Institut für Epidemiologie und Prävention

Methodological and statistical fundamentals is not just for doctoral and research projects. For evidence-based medical practice, it ensures patients the best possible care.

This compulsory seminar for second-semester medical students is oriented toward team-based learning and offers tutorial support. Instructors and mentors from from various clinical disciplines, and experts in epidemiology and prevention are available for Q&A sessions.

Coordination: Institute of Medical Psychology and Medical Sociology

Further information: www.mps.uni-freiburg.de/lehre/wdh/seminar_wdh

Course number: 04LE57S-MPsy0215PF

Interdisciplinary Area 1 is part of the curriculum for the medical degree program and consists of four components:

• Etiology and Risk•
Diagnosis and
Prognosis• Intervention•
Medical Informatics

The Institute of Epidemiology and Prevention participates in teaching for QB1.

Coordination: Institute of Medical Biometry and Statistics

Further information: www.uniklinik-freiburg.de/imbi/stud-le/qb-1.html

Course number: 04LE58V-EpiQB001-01

Interdisciplinary Module 3 is an integral part of human medicine curriculum. The Institute of Epidemiology and Prevention participates in the teaching of this module..

Coordination: Institute of Medical Biometry and Statistics

Further information: www.uniklinik-freiburg.de/imbi/stud-le/qb-3.html

Course number: 04LE57V-GÖQB003-01

The seminar is a core component of the human medical curriculum. Medical staff from the Institute of Epidemiology and Prevention participate in teaching of these seminars.

Course number: 04LE59P-InneBP001-01

As part of this series, PD Dr. Ulla Schultheiß will lead the module on nephrogenetics. This session is intended for 3rd-year clinical students enrolled in in the CKD seminar on nephrology/AKI/nephrogenetics. It provides an in-depth introduction to the genetic foundations, modern diagnostic methods, and their clinical relevance to chronic kidney disease.

The seminar consists of three coordinated sessions and focusing on clinical presentation, therapeutic strategies, and genetic aspects of CKD. It is offered twice per semester.

Coordination: Department of Medicine IV

Course number: 04LE59S-InneBP001-05

The module is part of the curriculum for the Molecular Medicine program and is divided into four parts:

1. Statistics
2. Bioinformatics
3. Epidemiology
4. Evidence-Based Medicine

Parts 1 and 2 (04LE58V-BSc2022-1310) are each offered during the summer semester by the Institute of Medical Biometry and Statistics (Part 1) and the Institute of Medical Bioinformatics and Systems Medicine (Part 2).

Parts 3 and 4 (04LE58V-BSc2022-1320) are offered during the winter semester by the Institute of Epidemiology and Prevention (Part 3) and the Institute for Evidence in Medicine (Part 4).

The seminar is an integral part of the curriculum for students in the Master’s program in Molecular Medicine (www.molekularmedizin.uni-freiburg.de). Faculty from the Institute of Epidemiology and Prevention support this seminar series with guest lectures.

Course number: 04LE59S-MSc440

The Bioinformatics Club serves as a platform for scientific exchange between researchers from the Medical Center – University of Freiburg, the Faculty of Medicine – University of Freiburg, the 11th Faculty of the University of Freiburg, and the Max Planck Institute for Immunobiology and Epigenetics, who work in the field of (medical) bioinformatics and related areas of medicine and statistics.

During the monthly meetings, participants discuss methodology, software, analytical challenges, and potential solutions, particularly in the context of high-dimensional data such as genome sequences.

Further information: https://bioinformatik-club.imbi.uni-freiburg.de/

Event number: 04LE58T-BioInfoS2FA

A platform for researchers to present short talks on epidemiological projects and discuss further research steps. Each session focuses on an in-depth review of one project. Specialized topics of interest to the entire group are discussed weekly.

Registration: Participation is by appointment only. Please register in person at the institute’s administrative office.

Course number: 04LE58S-EpiWissArb

Staff members of the Institute of Epidemiology and Prevention, as well as interested students and researchers, meet for continued education to discuss current methodologies and findings in the field of epidemiology.

We welcome the participation of interested guests (online participation is available)!

Registration: Participation is by appointment only. Please register in person at the institute’s administrative office.

Event number: 04LE58S-EpiAktMeth

Previous seminar topics

May 05, 2026 • Oleg Borisov
Generative and Agentic AI in Genetic Epidemiology (summary of recent literature) 

April 21, 2026 • Sara Monteiro-Martins
Practical guide to SHAP analysis: Explaining supervised machine learning model predictions in drug development 
(PMID: 39463176)

March 10, 2026 • Heiko Runz (external)
Leveraging population biobanks and machine learning for drug discovery

January 27, 2026 • Julian Eble
Thesis defense rehearsal “Evaluation of monogenic kidney diseases in participants of the German Chronic Kidney Disease study”

January 13, 2026 • Inga Steinbrenner
Thesis defense rehearsal “Non-Traditional Predictors of Kidney and Cardiovascular Outcomes in Persons with Chronic Kidney Disease”

December 2, 2025 • Elena Butz
Global, regional, and national burden of chronic kidney disease in adults, 1990–2023, and its attributable risk factors: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2023
(PMID: 41213283)

November 18, 2025 • Alex Waterhölter
Mitigating inconsistencies in GWAS follow-up analyses with LocusCompare2
(PMID: 41145871)

November 4, 2025 • Matthias Wuttke & Pascal Schlosser
Pascal Schlosser: What Do Multi-Trait Genetic Analyses Tell Us About Sex Chromosomes and the Kidneys?
Matthias Wuttke: Global Discovery Genome-Wide Association Studies Meta-Analyses for Kidney Traits

October 21, 2025 • Stefan Haug
A human pan-disease blood atlas of the circulating proteome

October 7, 2025 • Matthias Wuttke
EHR- and PGS-based Prediction across Biobanks

September 23, 2025 • Peggy Sekula
Estimating and presenting hazard ratios and absolute risks from a Cox model with complex non-linear interactions

July 22, 2025 • Yong Li
Realizing the promise of genome-wide association studies for effector gene prediction
(PMID: 40442285)

July 1, 2025 • Mara Neininger
Bayesian inference using transformers in a high-dimensional setting with TabPFN

May 20, 2025 • Mathias Gorski
Long GWAS approach (CANCELLED)

May 6, 2025 • Nora Scherer
Thesis defense rehearsal “Genetic determinants of metabolite levels in plasma and urine”

April 22, 2025 • Sara Monteiro-Martins
Whole-genome sequencing analysis identifies rare, large-effect noncoding variants and regulatory regions associated with circulating protein levels
(PMID: 39994471)

March 25, 2025 • Oleg Borisov
Genetic and molecular architecture of complex traits
(PMID: 38428388)

March 11, 2025 • Elena Butz
Showing the limitations of conventional survival metrics based on older kidney transplant recipients
(PMID: 36531880)

February 25, 2025 • Sahar Ghasemi
Discovery of Common Variants and Novel Genes Associated with Urate Levels: Insights from the CKDGen Round 5 GWAS Project

February 11, 2025 • Mona Schoberth,
M.Sc. Oral Exam: SLC17A1 and SLC17A3 Metabolomes in Humans and Mice

January 28, 2025 • Stefan Haug
Regulation of protein abundance in normal human tissues (proteomics from 700 GTEx samples)

January 14, 2025 • Alex Waterhölter
Mucosal-associated invariant T cells contribute to suppression of inflammatory myeloid cells in immune-mediated kidney disease
(PMID: 37968302)

This event provides a forum for researchers to present their work in the field of Computational Medicine through short presentations and to coordinate further research steps. Each session features a detailed discussion of a specific project or a recent publication.

We welcome interested guests to attend (online participation is possible)!

Registration: Participation is by personal registration only at the institute’s administrative office.

Event number: 04LE58S-EpiComputationalMedicine

The seminar offers an opportunity to present ongoing and independently developed projects at the institute in the field of metabolomic data analysis and its integration with other omics data. Participants will discuss challenges and potential solutions, and present the resulting solutions and research progress.

Registration: Participation is only possible after personal registration at the institute’s administrative office.

Event number: 04LE58S-EpiDataAna

MentoMed II is a mentoring program for the clinical phase of medical studies at the University of Freiburg’s Faculty of Medicine. It offers medical students the opportunity to meet regularly with experienced physicians and benefit from their wealth of experience.

Interested students can register as mentees with MentoMed II and will be paired with a mentor for two semesters — either in a one-on-one or group mentoring format. Mentors are qualified physicians active in clinical practice and/or research. Medical staff from the Institute of Epidemiology and Prevention also serve as mentors within this program.

The program aims to to provide students with comprehensive insights into the mentor’s work and career path through several meetings, whie addressing any topics of interest to the student. Discussion topics are diverse and may include career planning, doctoral theses, clinical rotations, the practical year, and work-life balance. Mentors offer practical advice, provide further information, facilitate networking, and help mentee clarify their professional goals.

Further information: www.medizinstudium.uni-freiburg.de/studierendeinfo/mentoring/mentoring-ii