The TUM Global Incentive Fund aims to support the development of new and the expansion of existing cooperation projects with universities / research institutes in one of the TUM liaison office countries. In addition, it seeks to engage TUM liaison offices’ support and expertise in strengthening TUM’s cooperation with universities / research institutes in their respective countries.
In March 2016, the Exercise Biology team applied successfully for a 15.000 EUR fund to support an international collaboration to use zebrafish as an exercise model. Members of the collaborations are Prof. Brain Link (Medical College of Wisconsin) who is a leader in zebrafish research and Dr. Bettina Schmid who runs a zebrafish group at the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE) at the Helmholzzentrum Munich. The overall objective is to establish a collaboration between the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and the Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW). The research objective of this collaboration is to understand the role of Hippo proteins (a set of proteins involved in stem cells, regeneration, organ growth and muscle gene regulation) in the adaptation to exercise. Additionally we will organize workshops and seminars for TUM and Medical College of Wisconsin researchers and students.