Justus Liebig University Giessen

The Justus Liebig University Giessen, founded in 1607, is Hessen‘s second largest university and the region‘s largest employer together with the recently combined University Hospital of Giessen and Marburg. Justus Liebig, the famous chemistry professor, made some of his greatest achievements while he taught here between 1824 and 1852.

The University of Giessen provides almost 22,000 enrolled students with the opportunity to choose among more than 150 majors in 11 different faculties. A unique range of academic programs includes courses at the school of medicine and of veterinary medicine, and in the natural, agricultural and nutritional sciences. Psychology, law and economics as well as the humanities and social sciences complete the academic spectrum. But the focus of the university‘s teaching and research is on life sciences and cultural sciences. The Giessen Graduate School for the Humanities was pivotal in implementing an innovative concept for graduate education in the hu manities in Germany. They established an international doctoral program in “Literary and Cultural Studies“ which is funded by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD). Top-level multidisciplinary research is carried out in special research areas and groups. Currently, five collaborative research centers funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) are associated with the Justus Liebig University: “Land use options for peripheral regions“, “Memory cultures“, “Invasion and replication strategies of pathogens“, “Cardiopulmonary vasculature“ and “Subnuclear structure of matter“.

Pulmonary research: science meets patients

Heart and lung diseases are responsible for more than 50 percent of deaths and health care costs in Germany. The University of Giessen Lung Center (UGLC) is dedicated to research and treatment of lung diseases. Basic researchers and clinicians transform cutting-edge laboratory investigations directly into therapeutic applications. This translational research concept, “from bench to bedside“ or “from the molecule to the patient“, is the work of more than 120 interdisciplinary researchers in 20 research groups. Following this approach, a group of Giessen physician-scientists recently undertook a spectacular high altitude study on Mount Everest, which significantly contributed to the approval of Sildenafi l (Viagra®) for pulmonary hypertension in the US. Giessen scientists are now utilizing this successful concept to structure European pulmonary research. In a multi disciplinary approach integrating 31 institutions at top EU centers in alliance with industrial partners in 12 Europe an countries, they are launching a collaborative Lung Research Network − “Pulmotension“. This large-scale offensive against pulmonary hypertension is supported by the European Union with € 11.4 million over the next four years. With the highest standards in clinical care and internationally recognized achievements in pulmonary research, members of the UGLC initiated Germany‘s first transatlantic graduate program in molecular medicine in 2002: young, up-and-coming international scientists receive a special education in pulmonary medicine in cooperation with partners at Columbia University and the Albert Einstein College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York.

For further information about research at Justus Liebig University Giessen, please visit the following page.