney and heart fibrosis
A brief description can be found on our website in the menu Currently Funded Projects.
2021
Excellence Fellowship: Impact of antigen recognition and immunosuppression on pathogen-specific follicular T helper cells
A brief description can be found on our website in the menu Currently Funded Projects.
Excellence Fellowship: Identification of novel targets for personalized treatment in metastatic uveal melanoma
A brief description can be found on our website in the menu Currently Funded Projects.
Excellence Fellowship: Ultra-high field MR neurography
A brief description can be found on our website in the menu Currently Funded Projects.
Heart failure with preserved ejection fraction – developement of therapeutic concepts by pathomechanistic characterization, clinical phenotyping and prevention
A brief description can be found on our website in the menu Currently Funded Projects.
Excellence Fellowship: Active celiac disease as promoter of cardiovascular morbidity: exploration of underlying mechanisms and effect of therapeutic intervention
A brief description can be found on our website in the menu Currently Funded Projects.
Exzellenzstipendium: Molekulare Mechanismen von Tumorzellinteraktionen beim follikulären Lymphom
A brief description can be found on our website in the menu Currently Funded Projects.
2020
Excellence Fellowship: Non-muscle actin filaments and their role in health and illness
Inherited or spontaneously occurring “de novo” mutations in the actin genes ACTB and ACTG1 can lead to development disorders and organ dysplasias. These so-called non-muscle actinopathies (NMA) belong to the rare illnesses. Within the framework of the project PD Dr. Nataliya Di Donato addresses the mechanisms that lead to NMA and researches the correlations between the genetic modifications and pathologies that arise from them. The aim is to enable better treatment strategies to be developed for patients in the future.
You can find more information here.
Excellence Fellowship: Non-invasive brain stimulation of the posterior parietal cortex – a new approach toward promoting recovery after a stroke?
Non-invasive brain stimulation of the motor cortex represents a potentially innovative treatment method toward promoting recovery in the case of patients who have had a stroke. However, it displays a high interindividual variability in its level of effectiveness. PD Dr. Robert Schulz studies to what extent a direct current (DC) stimulation of a specific region of the parietal lobe might present a new, alternative therapeutic approach.
You can find more information here.
Excellence Fellowship: Genetic and epigenetic architecture in cerebral tissue in the case of multiple system atrophy
In her research study project PD Dr. Franziska Hopfner concerns herself with multiple system atrophy (MSA), a neurodegenerative disease from the group of parkinsonian syndromes. Until now there have not been any treatment options to curtail the disease’s rapid progression. With the help of molecular-biological methods Hopfner is going to compare cerebral tissue from MSA patients with other parkinsonian syndromes, as well as with healthy controls, and then analyze the findings to attain a better understanding of disease mechanisms at the molecular level.
You can find more information here.
Excellence Fellowship: Overcoming resistance mechanisms in rhabdoid tumors by means of single-cell transcriptome sequencing
PD Dr. Pascal Johann focuses on rhabdoid tumors, a highly aggressive tumor illness that mainly occurs in small children. With the help of single-cell sequencing Johann researches the molecular causes of resistance to therapy for these tumors. For his outstanding research work he has received inter alia the “Württembergischer Krebspreis”, an award for cancer research, and the “Dr. Hildegard Dinter-Lutz Forschungspreis”, a prize awarded by the German Society for Pediatric Hematology and Oncology (GPOH).
Overview of current Else Kröner Excellence Fellowships
Excellence Fellowship: Optical coherence tomography Angiography as a prognostic factor in patients with multiple sclerosis (2019)
Excellence Fellowship: Examination of extrahepatic manifestations of hepatitis E virus infections (2019)
Excellence Fellowship: Multimodal imaging and sleep assessments in Parkinson’s disease at different disease stages: pre-motor, early motor and late motor (2019)