35th Umbrella Symposium - Life Science and Engineering

Exchange is a key factor for science and research. This means exchange between scientists from different disciplines, but also exchange across institutional and national borders. The Umbrella Cooperation is a wonderful example of cooperation and exchange between three institutions from two different countries.
To promote scientific cooperation, the partners Forschungszentrum Jülich, Israel Institute of Technology - Technion and RWTH Aachen University organize an annual Umbrella Symposium to foster communication between the different scientists. After two years in which the symposium could not take place as usual, RWTH Aachen University hosted the 35th Umbrella Symposium in Aachen in mid-May. The stimulating professional and personal discussions made the symposium a success. Science should transcend the boundaries of disciplines and countries, and this is exactly what the partners in the Umbrella cooperation succeed in doing.
The Umbrella Awards were presented
As a prelude, three young scientists were honored with this year's Umbrella Awards: Dr. Gabriela Figueroa Miranda from the Institute for Biological Information (IBI-3), Forschungszentrum Jülich, Assist. Prof. Assaf Zinger, Technion, and Dr. David Mehler, RWTH Aachen University. The Umbrella Symposium provided a platform for the three awardees to present their research. In addition, the young scientists of the three cooperation partners discussed current scientific topics in the field of "Life Science and Engineering: Data Analytics, Neurosciences and Multiscale Biomedical Engineering". Prof. Frauke Melchior, Member of the Board of Directors at Forschungszentrum Jülich, welcomed the numerous German, Israeli and international participants together with the Rector of RWTH Aachen University, Prof. Ulrich Rüdiger and the Vice President for Research of the Technion, Prof. Koby Rubinstein, who had travelled from Haifa with a delegation of ten. The presentations of the three young scientists impressed the audience. As the directors Prof's Merkel, Carloni, Grün, Offenhäusser, also Prof. Frauke Melchior was very impressed by the contributions. Once again Gabriela Figueroa Miranda, Assaf Zinger and David Mehler proved the quality and diversity of their scientific work. Young scientists are an important resource, for research and innovation and especially for the scientific collaborations of the future.

Smart Sensors for Improved Diagnostics
Dr. Gabriela Figueroa Miranda has been researching and working at Forschungszentrum Jülich over a period of time. During the symposium, the native Mexican presented her work entitled "Multi-target electrochemical aptamer-based biosensors for accurate disease diagnosis". The biosensors she is researching will help diagnose diseases in the future. Dr. Figueroa Miranda is paying particular attention to malaria.
Interdisciplinary program
In addition to the contributions of the award winners, the Umbrella Symposium offered interesting scientific high-level lectures to the audience. Thematically clustered, the 30 presentations ranged from data-driven research approaches via data analysis in neuroscience to micro- and bio-engineering.
The most important goal of this sustainable trilateral German-Israeli collaboration is to promote scientific cooperation between the young academics of both countries. Next year, scientists from the three institutions will meet in Haifa, Israel to further explore this year's topic.
About the Umbrella Cooperation
Established in 1983, the Umbrella Cooperation between RWTH Aachen University, Forschungszentrum Jülich and the Technion - Israel Institute of Technology reflects a strategic partnership aimed at fostering excellent research and technology collaborations for mutual benefit between strong partners. The annual symposium is a highlight of this partnership.
Further information
Article " Vom Labor in die Welt" ("From the lab to the world") by Forschungszentrum Jülich (german): https://www.fz-juelich.de/portal/DE/Presse/beitraege/2021/2021-07-13-malaria-sensor/artikel.html
Website of Forschungszentrum Jülich: https://www.fz-juelich.de/ue/DE/Leistungen/Nationale_Internationale_Beziehungen_UE-B/KooperationenundProjekte/Umbrella/_node.html
Website of Technion - Israel Institute of Technology: https://www.technion.ac.il/en/home-2/
Website of RWTH Aachen: https://www.rwth-aachen.de/cms/root/Die-RWTH/Profil/Internationalisierung/Partnerhochschulen-und-internationale-Ne/~bkdtf/Umbrella-Collaboration/?lidx=1