PhD Program

The Ph.D. program “Genomic and Molecular Medicine – Personalized Approaches to Childhood Health” is offering an internationally acknowledged doctoral degree within the Munich Medical Research School to international and national students. This Ph.D. program covers a wide range of topics including genomics and the overall “omics”-approach to pediatric medicine as well as aspects of immunology, epigenetics and biochemistry. The programm is designed as a 3-year-full-time course, with lectures, retreats and seminars, also including methods workshops. High priority is given to the development of own research skills to be able to work independently as a researcher.

The program starts in October each year, the language is English, however the thesis can be written in German or English.

For more information please visit the Website of the Ph.D. program or the Munich Medical Research School.

The doctoral candidate is supervised by an authorized person (supervisor), who can be a member of the Medical Faculty, or from another faculty at the LMU or can belong to an external institution. Please have your supervisor sign your supervision agreement, which is generated as a PDF by the Campus Portal, with an original, handwritten signature. Sign it yourself by hand as well. Upload a scan of the signed supervision agreement to your Campus Portal account and send the original by mail to the MMRS (Bavariaring 19, 80366 München).

During the first semester of the doctoral research project, each Ph.D. candidate must have a Thesis Advisory Committee (TAC). The TAC is comprised of the supervisor, the second reviewer (must be private lecturer or professor) and a third TAC member (has to be at least an independent group leader). All areas of the research project should be appropriately covered. At least two members of the TAC must be members of the LMU's Medical Faculty.

The Ph.D. candidate should meet with his/her TAC in regular intervals and discuss the progress of the Ph.D. project and to determine the progress of the project. These meetings should be during the 3rd and during the 5th semester at the very latest. The student should prepare a written summary of his/her project and send it before the meeting to the members of the committee. At the meeting the student should give a 20-40min presentation about the progress of the project. The results and conclusions of the meeting should be summarized in a TAC Meeting Protocol and signed by all members of the committee and the student.

Together with his/her TAC, the Ph.D. candidate signs a target agreement (with original signatures), which not only reflects the supervision, but also gives information on the planned research project, milestones, curricular elements, etc. The target agreements is signed by all TAC members and the Ph.D. candidate. The signatures must be handwritten originals in ink. It must be handed in by the end of the second semester the very latest, otherwise the Ph.D. candidate will be exmatriculated from the program. Please use the Campus Portal to generate your target agreement. Upload a scan of the signed target agreement to your Campus Portal account and send the original by mail to the MMRS (Bavariaring 19, 80366 München).

Once all requirements within the framework of the target agreement have been fulfilled, the TAC can initiate the scientific assessment of the thesis. You need to submit all relevant documents via the Campus Portal (in your account), as well as submitting original documents to the MMRS (personally or via post). For more information on the submission process and the required documents, please see here.

Upon acceptance of the thesis the Ph.D. candidate is admitted to his/her oral defense. For more information, please click here.

In one year after the oral defense, the Ph.D. candidate must submit 2 bound copies (statutory copies), one digital copy (PDF) and 2 forms for the submission of electronic theses to the university library.

The Doctor's Degree ("Promotionsurkunde") is issued upon successful completion of the oral defense and submission of the statutory copies. Simultaneously, the Doctor's Certificate ("Promotionszeugnis") is issued. It contains the same date as the Degree, as well as the title of the thesis, the individual grades (thesis and oral defense) and the overall final grade.

More information on the completion of the Ph.D. can be found here.

Master degree or equivalent in medicine, natural science, life sciences or other relevant field
Curriculum Vitae (max. 2 pages)
High School Certificate
Transcripts of records of your academic education
Certificates of your degrees (MSc, BSc, etc.)
English language certificate (TOEFL or equivalents - not required if you are a native speaker or if your education was in English)
Motivation letter specifying the area of your research interest (max. 3.000 characters)
Contact data of two academic referees

All documents have to be provided in English (translations of original documents need to be certified). The transcripts of records and degree certificates in German do not need to be translated.

Munich offers a wealth of activities: great dining, museums, music, theater, historic sites, sporting events, and recreation. Located in the heart of Bavaria, surrounded by the mountains and beautiful lakes, students can easily go on day trips to hiking trails, boat and swimming trips, and ski resorts. Not to forget the Oktoberfest every autumn as the largest folk festival in the world. Munich is also a hub for dozens of cutting-edge industries, including biotechnology, pharma, consulting, science policy and communication, and many more leading fields. Students have the opportunity to develop robust professional networks that extend beyond the classroom and lab to hone in on their professional development paths.

The Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich (LMU) is one of the 50 best universities in the world and ranks first among universities in Germany. Its affiliated hospitals and research institutes, and the greater LMU system are home to an unmatched number of outstanding research laboratories working in all areas of medicine and bioscience. Whether you are interested in fundamental biological mechanisms, disease-focused translational studies, or applied research in genomic and molecular medicine, our environment has a research community that will enable you to achieve your research goals. Through the numerous core facilities located within the basic science departments at LMU and the surrounding Biomedical Campus/Gene Center you will have ready access to the latest, most advanced technologies. Because the Munich-area is compact and concentrated with biomedical researchers, you will never find yourself further than a short bike, bus, or subway ride away from leading experts or emerging technology that can propel your research forward.

In its young history, pediatric medicine has always been a driver of innovation: for children's health and for medicine as a whole. Theodor Escherich was once an assistant physician at Dr. von Hauner's Children's Hospital when he discovered the coli bacteria in 1885, whose further research in the 20th century was the basis for 12 Nobel Prizes. Today, physicians and scientists at Hauner's Children's Hospital are involved in numerous scientific associations and interdisciplinary research programs.