Issue 4 | 2022

14. December 2022

Fall is the season of the harvest, and at HITS it´s particularly abundant this year: Alexandros Stamatakis, head of the Computational Molecular Evolution group, was named one of the world’s most cited researchers for the seventh time in a row. Almost at the same time, he received 2.4 million euros from the European Commission for an ERA Chair (European Research Area). Congratulations!

In a new initiative, researchers from HITS, the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg University Hospital and Heidelberg University collaborate to unravel the role of a certain molecule as risk modifier in individuals with a genetic cancer predisposition. In this project, data analysis and mathematical modeling play a key role. The “INDICATE” initiative is supported by the Klaus Tschira Foundation as part of the interdisciplinary project “Mathematics in Oncology.”

To enhance international exchange and scientific collaboration at HITS, we recently introduced the “Klaus Tschira Guest Professorship Program”,, inviting internationally renowned scientists for research stays at the institute. The section “Beyond the Limits” introduces Antonis Rokas, an evolutionary biologist from Vanderbilt University (USA) and the first Klaus Tschira Guest Professor, who spent three months at HITS last summer.

About HITS

HITS, the Heidelberg Institute for Theoretical Studies, was established in 2010 by physicist and SAP co-founder Klaus Tschira (1940-2015) and the Klaus Tschira Foundation as a private, non-profit research institute. HITS conducts basic research in the natural, mathematical, and computer sciences. Major research directions include complex simulations across scales, making sense of data, and enabling science via computational research. Application areas range from molecular biology to astrophysics. An essential characteristic of the Institute is interdisciplinarity, implemented in numerous cross-group and cross-disciplinary projects. The base funding of HITS is provided by the Klaus Tschira Foundation.

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