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The University of Freiburg offers The Winter School in Biomedical Sciences, which is a 5 months program. The students will receive a Diploma of Advanced Studies in Biomedical Sciences (DAS) upon successfully completing the program, consisting of 30 Credit Points in the European Credit Transfer System (ECTS). This international program is designed as an intensive time of studies and research with a specific and practical training that qualifies for success in academia or the private sector. The modules focus on the following topics: Pharmacology and Toxicology, Materials and Microsystems, Molecular Medicine, Immunology, Pathology, Molecular Oncology, Genetics of Disease and Cancer, Molecular and Cellular Biology, Statistical Bioinformatics and Bioethics. Participants are encouraged to choose a personal research project which involves experimental work, data analysis and a scientific research publication.

The International Master in Biomedical Sciences (IMBS) is pleased to announce that the application for the class 2017-2019 is now open. The IMBS program was established in 2008 as a joint program between the School of Medicine of Albert-Ludwigs-University of Freiburg (ALU), Germany, and the Schools of Medicine and Pharmacy and Biochemistry of the University of Buenos Aires (UBA), Argentina. The aim of this program is to train prospective researchers in scientific knowledge and state-of-the-art experimental experience in current and emerging biomedical research areas with a focus on translational research and development. It is also meant to foster teaching and research cooperation between the two Universities and to contribute to the cultural exchange on the master, PhD, and academic levels.

International Conference PHILOSOPHY AND CANCER APRIL 28TH, 2016 Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology (IHPST) 13 rue du Four 75006 Paris Second Floor, conference room 9:30 – 18:00 Organized by Lucie Laplane (CNRS IHPST & UMR 1170) and Thomas Pradeu (CNRS & University of Bordeaux). Funded by IHPST, University Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne (BQR), and University of Bordeaux (IDEX Chair Thomas Pradeu) This timely and important international conference on Philosophy and Cancer addresses novel concepts of understanding cancer and cancer treatment. Stimulating communication and interaction between scientists, doctors and philosophers should contribute to identify priorities and innovative concepts for further research. In the attached pdf you will find the program and the abstracts of all contributions.

Patents are currently the most common mechanism to stimulate pharmaceutical innovation. They are considered an efficient allocation mechanism and a system in which fewer resources are squandered. Patents are of importance for pharmaceutical companies, since innovation is expensive with developing costs per new drug at more than 2 billion U.S. Dollars. In 1995, members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) signed the agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) to standardize patent rights in an international context. The trade agreement entails strict patent protection laws, i.e. a market exclusivity for patented drug over a period of at least 20 years. One of the main incentives to design the TRIPS agreement was to create a reward mechanism for pharmaceutical companies in order to recover costs, to make profits and importantly, to promote research and development (R&D) for diseases that affect developing nations.

The JOSHA editors are happy to launch the first issue of volume 3. The editors are especially thrilled to present the paper “Cancer: Modeling evolution and natural selection, the “Mitosis Game” by Roland Mertelsmann and Maximilian Georg. As stated in the title, this paper presents a computer game that depicts the cellular evolution for oncogenesis and the clinical course of malignant disease. The authors have designed a tool to both to better understand and to facilitate studying evolution in silico. The conceptual framework of the game is based on ten key intrinsic parameters of cells, which the authors call “The Hallmarks of Evolution”. Furthermore, Dieter Schmidt offers a very interesting historical account of “giant cell arteritis”. In his article “Schläfenarterienentzündung mir Erblindung: Berichte über Zeichen einer Arteriitis temporalis im 18.

We have previously analyzed and discussed the importance of cellular evolution for oncogenesis and the clinical course of malignant disease. In view of the complexity of the genetic phenomena and the effects of environment and chance, we have designed a tool to both, better understand and to facilitate studying evolution in silico. After review of the literature and of evolutionary algorithms (see Reading List in pdf document) we have developed a conceptual framework for describing, understanding and modeling evolutionary processes. As a result, we have identified ten key intrinsic parameters of cells, which we would like to call “The Hallmarks of Evolution”.

In this article the history of German-Argentine collaboration is discussed as well as implications for the future of science in general. Rubén Alejandro Villaverde is the Founding President of the Centro de Observaciones Astronómicas de Mar del Plata, COAM, where he has pursued astronomical research for more than 20 years. His research encompasses various astronomical topics such as black holes, white holes and the supersymetrical universum as well as philosophical concepts, the“Filosofía Cuántica Comparativa” which combines traditional philosophy and quantum physics. Villaverde has contributed to more than 700 Conferences and Seminars at the Universidad Nacional de Mar Plata and the Universidad de Belgrano in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

The article argues that democracy is not a necessary condition for political legitimacy. Principle of equal-consideration does not provide a solid foundation of having a democratic decision-making procedure for political determinative projects. The paper suggests we evaluate the political instruments in terms of their exclusionary effect so that a more meaningful discussion could be held. The result of that evaluation shows that the notion of political legitimacy may be relativistic to a particular historical point of time, and thus, whether a political entity is legitimate or not is not depended on the form of the entity in question itself.

Six contributions to JOSHA’s Issue 7 of Volume 2 complete the year 2015, the first whole Year of JOSHA’s service to provide a novel open access internet platform to facilitate entrée to the broad diversity of important discoveries and creativity in the fields of Science, Humanities and Arts. JOSHA’s last Issue of 2015 presents again attractions and highlights. The inspiring reading list of Nobel prize laureate Kurt Wüthrich introduces into the three spatial dimensions of biological macromolecules as identified by the technique of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. Six fascinating paintings of French painter Albane Roux open senses for gestural dynamics in a colorful world, as art critic Christian Malaurie points out: “La peinture d’Albane Roux est une respiration, un mouvement qui invite le spectateur à un voyage intérieur ouvert sur le monde.

Nobel Prize laureate Kurt Wüthrich is the Cecil H. and Ida M. Green Professor of Structural Biology at The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA, USA, and Professor of Biophysics at the ETH Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland. He also directs research groups at the Universidad Federal do Rio de Janeiro in Brazil and at the iHuman Institute of ShanghaiTech University in China. His research interests are in molecular structural biology and structural genomics. His specialty is nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy with biological macromolecules, where he contributed the NMR method of three-dimensional structure determination of proteins and nucleic acids in solution. The Wüthrich groups have determined a large number of macromolecular NMR structures, including the immunosuppression system cyclophilin A–cyclosporin A, the homeodomain–operator DNA transcriptional regulatory system, and prion proteins from humans, cattle and a variety of other species.