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Prof. Dr. Sandra Iden
Prof Dr Sandra Iden has been a University Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology at the Faculty of Medicine at Saarland University since 2020.
After completing her degree in biochemistry in Hanover (2003) and her dissertation at the WWU Münster (summa cum laude, 2007), she carried out postdoctoral research in the field of tumour cell biology at the Netherlands Cancer Institute (NKI) in Amsterdam. She established her independent research at the Cologne Cluster of Excellence CECAD as group leader of the working group "Cell Polarity and Cancer" (2011-2019) before accepting a position at Saarland University.
She has been Vice President of the German Society for Cell Biology (DGZ) since 2022, having previously served as Managing Director of the DGZ from 2020 to 2022.
The research of Sandra Iden and her team focuses on molecular networks that control the polarisation, adhesion and differentiation of cells as well as the communication of different cell types in tissue structures in order to uncover the molecular causes of various congenital and acquired diseases.
Sandra Iden successfully acquired third-party funding to finance the research of her working group and contributed to various research networks, such as the Collaborative Research Centre 829 "Mechanisms of Skin Homeostasis", the Collaborative Research Centre 832 "Molecular Basis and Modulation of Cellular Interactions in the Tumour Microenvironment", the Collaborative Research Centre 1027 "Physical modelling of non-equilibrium processes in biological systems", the Priority Programme 1782 "Epithelial cell-cell contacts as dynamic sites of integration of forces, signals and cell behaviour" as well as the Cluster of Excellence CECAD "Cellular Stress Responses in Aging-Associated Diseases" and the Centre for Molecular Medicine Cologne.
From 2013 to 2019, she also coordinated the Collaborative Research Centre 829 Research Training Group for Master's and medical students, PhD students and postdocs in skin research and supervised their seminars and annual retreat. She regularly acts as a mentor for scientists at later career stages.
Prof. Dr. Frank Kirchhoff
Prof Dr Frank Kirchhoff is a renowned neuroscientist who has been a full professor (W3) of Physiology at the Faculty of Medicine at Saarland University since 2009. Since 2021, he has been an associate professor at the Experimental Research Centre for Normal and Pathological Aging at the University of Medicine and Pharmacy of Craiova in Romania.
After completing his degree in biochemistry at the University of Hanover (1986), he completed his doctorate in neurobiology at the University of Heidelberg (Dr rer. nat.) in 1990. He completed his habilitation in neurobiology at the Free University of Berlin in 1998.
In his professional career, he was group leader for Glial Physiology and Imaging at the Max Planck Institute for Experimental Medicine in Göttingen (2000-2009) and lecturer at the Free University of Berlin (1998-2008).
Since 2023, he has been President of the Neuroscience Society (NWG), of which he has been Vice President since 2021. He has been a member of Academia Europaea since 2016 and a visiting professor at the University of Medicine and Pharmacy in Craiova, Romania, since 2014.
His research interests focus on the molecular and cellular mechanisms of neuron-glia interaction in the central nervous system. He has published over 150 research articles with an h-index of 57.