Prof. Dr. Robert Thimme, medical director of the Department of Medicine II and project leader in the CRC1160 (A02), was appointed to the Permanent Senate Commission on Key Questions in Clinical Research at the Annual General Meeting of the German Research Foundation (DFG) in Rostock on 2 July. Its members are physician scientists and scientists from German University Medical Centers and other research institutions. The Senate Commission advises and informs politics, the public, authorities and the scientific community on scientific, societal and politically relevant topics of clinical research.