In fall this year, TU Dresden’s University Executive Board awarded Dr. Rico Friedrich, Dr. Natalia Mayordomo Herranz, Dr. Anke Fuchs, and Dr. Mariana Medina-Sánchez the status of TUD Young Investigators.

Dr. Rico Friedrich conducts research in chemistry and food chemistry. Following his studies at TU Bergakademie Freiberg, he completed his doctorate at RWTH Aachen University. Since 2022, Dr. Friedrich has been head of the DRESDEN-concept Research Group "Data-driven methods to discover novel materials,” which is jointly run by the Chair of Theoretical Chemistry at TU Dresden and the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR).

Dr. Natalia Mayordomo Herranz, also from the Faculty of Chemistry and Food Chemistry, was also appointed. She completed her studies and doctorate in Alcalá and Madrid in 2017. After a postdoc position at HZDR, she became the Junior Research Group Leader of “’TecRad’: Interactions of technetium with microorganisms, metabolites and at the mineral-water interface – Radioecological considerations” at TUD and HZDR in 2022.

Dr. Anke Fuchs is a TUD Young Investigator at the Faculty of Medicine and completed her studies in New Zealand and Stuttgart, followed by a doctorate via the DIGS-BB program for biomedicine and bioengineers in Dresden. She has been Junior Research Group Leader of the Advanced Cellular Therapeutics group at the Mildred Scheel Early Career Center and the CRTD since 2019.

Dr. Mariana Medina-Sánchez has led the Junior Research Group “Micro- and Nanobiomedical Engineering Group” at the Faculty of Medicine and the Leibniz Institute for Solid State and Materials Research Dresden (IFW) since 2016. Her Diplom in Bogotá and Master's degree in Barcelona were followed by doctoral studies with a stay in Hiyoshi/Yokohama.

The status of TUD Young Investigator strengthens the position of excellent, independent junior research group leaders in Dresden by integrating them more closely into the faculties and offering a range of qualifications specifically tailored to their needs.

The aim is to counteract the structural disadvantages that independent junior research group leaders sometimes face due to their undefined status and the sometimes inadequate or nonexistent connection to a faculty.

More information:
https://tu-dresden.de/forschung-transfer/wissenschaftlicher-nachwuchs/nach-der-promotion/tud-young-investigators