Dr. Roman Luckscheiter, Director of the DAAD Cairo Office held a greeting word at the kickoff meeting of GeneFINDER.

GeneFINDER (GENETICS OF Familial Inherited Neurodegenerative Diseases in Egyptian Regions) is a new collaborative research between the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and Mansoura University which reflects the continued collaboration between the two universities.

Within the framework of this DAAD funded project, researchers from Germany and Egypt are trying to explore genetic causes of familial neurodegenerative diseases in Egypt.

During the kickoff meeting which took place on 5th of May 2016 at the DAAD Cairo premises, Dr. Roman Luckscheiter, Director of the DAAD Cairo Office and Prof. Ashraf Swelam, Vice President of Mansoura University held a greeting word in which they praised the German-Egyptian cooperation.

This meeting was attended by a German delegation consisting of Prof. Guenter Hoeglinger (TUM), Dr. Thomas Roesler (TUM), Prof. Gregor Kulenbaumer (KIEL), Dr. Franzisca Hopfner (KIEL) and Dr. Pierre Kolber (Luxembourg center of bioscience systems), Dr. Mohamed Salama, the Egyptian coordinator of the project as well as the members of the Egyptian Network for Neurodegenerative Disorder (ENND).

Furthermore, achievements of the previous DAAD funded project EGI-PD were discussed and future steps for "GeneFINDER" were tackled.

The German guests had a short trip to Mansoura University where they met the Vice President for Research and Graduate Studies and Dean of School of Medicine.

Possible future steps to strengthen cooperation between Mansoura University and Technical University of Munich (TUM) during this visit.