Research Training Programs
Clinician and Medical Scientist Program
Since 2016 the UCT Mainz Clinician and Medical Scientist Program has been integrated into the Mainz Research School of Translational Biomedicine (TransMed).
TransMed offers a training curriculum with maximum flexibility for both clinician and medical scientists. All participants receive an individualized training plan that includes modules for fundamental scientific skills, lab-based research rotations, and transferable skills development. Each fellowship spans 2 to 3 years, depending on the trainee’s career stage. The hosting institutions are committed to providing at least 12 months of protected research time exclusively dedicated to scientific work. All fellows benefit from dual mentoring by both a clinician and a medical scientist throughout their training. For women in science, a specialized mentoring program is available (MeMentUM) additionally.
The UCT Mainz Clinician Scientist Program was established to support highly motivated physicians engaged in cancer research. Specialized oncology training formats were developed, including the Oncology Class, Oncology Lab Seminar, and the interdisciplinary Molecular-Pathology-Oncology Seminar. In addition, the UCT Mainz actively supports rotations of medical scientists in clinical trials units and oncology departments. Since 2016, 14 clinician scientists have been funded by the UCT Mainz and have participated in its structured training program.
In 2019, the UCT Mainz successfully applied for the Else Kröner-Research College focusing on the pathogenesis and progression of liver cancer. The first of the now 20 Else Kröner-Research College fellows started their research in January 2020.
Since 2023, the Else Kröner School for Medical Scientists “RNA-based therapeutic strategies in tumor immunology and immune-mediated diseases, TheRNAtik" builds a bridge between basic scientific and clinically active researchers with a view to modern RNA-based immune and cancer therapies. Here, 3 fellows started already.
Since 2024, the Else Kröner Graduate School for Mecial Students "ImmunYoAge: The Immune System – Young versus Aged" has further expanded the program. 4 fellows have commenced their research projects as part of this new venture.
The Clinical Research Fellowship, a dedicated program to support clinical research, was established at the University Medical Center Mainz in 2021. The program was integrated into the organizational structure of the TransMed program and provides protected research time for physicians, allowing early-career clinician scientists to prepare, initiate, or analyze clinical studies. In 2021 and 2022, 12 candidates were selected for 3- or 6-month fellowships, including physician-scientists from the field of oncology. After a temporary suspension of the program in 2023 due to funding limitations, the initiative was resumed in 2024 with five new fellows.
DKTK School of Oncology Program
The DKTK School of Oncology is designed for the training of scientists and clinicians in translational oncology. In addition to a cross-disciplinary training program within the partner site Frankfurt/Mainz and the DKTK in general, junior researchers will be integrated into an active scientific community. Annual retreats and summer schools, further training seminars and workshops as well as lecture series and exchange programs, which all focus on translational oncology, are available for the School of Oncology fellows to keep up a continuous insight into translational cancer research and clinical oncology.
Master's Degree Programs
The UCT Mainz supports Master's Degree Programs aiming at enabling optimal training in translational cancer medicine, such as the Master's degree in Biomedicine, in Epidemiology and in Biomedical Chemistry as well as the international Master's degree in Biomedicine.
Overall training of MD candidates and physicians, either as clinical or physician scientists, is well-established at the UMM. Lots of MD candidates complete their thesis in topics covering either basic scientific or clinical topics and work on their project embedded in various training programs such as DFG-funded Collaborative Research Centers (CRCs) every year. In November 2019, the structured doctorate for medicine and dentistry students was introduced at the UMM. The MAInz-DOC doctoral program enables students to take part in an accompanying scientific curriculum alongside their doctoral thesis with reliable supervision.
Further training programs
Further training programs in part covering cancer research include the Virchow Fellowship-Program of the Center of Thrombosis and Hemostasis (CTH), the Integrated Research Training Group (IRTG) of the CRC 1292, and the International PhD Programme (IPP) of the IMB.
Seminars and Educational Days
The UCT Mainz serves as co-organizer of the seminar series Mainz Seminars in Translational Science (MASIT). The annual DKTK Rhein-Main Cancer Retreat, jointly organized by the UCT Frankfurt and UCT Mainz, offers a platform for scientific exchange and collaboration within the DKTK partner sites. To provide education programs for high-school graduates, the UCT Mainz along with the UMM organizes the annual Summer University Immunology & Biomedicine allowing students to gain insight into up-to-date research projects. Furthermore the UCT Mainz is present at the Mainz Science Market with hands-on activities on cancer topics.