Research

HIPPROCATES aims to improve the diagnosis and treatment options available to patients with psoriatic arthritis and involves 26 partners from across Europe. FAU has a leading role in the project.

How can machines and autonomous transporters collaborate independently in a smart factory? This is the central topic covered by the new graduate programme ‘SeReCo’ at FAU, which is to be funded by the Franco-German University as of 1 January 2022. Research will focus on increasing the accessibility of online digital content for machines.

The Federal Ministry of Education and Research is to provide more than 2 million euros in funding for the research project ‘AGEnTS – Genetic Engineering of T-cells for Treating Infectious Diseases’ at FAU. The head of the project, which aims to combat drug-resistant pathogens using genetically modified immune cells, is Dr. Kilian Schober from the Institute of Microbiology – Clinical Microbiology, Immunology and Hygiene at Universitätsklinikum Erlangen.

A team of researchers at the Department of Chemistry and Pharmacy at FAU has successfully solved the problem of finding a straightforward, cost-effective process for producing hexaarylbenzene molecules with six different aromatic rings. These molecules are important for a generation of new functional materials. The results have been published in the reputable journal Angewandte Chemie.

In 2020, FAU was awarded approximately 226 million euros in third-party funding. That is 15 million euros more than in 2019.

Using real-time deformability cytometry, researchers from the Max Planck Center for Physics and Medicine and FAU were able to prove for the first time that a Covid-19 infection causes significant changes in the size and stiffness of red and white blood cells, sometimes lasting several months.

Teams of researchers in Erlangen, Würzburg, Munich and Berlin have determined the location of special receptors on cardiac muscle cells for the first time. Their findings open up new possibilities for treating chronic cardiac insufficiency.

Organic farming is booming, and expectations for the quality of organic products are high. In future, it is hoped that sensory detection processes developed by Fraunhofer IVV, FAU, TH Nürnberg and other partners will ensure that organic products are of the highest quality. The joint project ‘SHIELD’, which stands for using sensory detection processes to guarantee the quality of (organic) locally produced food, is due to start on 1 July 2021, and has received 1.2 million euros in funding from the Bavarian Research Foundation.

Dr. Manuel Keith was appointed head of a junior research group in June, the eleventh researcher to be awarded this status at FAU this year. This special status also grants researchers the opportunity to participate in a valuable programme aimed at encouraging young scientists in their careers. Young researchers who are outstanding in their subject, have already received funding and lead a working group of their own are eligible to receive the special status.

Climate protection, preservation of biodiversity and social justice are inextricably linked. Report from Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. One of the main authors is palaeobiologist Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Kießling from FAU.