Research

Flying is the most damaging mode of transportation for our climate. However, work is already underway to investigate technical alternatives to conventional aircraft. For example, airships with highly efficient solar cells and extremely light batteries on board. Prof. Dr. Christoph Pflaum from FAU, together with Prof. Dr. Agnes Jocher from the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and the FAU student Tim Riffelmacher, have investigated which route a solar airship would have to take in order to fly from London to New York as quickly and as climate-friendly as possible.

A vitamin D3 deficiency can lead to severe symptoms, for example in people suffering from allergic asthma. This has already been shown in several studies. A team of researchers from FAU has now demonstrated for the first time how taking vitamin D3 can alter the cellular inflammatory reaction in allergic asthma and alleviate asthma symptoms.

An unprecedented and continuing loss of biodiversity has been sparked by anthropogenic climate change together with the intensive use and destruction of natural ecosystems. However, since the public often views the climate crisis and the biodiversity crisis as two separate catastrophes, an international team of researchers including paleontologist Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Kiessling from FAU calls for adopting a new perspective.

Green hydrogen could play a key role in the energy transition. However, electrocatalytic splitting of water into hydrogen and oxygen requires huge amounts of electricity. Materials scientist Dr. Pablo Jiménez Calvo is conducting research into an alternative method known as photocatalysis.

A team from MPL and FAU has created a new, fast and precise method for clinicians to analyse cells in tissue samples from cancer patients without the need for a trained pathologist. They use artificial intelligence to evaluate the data their method produces.

To jointly commit to the further development of fossil-free, future-proof drives and to create synergies between science and industry - that is the goal of the Future Driveline Campus, which officially opened. FAU, the Technical University of Nuremberg Georg Simon Ohm and the commercial vehicle manufacturer MAN Truck & Bus are involved.

Another researcher from FAU has been awarded an Advanced Grant from the European Research Council (ERC). The mathematician and Humboldt professor Dr. Enrique Zuazua will receive up to 2.5 million euros for his project “Control for Deep and Federated Learning”.

The HTLV-1 virus triggers aggressive forms of leukemia or an incurable spinal cord disease that leads to paralysis: A group of researchers from TU Dresden, the company PROVIREX Genome Editing Therapies and FAU have now provided initial proof of concept for a potential therapeutic approach.

Prof. Dr. Meinard Müller wants to decipher complex features and hidden relationships in music using artificial intelligence. To expand the freedom and scope of his work, the German Research Foundation (DFG) is providing funding of 1.25 million euros as part of the Reinhart Koselleck Program.

Memory training, exercises to improve brain fitness, early detection tests for dementia or tools to help carers organize their daily schedule: The range of apps for people with dementia and their care-giving relatives is very wide. A team of researchers at FAU and the Bavarian Digital Dementia Register has now evaluated the scientific evidence and quality for users of German language apps for the first time and has come to two sobering conclusions.