Spemann Graduate School of Biology and Medicine (SGBM)

The Spemann Graduate School of Biology and Medicine (SGBM) is funded by the Ministry for Science, Research and Arts of the State of Baden-Wuerttemberg. This international school offers a multidisciplinary research and training programme that relies on outstanding research facilities as well as the Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology and Epigenetics, the Clusters of Excellence comprising the Centre for Integrative Biological Signalling Studies (CIBSS), Centre for Biological Signalling Studies (BIOSS) and BrainLinks-BrainTools (BL-BT), and the Bernstein Center Freiburg (BCF). At present, the graduate school counts approx. 120 doctoral fellows. The programme covers a wide range of disciplines: protein structure and function, synthetic biology and signalling, developmental biology, neurosciences, immunology and virology, molecular medicine, and molecular plant sciences. Admission to the school is highly competitive. Doctoral fellows are awarded a PhD degree (Dr rer nat) from the University of Freiburg. Medical doctors can also join an MD/PhD programme. Students do their experimental work in the laboratory of one of the principal investigators. Together with the school's management, students assemble their thesis committee, which provides efficient supervision and advice. The school operates in English. If they wish, international students can attend German courses, which facilitate their daily life outside the lab. Students attend seminars, journal clubs, lectures, and conferences. They learn to present their data to their peers, including those who work in an area unrelated to their own. They attend practical courses in novel technologies (live imaging, genomics, proteomics, etc.) and soft skills courses (scientific writing, presentation skills, intellectual property rights, project management, good scientific practice, career coaching, etc.) Support for attending conferences and workshops as well as for a short-term stay in a partner laboratory abroad is also available. The school provides help with settling and managing daily life in Germany: accommodation, residence permit, health insurance, bank account, registration at the university, etc. Students regularly get together in the SGBM House on the campus. The yearly SGBM retreat is another occasion for exchange between the different members of the school.