BMBF
Collaborative research funded by the German Ministry of Education and Research
The MIRACUM Consortium (Medical Informatics in Research and Care in University Medicine) was funded for the nine month conceptual phase of the Medical Informatics Funding Scheme of the German Federal Ministry of Research and Education (BMBF; August 2016 to April 2017). Based on its successful pilot projects and its compelling and visionary concept, it will be funded with an amount of 32.1 million Euro for the four-year implementation and networking phase from 2018 onwards.
The aim of the project is to make data from numerous heterogeneous IT systems and databases in patient care and medical research accessible for innovative IT solutions and to support translational research as well as diagnostic and therapeutic decisions in health care processes.
Contact within the Faculty: Prof. Dr. H.-U. Prokosch, Chair of Medical Informatics
The acronym PRO PRICARE stands for Preventing Overdiagnosis in Primary Care. The focus is on preventing overuse and underuse in the outpatient sector. Misuse of care affects not only the elderly, but all age groups. The primary care physician, as a generalist and first point of contact, has a central role in preventing it.
Overuse is defined as “treatment without a clear medical basis or when the risks of a therapy exceed its benefits.” The boundaries between age, risk factors, early forms of a disease and actual disease are becoming increasingly blurred. Advances in medical technology, medical entrepreneurship, and an exaggerated health consciousness carry the risk of “disease inflation.” Patients at risk of overuse and medical interventions that have little or no benefit should be identified and then ways developed to reduce them. Preventing misuse and overuse is a key responsibility of primary care physicians, who, as generalists and the first point of contact in the health care system, are often the entry point for patients into the health care system and provide care over time.
The General Practice Institute forms a broad collaborative network with other research institutions, physician networks, service providers and payers. The PRO PRICARE network and three associated research projects are funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research from February 01, 2017 to January 31, 2020.
Contact within the Faculty: Prof. Dr. T. Kühlein, Chair of General Medicine
Chronic kidney disease is an increasing health problem, affecting approximately 10% of the population. The burden of morbidity and mortality associated with chronic kidney disease derives from progression to end stage renal disease with requirement of dialysis. Patients suffering from chronic kidney disease have a disproportionate risk of cardiovascular diseases including myocardial infarction and stroke. However, the course of progression of kidney and cardiovascular disease in the setting of renal disease is highly variable and factors determining progression and complication rates are to a large extend unknown.
The number of randomized controlled trials in nephrology lags behind all other medical disciplines. To address these questions, the FAU is coordinating a large prospective observational cohort study in Germany including the cooperation with the universities of Aachen, Berlin, Freiburg, Hannover, Heidelberg, Innsbruck, Jena, München, Regensburg, and Würzburg and a network of approximately 200 nephrologists from different regions all over Germany.
The study aims at gaining important insights on the heterogeneity of disease courses in observing a large number of patients over a long period of time, opening ways for a more deliberate and focused application of existing diagnostic and therapeutic procedures, and developing novel and more effective therapies.
The GCKD Study is funded by the KfH Foundation of Preventive Medicine and the BMBF.
Contact within the Faculty: Dr. H. Meiselbach, Department of Medicine 4
TRENAL („Translational kidney research – from physiology to clinical application“) is an interdisciplinary
network project that aims at leveraging the achievements of basic kidney research and translating them into novel diagnostic and therapeutic strategies. TRENAL unites nephrologists, physiologists, nephropathologists and
basic researchers from FAU, Yale University and University College London (UCL) and the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light.
TRENAL supports the mobility of students, researchers, physicians in training and professors interested in doing translational kidney research at one of the partner institutions. It furthermore provides financial support for selected conferences and educational events.
Contact within the Faculty: Prof. Dr. M. Goppelt-Strübe, Department of Medicine 4
How likely do patients develop cancer again after a tumor has been surgically removed? This is the central question of the new research project „MelEVIR – Melanoma, Extracellular Vesicles and Immune Response“ that will be funded by the German Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) with overall 1.3 million Euro. The project started in April 2016 with a duration of three years.
Contact within the Faculty: Prof. Dr. J. Vera-González, Department of Dermatology