Leibniz Graduate School on Ageing and Age-Related Diseases

The Leibniz Graduate School on Ageing and Age-Related Diseases (LGSA) is a joint programme of the Leibniz Institute for Age Research (FLI) and the Friedrich Schiller University (FSU) in Jena. The LGSA provides ambitious training and research opportunities for graduates who wish to obtain a PhD in the fields of Molecular Biology, Molecular Genetics, Cell Biology, Developmental Biology, Neurobiology, Structural Biology, Immunology, Biophysics or Systems Biology.

The Leibniz Graduate School on Ageing offers an international postgraduate programme for students with excellent qualifications. 70 to 80 PhD students from over 15 different countries prepare for their doctoral degree in the 18 labs of the FLI or in various institutes of the university and the clinical centre. The programme is free of tuition fees. Unless students obtain their own fellowship, we provide a working contract and a salary including health insurance and social insurance.

Training and research within the PhD program is interdisciplinary. We provide excellent research conditions where several scientists such as biologists, biochemists, chemists, computer scientists, mathematicians, physicians, physicists and veterinaries work together.

The participating research groups investigate the multifaceted mechanisms that cause the development of age-related diseases and those that cause senescence and ageing.

Lecture series, seminars, journal clubs and courses complement the practical work.

Workshops in core research skills, transferable skills and language classes are offered by the institute and by the Graduate Academy Jena in order to develop and improve important tools for a career inside or outside academia.

A thesis committee provides comprehensive support and the mentorship in the career development of the student.

The programme language is English.

Eligible are students that have obtained, or that will obtain within half a year, an academic degree comparable to the master degree or diploma in natural sciences (e.g. Biology, Biochemistry, Physics, and Chemistry).