In 2020 CeMM launched the CeMM Pre-ERC Postdoc Program in Cellular, Molecular and Digital Medicine after a workshop event for future scientific leaders where the first 10 candidates were selected out of more than 400 applicants.

The new CeMM Postdoc Program is carefully designed to prepare postdoctoral researchers for a successful ERC Starting Grant or comparable grant application and for an independent research career in top research organizations in Europe and around the world.

Selected candidates join CeMM for 3 to 6 years to address ambitious research questions in areas such as cancer, immunology, chemical biology, epigenetics, metabolism, and genomic medicine. Interdisciplinary research projects will focus on medically relevant problems, including disease mechanisms, modern therapeutics and diagnostic strategies. On top of this, postdocs will receive extensive career development and leadership training from the entire CeMM Faculty and additional experts in a highly collaborative and supportive environment.

Postdocs at CeMM are free to explore ideas, go deep into the fundaments, explore new mechanisms and become familiar with the translational. However, professional training and further development of soft skills are also necessary and therefore, the training encompasses project management, scientific writing, visual communication, entrepreneurship, leadership and data science, as well as opportunities to collaborate with industry (biotech/pharma) and to get involved in academic start-up/spin-off companies.

As postdocs progress through the program, they will receive more opportunities for teaching and providing supervision as well as special training for writing successful ERC Starting Grants to prepare them in the best possible way for   an outstanding academic career in Europe.

The new CeMM postdoc program is an extension rather than a replacement for our previous excellent training and all postdocs will benefit from the increased focus.