GRK 2504 is recruiting excellent graduates from FAU with a Master’s degree in life sciences for a doctoral training at the Ragon Institute. The training starts every year in winter and will prepare for a Dr. rer. nat. degree by the Faculty of Sciences at FAU. FAU graduates working at the Ragon Institute are funded by participating researchers and work on topics that are defined by their Ragon supervisors and that are linked to the research focus of GRK 2504. Associated PhD students at the Ragon Institute profit from an interdisciplinary mentoring committee with members from the Ragon Institute and from GRK 2504. Once a year they are invited to participate in the Retreat of GRK 2504, where they present the progress of their projects and learn about the projects of their peers in Erlangen. A project leader from GRK 2504 acts as the supervisor according to “Promotionsordnung” and evaluates the thesis to be awarded with a Dr. rer. nat. from FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg.