Research

There are a number of G protein-coupled receptors in human cells. They may act individually or in pairs, and this can have an effect on their function. Scientists from FAU have investigated G protein-coupled receptors and carried out research into whether tailor-made substances can have an impact on how these receptors form pairs and how they then behave.

Chemical reactions can be controlled using coloured light by means of an intelligent photocatalyst developed by researchers at the Chair of Physical Chemistry at FAU and the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces. The colour of the light determines which programmed chemical reactions are triggered by the photocatalyst. The researchers have now published their findings in the journal ‘Angewandte Chemie Int. Ed.’.

Efficient battery systems are used in cars, tools, bicycles and as stationary energy storage units. Reusing these batteries, however, is difficult and not economically viable. By using a battery pass, researchers at FAU aim to store information for recycling directly in the battery itself. The research project has received over 4.5 million euros of funding from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).

Feng shui from China, ritual magic in Germany, vodun in West Africa or kabbalah ma'asit in Israel: practices used to try and predict, control or manipulate future events can be found all over the world. An FAU research unit is to investigate and compare these esoteric practices in a large-scale interdisciplinary project that has received almost four million euros of funding from the German Research Foundation (DFG).

Since May 2021, doctors at the Department of Ophthalmology at Universitätsklinikum Erlangen have successfully treated four patients suffering long-term effects of a COVID infection. All four people suffering from severe Long COVID symptoms experienced a reduction in symptoms after receiving the cardiac drug BC 007. The Federal Ministry of Education and Research is now supporting further research at Universitätsklinikum Erlangen.

Researchers from the Chair of Laser Physics at FAU have succeeded in guiding electrons through a vacuum channel

FAU economist investigates reasons why CO2 emissions from the electricity sector fell more sharply in Europe than in other regions on Earth due to the coronavirus pandemic

From October, Dr. Alison Mitchell and her Emmy Noether junior research group at the Erlangen Centre for Astroparticle Physics (ECAP) are to investigate the role pulsars play in creating galactic, high-energy cosmic rays. The project is set to run for six years, and has received nearly 1.5 million euros in funding.

The diffuse symptoms at the early stage of complex autoimmune diseases make it hard to diagnose the condition early on, which in turn delays treatment. A team of researchers at FAU has now demonstrated that treatment can be extremely effective if autoimmune diseases are treated as early as possible, even before the first clinical symptoms appear.

Snakes benefited from the mass extinction after the asteroid impact 66 million years ago. The asteroid impact wiped out 95 percent of all life on Earth, including the dinosaurs, and only a few species of snake survived. The lack of predators and their ability to survive for long periods without food helped snakes to spread to other continents and exploit new habitats, allowing a wide variety of new species to develop. The patterns seen in snakes show that natural disasters play a greater role in evolution than previously thought.