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  • Medical School OWL

    Graphic of building R.1 of the Medical School OWL
    © Universität Bielefeld

Working groups and specialised clinics

University Medicine includes the working groups at the Faculty of Medicine and the university specialist clinics at the hospitals of the Medical School OWL. Research and teaching also takes place in accredited research and teaching practices throughout Ostwestfalen-Lippe.

Oversized model of an eyeball in the socket, the picture shows two hands moving the eyeball in the socket.

Working groups

Plants
Bielefeld University

Claudia Hornberg

The focus of working group 1 Sustainable Environmental Health Sciences is on the relationship between pathogenetic environmental exposures and salutogenetic influences on human health.

About the working group

Humans and robots play a game together
Bielefeld University

Britta Wrede

Based on a deep understanding of social interaction and human cognition, we develop effective intelligent assistance systems with the flexibility to co-construct interaction with different user groups.

About the working group

Microglia Vessel
University of Rostock

Björn Spittau

The focus of our working group is on how microglia, as resident immune cells of the central nervous system (CNS), influence the development, functional maturation, physiological functions and the development and progression of brain diseases.

About the working group

Doctor and patient in the teleconsultation hour
© metamorworks/stock.adobe.com

Urs-Vito Albrecht

AG 4 Digital Medicine deals with the digital transformation as an ongoing process of change based on digital technologies that is changing the healthcare system, the clinics, universities and professions involved. It offers a great opportunity for better healthcare. However, this requires both the development and evaluation of digital technologies, the creation of innovative, digitally supported treatment processes in practices and clinics and the adequate qualification of the people involved.

About the working group

Senior citizen receives advice from a doctor
© Alexander Raths/stock.adobe.com

Christiane Muth

The General and Family Medicine working group focuses on people with chronic multiple illnesses and frequent multi-medication. These people often require intensive care and are particularly vulnerable to acute illnesses. The working group conducts research to improve their care and integrates relevant content into general medical education and training.

About the working group

Peroxisome model
© Sven Thoms

Sven Thoms

The working group conducts research into rare genetic brain and muscle diseases caused by defects in the formation and function of cell organelles (including peroxisomes and the T-tubule system). The working group is also working on a novel gene regulation mechanism based on translational readthrough, i.e. the targeted over-reading of stop codons. The methods we use include: Protein biochemistry, lipids, in vitro systems, iPSC, CRISPR/Cas, microscopy (live, FRET, ultra-high resolution), cell and mouse models.

About the working group

Glowing light bulb
© fpm/istockphoto.com

Hendrik Friederichs

AG 7 Medical Education of the Faculty of Medicine is active in the cross-sectional area of medical didactics, medical teaching development and educational research and plays a central role in the organisation and further development of teaching at the Faculty.

The focus is on the education of students in the Bielefeld model degree programme in Human Medicine

About the working group

Recording of brain and nerve currents
Illustration: Erhard Wischmeyer

Erhard Wischmeyer

The focus of research in our working group is on excitation disorders of nerve and muscle cells, which are caused by altered membrane proteins (ion channels and receptors) and can, for example, cause mental illnesses or cardiac arrhythmias. Content of teaching includes the areas of physiology and pathophysiology.

About the working group

Tumour cells
© Wing-Kee Lee

Wing-Kee Lee

Lipid membranes form barriers, approvals, specialised compartments and microenvironments that enable physiological cellular functions. Our research focuses on sphingolipids and membrane proteins in carcinogenesis and the development of oncological multidrug resistance.

About the working group

Symbol of different genders and female doctor in the background
© wladimir1804/stock.adobe.com

Sabine Oertelt-Prigione

Different genders can be affected differently by diseases. This can be due to biological causes as well as different behaviours or a different approval of medical care. WG 10 is dedicated to gender-sensitive medicine, which aims to support future doctors in person-centred communication, diagnosis and treatment of patients.

About the working group

Laser device with blue light
Anna Pfeifer

Tilman Kottke

Our interdisciplinary working group focusses on the perception of light. We analyse the structure and function of receptors that control the circadian rhythm, among other things, and are used in optogenetics. We are developing infrared spectroscopy in aqueous media as a diagnostic tool on living cells and human cell lines.

About the working group

Graphs
Bielefeld University

Annika Hoyer

Biostatistics and medical biometrics deals with statistical methods for describing, analysing and interpreting data and questions from the life sciences and medical research. Our focus is on the development of statistical methods for meta-analyses and survival time analyses, as well as on the modelling of disease dynamics.

About the working group

Tablets
Bielefeld University

Tilo Grosser

Translational pharmacology is at the interface between non-clinical and clinical research. Our scientific focus is on research into individualised drug therapies for chronic diseases. We investigate mechanisms of variability in drug effects and side effects using laboratory experiments and carefully conducted proof-of-concept studies in volunteers and patients.

About the working group

Patient shakes robot's hand
Bielefeld University/Patrick Pollmeier

Anna-Lisa Vollmer

The focus of our working group is to enable robots to co-construct individual tasks with human users - people with support needs, relatives and healthcare professionals - and to translate them into ethically justifiable use cases desired by humans.

About the working group


University Clinic for

Doctor Sebastian Rehberg in dialogue with medical staff
Evangelical Hospital Bethel

Sebastian Rehberg

The University Department of Anaesthesiology, Intensive Care Medicine, Emergency Medicine, Transfusion Medicine and Pain Therapy provides clinical care across the entire spectrum of these areas of expertise. It is fully authorised to provide further and advanced training for specialist qualifications and all additional training in the area of expertise.

To the specialist clinic

Montage girl listens to tiger with stethoscope
Evangelical Hospital Bethel

Eckard Hamelmann

The University Clinic for Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine is a maximum care hospital which, in addition to General Paediatrics, has 4 specialisations (paediatric cardiology, paediatric oncology, neonatology, neuropaediatrics) and other areas of paediatrics (allergology, diabetology, endocrinology, gastroenterology, infectiology, intensive care medicine, pneumology). With this spectrum, we treat approx. 7,000 full inpatients and approx. 50,000 outpatients/partial inpatients at the paediatric centre every year.

In our specialised departments, we focus on the treatment of children and adolescents with chronic illnesses and disabilities. Accordingly, we are involved in clinical and care studies for these clinical pictures. In addition, as part of a newborn cohort ("Little Owls OWL"), we are investigating the influence of the microbiome on the development of health and illness in the context of the environment and psyche, among other things.

To the specialised clinic

Therapy situation in child and adolescent psychiatry: A therapist talking to a young patient.
Evangelical Hospital Bethel

Michael Siniatchkin

As a research department of the University Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, we are concerned with the development, treatment and prevention of mental breakdowns in children and adolescents. Within our department, we are divided into two working groups with different specialisations: the Clinical Psychology Working Group and the Clinical Neuropsychology Working Group.

To the specialised clinic

Doctor Christian Bien in conversation with an epilepsy patient
Von Bodelschwinghsche Stiftungen Bethel

Christian G. Bien

The University Clinic for Epileptology offers the entire spectrum of diagnostics and therapy for seizure disorders. Epilepsy is a window to the brain. We therefore deal scientifically with structural causes of epilepsy, autoimmune encephalitides and epilepsies, pharmacotherapy, epilepsy and disability or the social consequences of the disease. We use the opportunities offered by pre-surgical epilepsy diagnostics to gain insights into brain functions through neuropsychological and neurophysiological examinations. The focus here is on memory research.

To the specialised clinic

Chrurgin with opration cutlery
©EvKB

Jan Schulte am Esch

At the University Clinic for General and Visceral Surgery on Campus Bielefeld-Bethel, we treat patients across the entire spectrum of the subject. This ranges from the oesophagus to the stomach and (rectum) intestine as well as the hormone-producing glands including the thyroid gland and the upper abdominal organs such as the liver and pancreas. In addition to benign diseases, there is a particular focus on the treatment of malignant tumours. Our focus of research has developed from the diversity of surgical diseases and their therapies. In addition to improving surgical therapies, including robotics, our overarching scientific topics include the biology of liver damage and repair as well as tumours and their metastases in the body. In terms of translational approaches, the bidirectional interaction of our research team, research unit, research group with the clinical symptoms of our patients as the starting point of the scientific questions for our projects is of great importance.

To the specialist clinic

Cardiac catheter laboratory
Bielefeld Hospital

Christoph Stellbrink

AG 203 of the Department of Cardiology and Internal Intensive Care Medicine at the Campus Bielefeld Hospital focuses of research on cardiomyopathies (in particular hypertrophic cardiomyopathy), rhythmology and device therapy, heart failure and coronary and valvular heart disease. The focus is on applied clinical research that is individualised and patient-centred to improve medical care. We emphasise an interdisciplinary and interprofessional approach and participate in the digital transformation in cardiology by investigating innovative treatment concepts. Our broad, but also specialised treatment spectrum as a maximum care provider in a major city enables us to pursue multifaceted and beneficial scientific endeavours.

To the specialist clinic

Examination of a patient
Lippe Hospital

Stephan Gielen

At the University Clinic for Cardiology, Angiology and Internal Intensive Care Medicine at the campus Klinikum Lippe Detmold, we provide care for all angiological and cardiological emergencies in the region and offer personalised maximum care for increasingly elderly and multimorbid patients with our focus on complex and high-risk coronary interventions (CHIP), heart failure, interdisciplinary angiology and internal intensive care medicine. Another focus of scientific activity is preventive medicine (individual prevention counselling and lipid management).

To the specialist clinic

Therapy situation in psychiatry and psychotherapy: A therapist talking to a patient.
Evangelical Hospital Bethel

Martin Driessen

At the University Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, almost all mental breakdowns are treated in multi-professional outpatient, day-clinic and inpatient departments. The team at the University Clinic for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy serves the entire city of Bielefeld as a catchment area (Epidemiological Catchment Area) and is closely networked with the providers of community psychiatric and psychosocial services, addiction and elderly care in the region. We are a member of the OWL Academy of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy (specialist training and training of psychological psychotherapists in our own institute).

To the specialised clinic

Surgeons in the operating theatre
Evangelical Hospital Bethel

Thomas Vordemvenne


At the University Clinic for Trauma Surgery and Orthopaedics on Campus Bielefeld-Bethel, we treat all injuries to the bones and musculoskeletal system. As a supra-regional trauma centre of the highest level of care, we work closely with other specialist disciplines to provide care for the most seriously injured in the region. In addition, the University Hospital has been appointed by the German Social Accident Insurance for the treatment of severely injured patients following accidents at work. The clinic thus covers the entire spectrum of acute and elective musculoskeletal medicine.
The scientific focus is on the optimisation of impaired bone healing, the special features of treating musculoskeletal pathologies in people with disabilities, the evaluation of innovative visualisation techniques for therapy planning and rehabilitation as well as intersectoral networking.

To the specialised clinic

Doctor-patient consultation and ENT examination device
Bielefeld Hospital

Holger Sudhoff

The focus of research in our working group is on cell biology, genetics and therapy of head and neck tumours as well as research into inflammatory mechanisms in the middle ear and paranasal sinuses and hearing physiology (cochlear implants). The working group conducts research into the improved care of patients with head and neck tumours and chronic inflammation in the ENT area (chronic middle ear inflammation, cholesteatoma, chronic rhinosinusitis) and integrates relevant content into ENT training and further education.

To the specialist clinic


University Institute for

Pelletising a liquid in test tubes
Lippe Hospital

Thorsten Kaiser

The University Institute of Laboratory Medicine, Microbiology and Clinical Pathobiochemistry provides the Lippe Hospital with its locations in Detmold and Lemgo, as well as outpatients and inpatients, with a wide range of laboratory medical and microbiological diagnostics and is responsible for teaching and research. The focus of research currently being developed is "Precise Clinical Decision Support and Digital Laboratory Medicine", "Systems Medicine, Precise Spectroscopic Multiparameter Diagnostics", "Inflammation and Degeneration" and "Biomarker-Driven Precise Prevention". To this end, the laboratory and the diagnostic spectrum are being consistently further developed and a new building is being planned at the Detmold location. The Institute supervises the Lippe biobank site and will actively support the development and phenotyping of large cohort studies with its expertise in laboratory medicine.

To the specialised clinic

Patient in CT
Lippe Hospital

Michel Eisenblätter

The University Institute of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology is the academic centre for imaging diagnostics and image-guided therapy in OWL.
The entire spectrum of clinical radiology is offered, in addition to testing new methods, such as image analysis for clinical application. In this context, there are co-operations with non-university research institutions and industry.
Together with other diagnostic disciplines, concepts for the integration of diagnostic information are being developed. Multiparametric biomarker patterns from imaging, laboratory chemical and pathological information help to better classify and track complex diseases.
In the laboratory for preclinical imaging at the central university campus, molecular and cellular processes in the living organism are visualised and made measurable using imaging techniques in order to provide information on the development and spread of diseases.

To the specialised clinic


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