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Simon Schmitt

Head Communication & Media Relations
Science Editor
Communication & Media Relations
s.schmittAthzdr.de
Phone: +49 351 260 3400

Online Annual Report 2015

Personnel Matters

Calls / Appointments

  • Prof. Esther Troost accepted a professorship in “Image Guided High Precision Radiotherapy” on March 1st, 2015, at the OncoRay center and the HZDR Institute of Radiooncology. A native of the Netherlands, Troost strives to improve imaging in tumor therapy.
  • In early April 2015, the Chinese Academy of Science’s Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics (SIOM) appointed Prof. Roland Sauerbrey to its Advisory Committee. As a member of this committee, the Scientific Director of the HZDR assesses the establishment’s research strategy. SIOM develops high-power lasers and optoelectronic facilities.
  • Dr. Ute Bergner joined the HZDR’s Kuratorium in early April. The physicist is the managing partner of VACOM, a company in Jena, one of the leading European specialists in vacuum technology. The Kuratorium is the HZDR’s supervisory body. It makes decisions on fundamental matters concerning the center and oversees the Board of Directors.
  • Since September 2015, Prof. Markus Reuter has served as the new director, together with Prof. Jens Gutzmer, at the Helmholtz Institute Freiberg for Resource Technology. The expert in metal recycling and sustainable technology previously worked at the Finnish firm Outotec before moving to Saxony. His research concentrates mainly on material- and energy-efficient circular economy 4.0 of metallic raw materials.
  • After nearly nine years at the HZDR’s Institutes of Safety Research and Resource Ecology, Prof. Bruno Merk accepted a position as Chair of Computational Modeling for Nuclear Engineering at the University of Liverpool. The position is supported jointly by the National Nuclear Laboratory, the Royal Academy of Engineering and the university.
  • To recognize his outstanding scientific achievements, Dr. Holger Stephan from the Institute of Radiopharmaceutical Cancer Research was named HZDR Research Fellow. Stephan heads the “Nanoscalic Systems” working group as well as the Helmholtz Virtual Institute NanoTracking. He develops new custom materials for tumor diagnostics and therapy control in cancer-related illnesses.

Honors

  • 2015 HZDR Prizes (awarded March 17th, 2016)
  • In her dissertation, undertaken at the OncoRay center and at the HZDR, Dr. Kristin Stützer was able to further develop a measurement method with which treatment of moving tumors can be better controlled. The Behnken Berger Foundation awarded this achievement with its second emerging talent prize, which is endowed with 10,000 Euros. This marks the fourth time in a row this award was given to an OncoRay and HZDR researcher.
  • On January 30th, 2015, Dr. Sebastian Reinecke from the HZDR's Institute of Fluid Dynamics was awarded the 2014 SICK Dissertation Prize for developing a sensor with which the processes in bioreactors can better be monitored. The honor, endowed with 6,000 Euros, is granted by Dorothea Sick-Thies, the daughter of Dr. Erwin Sick, founder of the sensor manufacturer SICK AG.
  • The German Society for Radiation Oncology awarded the Hermann Holthusen Prize, which is endowed with 5,000 Euros, to Dr. Iris Eke for her postdoctoral thesis (Habilitationsschrift), which she completed at the OncoRay center. Her work examined tumor resistance to new targeted medications in combination with radiotherapy.
  • The 2015 Hanns-Langendorff Prize, endowed with 1,500 Euros, was awarded to Dr. Stephan Helmbrecht for his doctoral work, undertaken at the OncoRay center and at the HZDR's Institute of Radiation Physics. The physicist could optimize data processing for clinical application in regards to a measurement method with which the range of proton and ion beams can be determined.
  • At the Annual Meeting for Nuclear Technology, Tobias Seidel from the HZDR’s Institute of Fluid Dynamics received the 2015 Siempelkamp Competence Prize, endowed with 1,000 Euros. The doctoral candidate presented his dissertation project at the “Maintaining Competence” workshop. His project examines condensation effects at the thermohydraulic test facility TOPFLOW.
  • The 1,000 Euro John Dawson Dissertation Prize for 2015 was granted to Dr. Karl Zeil from the HZDR’s Institute of Radiation Physics. In his dissertation, the physicist studied the mechanisms of laser-particle acceleration to enable better scaling of the particles' energy. The aim was to develop a compact laser-particle accelerator for modern cancer treatment using protons.
  • The Dresden University of Applied Sciences has awarded Dr. Michael Kuntzsch the Emerging Researcher Prize, endowed with 1,000 Euros. The scientist from the Institute of Radiation Physics won over the jury with his thesis. Kuntzsch conceived and created a laser-based synchronization system for distributing a time reference signal for the HZDR's ELBE electron accelerator.
  • Last year, the Green Photonics Award went to a research team from Dresden: Prof. Andrés Lasagni and Sebastian Eckhardt from the Institute of Manufacturing Technology at the TU Dresden, Dr. Lars Müller-Meskamp from the Institute of Applied Photophysics as well as Dr. Mathias Siebold and Markus Löser from the Institute of Radiation Physics at the HZDR received the prize in the field of “Laser-based Manufacturing and Micro/Nano Manufacturing”.
  • Dr. Frank Hofheinz from the HZDR's Institute of Radiopharmaceutical Cancer Research received a prize from the academic journal Nuklearmedizin for an article published in 2012. His contribution (F. Hofheinz et al., "Automatic volume delineation in oncological PET. Evaluation of a dedicated software tool and comparison with manual delineation in clinical data sets“, Nuklearmedizin, 2012, Vol. 51, pp. 9-16) was the most frequently cited study last year.
  • Dr. Manja Kubeil has been granted a Marie Curie Stipend from the European Commission, worth approximately 280,000 Euros, for a two year research visit to Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. The chemist from the Institute of Radiopharmaceutical Cancer Research wants to develop nanoparticles that destroy tumors with the help of carbon monoxide.
  • As in past years, HZDR graduates were also recognized in 2015 by the Dresden Chamber of Commerce for their excellent exam results. Richard Kaubisch, an electrical device and systems engineer, and technical product designer David Sobiella are designated the best in their fields within the Dresden Chamber’s district. Both earned a score of 92 out of 100 possible points in their respective applied technicians’ field exams. This achievement also ranks Kaubisch as the best in the Free State of Saxony. These honors at the same time confirm the HZDR’s educational concept. For the sixteenth time in a row, the research center was classified as an “Outstanding Educational Enterprise”. In addition, the notion of work-life balance isn't forgotten as has been confirmed by the berufundfamilie gGmbH (career and family) evaluation, which certified the HZDR’s personnel policy as family friendly.