News

Antibodies are crucial, not only for treating tumors and infections. Sometimes, however, the immune reaction they trigger can be too strong and end up causing more damage, for example in the case of people infected with Covid-19. Problems such as these can often be avoided by finetuning antibodies, as Prof. Dr. Falk Nimmerjahn from FAU and two of his colleagues in the Netherlands and in the UK have now reported in the journal Nature Immunology.

Organic electronics can make a decisive contribution to decarbonization and, at the same time, help to cut the consumption of rare and valuable raw materials. To do so, it is not only necessary to further develop manufacturing processes, but also to devise technical solutions for recycling as early on as the laboratory phase. Materials scientists from FAU are now promoting this circular strategy in conjunction with researchers from the UK and USA in the renowned journal “Nature Materials”.

The origins of a high-energy shower of relativistic particles that is constantly impacting the Earth’s atmosphere is one of the greatest mysteries of modern astroparticle physics. A team of researchers is now unlocking this mystery. With the IceCube detector at the Earth’s South Pole, they have been able to detect neutrinos from our Milky Way.

FAU made some impressive gains in this year’s QS World University Ranking as it climbed more than 100 places and is now 229th out of 1503 universities. This means FAU is among the top 16 percent of all universities worldwide.

An intelligent suit is hoped to significantly improve rehabilitation after a serious spinal cord injury. The AI-supported solution will be developed over the next three years by researchers from FAU working in collaboration with Heidelberg University and Heidelberg University Hospital. It combines electrical simulation of muscles with support for movement using artificial tendons, and reacts to patients’ intended movements.

Researchers from five Bavarian universities have been working in the research network “Solar Technologies Go Hybrid (SolTech)” since 2012 on new concepts for transforming solar energy into electricity. The Free State of Bavaria recently awarded the consortium a further 1.7 million euros in funding. In our interview, Prof. Dr. Dirk Guldi explains what the consortium has already achieved and where the focus will lie in the coming years.

Patients with limited hand function are soon set to benefit from an intelligent neuro-orthosis that will enable them to lead independent lives again. Prof. Dr. Alessandro Del Vecchio, a neuroscientist at FAU, is working on this aim in two new projects and has received over 1.3 million euros of funding from the Free State of Bavaria.