Influenced by molecular biological methods, molecular medicine is localized at the interface of medicine, biochemistry and genetics and has become independent as a separate field of work. Molecular Medicine applies methods of DNA analysis and protein detection as well as cell biological methods to elucidate the causes of disease and to develop new therapeutic procedures. The Molecular Medicine Study Group is aimed at GBM members interested in questions of pathogenesis and therapy, particularly in the fields of genome analysis, immunology, infectious diseases, oncology, neurobiology, cardiovascular disease, and gene therapy. It is intended to provide a forum for biochemists, molecular biologists, and physicians to cross disciplinary boundaries between scientific and medical thinking as well as discipline-specific thinking within medical fields of work. The interdisciplinary approach of molecular medicine is therefore also in contrast to the traditional subject division of medicine; for example, the mechanisms of action of cytokines can be the focus of interest of immunobiochemists as well as internists, surgeons, pathologists, and neuroscientists.

The main topics of the study group include: 1. Molecular mechanisms of various disease pathologies. Genetic and epigenetic mechanisms of cellular toxins as well as cellular structures and regulatory processes involved in their development and compensation are investigated. 2. Molecular diagnostic methods. Recombinant genetics and methods of DNA amplification are of great importance in laboratory diagnostics. Molecular markers are crucial for imaging diagnostic procedures. In this focus, among other things, possible applications of new developments in molecular biology will be discussed together with new technical challenges. 3. Molecular therapeutic approaches. Methods of molecular pharmacology, especially the selective manipulation of molecular enzyme and receptor variants, are among the targets of molecular medicine as well as the development of recombinant therapy methods including somatic gene transfer and the young field of stem cell therapy.

The aim of the study group is to strengthen the collaboration between clinicians and natural scientists and thus enable an early transfer of knowledge and technology to the clinic. In contrast to purely experimental approaches, molecular medicine is by its very nature also clinically oriented and thus subject to strong ethical and practical constraints. Therefore, the intensive interaction should at the same time help to plan scientific questions in a targeted manner at an early stage against the background of what is clinically feasible. In order to enable an equal and smooth representation of experimental and clinical ways of thinking, the study group shall be chaired by molecular doctors or by a primarily clinical and a primarily experimental spokesperson and deputy.