COFONI is a research network consisting of five partners from Lower Saxony:
- Georg-August Universität Göttingen (Georg August University of Göttingen) and Universitätsmedizin Göttingen (the University Medical Center Göttingen),
- Helmholtz-Zentrum für Infektionsforschung (Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research),
- Medizinische Hochschule Hannover (Hannover Medical School),
- Stiftung Tierärztliche Hochschule Hannover (University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover, Foundation),
- Deutsches Primatenzentrum – Leibniz-Institut für Primatenforschung (German Primate Center - Leibniz Institute for Primate Research).
These partners would like to combine their core scientific competencies to research five key areas which are critically relevant to combat the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic and its long-term effects.
COFONI at a glance
Our objectives
The objectives of the COFONI collaborative research project are to coordinate basic, clinical, and health services research as well as social sciences to
- address fundamental and important questions on the virus,
- on the molecular basis for drug and vaccine development,
- on predicting and influencing the pandemic event, and
- on how to cope with the long-term impacts on a medical, societal, social, and psychological level.
The new findings will help to develop new therapies and provide the state of Lower Saxony with further tools to cope with the effects of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic.
Funding
How we secure quality
Various committees have been established to ensure the quality of the projects carried out in COFONI.
Steering Committee
The Steering Committee manages the COFONI research network and ensures that priorities and focal points are set in a needs-oriented and scientifically sound manner and that funds are used efficiently. It ensures the scientific quality of the funded project proposals through a competitive review process and assesses the achievement of the research projects' objectives. The Steering Committee is composed of two members from each of the founding institutions as follows:
Prof. Dr. Jürgen Wienands
Spokesman COFONI
Universitätsmedizin Göttingen
Prof. Dr. Maren von Köckritz-Blickwede
Deputy spokeswoman COFONI
Stiftung Tierärztliche Hochschule Hannover
Prof. Dr. Mark Brönstrup
Helmholtz-Zentrum für Infektionsforschung
Prof. Dr. Tim Friede
Universitätsmedizin Göttingen
Prof. Dr. Thomas Illig
Medizinische Hochschule Hannover
Prof. Dr. Dr. Michael Marschollek
Peter L. Reichertz Institut für Medizinische Informatik
Medizinische Hochschule Hannover
Prof. Dr. Thomas Pietschmann
TWINCORE – Zentrum für Experimentelle und Klinische Infektionsforschung
Helmholtz-Zentrum für Infektionsforschung
Prof. Dr. Stefan Pöhlmann
Deutsches Primatenzentrum GmbH
Leibniz-Institut für Primatenforschung
Prof. Dr. Asisa Volz
Stiftung Tierärztliche Hochschule Hannover
External Advisory Board
The External Advisory Board ensures the superior quality of the projects and is invited to the meetings of the Steering Committee to be consulted in the decisions on the funded projects. The Advisory Board is composed of three renowned expert scientists* who are not involved in the COFONI network:
Prof. Dr. Markus Bassler
MWK-Expertenrat
Prof. Dr. Sandra Ciesek
Universitätsklinikum Frankfurt
Prof. Dr. Dominique Schols
KU Leuven, Belgien
Long/Post COVID Committee
The Long/Post COVID Committee was established specifically to ensure the quality of the funded projects in the key area of "Interdisciplinary research on the long-term effects of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic”.
Through the committee members' proven expertise in long/post COVID, health services research, and social sciences, the committee advises the Steering Committee to ensure that priorities are set in a scientifically sound manner that is relevant to health care.
The composition of the Long/Post COVID Committee reflects a balance in the relationship between the scientific institutions involved in COFONI as well as an intersection between COFONI and the Long COVID-Expert Council of the Lower Saxony Ministry of Science and Culture.
Contact
COFONI spokesmen
contact information
- telephone: +49 551 3965821
- e-mail address: jwienan(at)uni-goettingen.de
secretariat
- telephone: +49 551 3965812
- e-mail address: anika.schindler(at)med.uni-goettingen.de
contact information
- telephone: +49 511 9538787
- fax: +49 511 9538585
- e-mail address: maren.von.koeckritz-blickwede(at)tiho-hannover.de
COFONI Coordination Office
contact information
- telephone: +49 551 3965878
- e-mail address: cofoni(at)med.uni-goettingen.de
contact information
- telephone: +49 551 3969021
- e-mail address: cofoni-lpc(at)med.uni-goettingen.de
Organisation and partners
The cross-location networking in the COFONI research network is centrally coordinated by the University Medical Center Göttingen (UMG). Prof. Dr. Jürgen Wienands, Dean of Research at UMG, heads the central coordination office together with Prof. Dr. Maren von Köckritz-Blickwede from the Foundation of the University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover (TiHo).
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