April 08, 2014 | News

New MaxNetAging Coordinator

Since April 1 André Schmandke has been serving as head of the International Research Network on Aging. The 31-year-old came to Rostock from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH), where he recently earned his PhD in neuroscience.

The Max Planck International Research Network on Aging (MaxNetAging) is a virtual institute that supports research into the causes, patterns, processes of aging. The MaxNetAging researchers come from various disciplines, ranging from anthropology to art history to mathematics to educational research.

“It was precisely the interdisciplinary nature of the network that attracted me to Rostock. I am convinced that long-term solutions to complex questions of the kind presented by aging can only be solved with a multi-pronged approach,” said André Schmandke, who is now directing the network—in which scientists from 18 Max Planck Institutes participate—from the MPIDR.

André Schmandke became accustomed to working across disciplines in his previous professional career: he first studied biochemistry at Tübingen and neurosciences in Yale, and then earned his PhD in neuroscience at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH). André Schmandkes research activities mainly focused on the regeneration of the central nervous system. He is author of several publications in renowned journals. In between he even started together with his twin brother Antonio Schmandke his own business and founded a company dealing with sport equipment.