The Doctoral Programme
“Metabolism in Immune Responses and Inflammation”
(MET-FLAM)
Welcome / Summary
MET-FLAM – Metabolism in Immune Responses and Inflammation is an ongoing and highly viable research cluster powered by internationally renowned basic and clinical scientists at the Medical University of Graz (Med Uni Graz), for which additional funding is provided by the doc.funds scheme of the Austrian Science Fund FWF. The program focuses on metabolism and immunomodulatory mechanisms, as both are of utmost importance for medical research and patient care. Inflammatory diseases affect several hundred million people and are among the most important diseases in terms of incidence, prevalence, and socio-economic burden. The same is true for metabolic diseases and obesity.The goal of MET-FLAM is to provide excellent multidisciplinary graduate training by linking metabolism and inflammation and understanding how metabolic disorders, immune function and inflammation are interrelated. Therefore, MET-FLAM concentrates on the role of metabolic processes in inflammation and how they might be exploited for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes.
MET-FLAM offers substantially refined PhD training in several aspects: (i) increased thematic coherence in a well-defined, highly relevant area of biomedical research to foster scientific excellence; (ii) a balanced mix of clinical, translational and basic experimental research projects; (iii) extensive international exposure of students; (iv) high-end equipment including multi-omics approaches; (v) one of Europe's largest biobanks.
MET-FLAM students are supervised by a very experienced, dedicated, multidisciplinary faculty. Of the 17 faculty members, 9 have an MD background, 8 are female, and 4 are junior faculty members who, despite being at an early stage in their career, have already proven their excellent potential.
MET-FLAM is embedded in the existing graduate school Molecular Medicine (MOLMED), which was established by the Med Uni Graz in 2007 and provides a framework for structured PhD training with a focus on medically relevant topics. MOLMED pursues an integrated concept by encompassing basic, translational and clinical research, bridging the areas of physiology, pathobiology, pharmacology, and structural biology to study cellular processes and disease mechanisms. Ongoing research topics include cancer, cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases and metabolic disorders as well as inflammation and immunology.
MET-FLAM creates a highly competitive network ensuring additive and synergistic interaction of mechanistic and methodological approaches. Thus, the program provides students with a profound knowledge of the clinically most relevant areas of inflammation and the role of metabolic alterations therein, far beyond that of their individual projects.