Israeli Scientists met their project partners at the DKFZ and in Buchen (Odenwald)
Table of Contents
By Wolfhard Semmler and Elfriede Mang
One year after the 30th Anniversary of the program in Israel (Rehovot and Tel Aviv) Israeli and DKFZ-partners of 14 ongoing projects in cancer research got together at the DKFZ Heidelberg to report on the progress of each subproject from March 18 to March 21, 2007. It was the 30th Meeting of the scientific program committee consisting of Max Burger, Bernd Groner (chairman for this session), Hans-Georg Rammensee, Varda Rotter, Michael Schlesinger and Isaac Witz. Permanent co-chairpersons are the Coordinators Shlomo Sarig and Wolfhard Semmler.
During a welcome dinner on Sunday, March 18, old contacts were continued in a friendly atmosphere. On Monday, March 19 (morning) evaluation of six concluded projects by an international evaluation committee (Jürgen Behrens, Paul Kleihues, Eitan Yefenof) took place successfully.
The afternoon of this day was reserved for a guided visit to the city of Buchen (Odenwald) with the Jewish Library as a highlight. On the way to Buchen heavy snowfall brought excitement to the Israeli participants as snow is rare in their home country.
At about 17.30 h at the Jewish Library the visitors firstly relaxed with a warm cup of coffee. Then they listened to Dr. Elmar Weiss who lectured vividly on the history of Buchen which was also a history of many Jewish inhabitants for centuries. For the evening the scientists were invited to a reception in the old town hall of Buchen.
During the following two days of the program committee meeting the partners from Israel and German discussed extensively many scientific achievements and, last not least, friendships were renewed.
This meeting could be considered as successful for many reasons: the international evaluation committee made some suggestions to simplify some administrative procedures and to increase the number of projects from 14 to 15. The management Board of the DKFZ agreed to these suggestions. Further a winter school for young Israeli and German scientists will take place in Pichl (Austria) in March 2008.
