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Panoramic view on the North Campus © Jürgen Huhn​/​TU Dortmund
€ 4.5 MILLION FOR PROJECT „BIOSTATISTICAL METHODS FOR HIGH-DIMENSIONAL DATA IN TOXICOLOGY“

German Research Foundation Funds New Research Training Group

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Building of the faculty of mathematics © Nikolas Golsch​/​TU Dortmund
Math Tower at TU Dortmund University: The group’s innovative and interdisciplinary profile allows doctoral candidates in the field of statistics to acquire comprehensive knowledge of toxicology.
The German Research Foundation (DFG) has decided on the establishment of Research Training Group (RTG) 2624 “Biostatistical Methods for High-Dimensional Data in Toxicology” at TU Dortmund University. It will fund the group, whose spokesperson is Professor Jörg Rahnenführer from the university’s Faculty of Statistics, from March next year for initially four years. The grant is worth € 4.5 million.

Within the RTG, statisticians from TU Dortmund University and a colleague from Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf will supervise doctoral students in cooperation with toxicologists from the Leibniz Research Center for Working Environment and Human Factors (IfADo) at TU Dortmund University and the Leibniz Research Institute for Environmental Medicine (IUF) in Düsseldorf. The funding from the German Research Foundation will be used to finance one postdoctoral and ten doctoral posts.

The group’s innovative and interdisciplinary profile allows doctoral candidates in the field of statistics to acquire comprehensive knowledge of toxicology. This will empower them to develop and apply statistical methods systematically to questions in pharmacological and environmental toxicology. A special feature are the planned practical modules, which include laboratory weeks at the Leibniz institutes involved on the one hand and work experience with industrial partners on the other.

Statistical methods for answering toxicology questions

In terms of content, the doctoral researchers will develop statistical methods suitable for answering specific toxicological questions. In toxicology, innovative statistical methods are urgently required in order to make optimum use of the constantly growing flood of molecular data. One of the group’s specialties is that it uses complex, high-dimensional data.

This means, for example, that genetically defined groups in the population can be identified that react particularly strongly to air pollutants. Preventive measures can then be developed to protect them. When determining the minimum dose of a substance or drug required for it still to be effective, combinations of genetic markers are sought that identify such critical values more precisely. Researchers can explore the role of genetic modifications in diseases such as fatty liver with the help of integrative models that combine different molecular data.

Contact for further information:

Portrait of a man
Professor Jörg Rahnenführer from the Faculty of Statistics at TU Dortmund University is the RTG’s spokesperson.
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