Research

In December 2014, Dr. Thompson completed his PhD at the University of Chicago with a dissertation entitled “The Role of Lupus of Ferrières in the Ninth-Century Predestination Controversy”. Since April 2018, Dr. Thompson furthers his research at the FAU Chair for Ancient Languages, Latin Philology of the Middle Ages and Modern Times as an Alexander von Humboldt Postdoctoral Fellow. His research area includes the intellectual and cultural history in the Latin Middle Ages, from 800 to 1200.

Process engineers at FAU have developed a method which allows the size and shape of nanoparticles in dispersions to be determined considerably quicker than ever before. Based on gold nanorods, they demonstrated how length and diameter distributions can be measured accurately in just one step instead of the complicated series of electron microscopic images which have been needed up until now.

Twelve tomatoes en route for outer space: when astronauts set off in future to explore the far reaches of the universe, they will need a reliable source of food. Valuable information could be provided by an experiment conducted by FAU researchers – on board a research satellite in space.

A nationwide patient study led by the Department of Radiation Oncology at Universitätsklinikum Erlangen is investigating how effective radioimmunotherapy is as the primary method for treating locally advanced head and neck tumours. Patients are selected for the innovative treatment on the basis of the immunological status of their tumour.

What benefits could a cloud solution offer for research? This is the question currently being explored by 31 European institutions from the field of particle physics and astronomy, who have received a total of 16 million euros in funding from the European Union. One of the project partners is the Erlangen Centre for Astroparticle Physics, which is coordinating a sub-project worth 2.7 million euros, 660,000 euros of which have been allocated to Erlangen.

When we are infected by a virus, our body detects this attack and starts a series of defensive reactions. In collaboration with researchers at the University of Chicago, USA, a team of researchers led by Dr. Florian Full and Prof. Dr. Armin Ensser at the Institute of Clinical and Molecular Virology have now discovered a new defensive reaction against herpes viruses.

The current issue deals with all aspects of the topic of ‘End’: which of them are unavoidable? How do people deal with this? And do we live forever – on the Internet?

Being able to control electronic systems using light waves instead of voltage signals is the dream of physicists all over the world. The advantage is that electromagnetic light waves oscillate at petaherz frequency. This means that computers in the future could operate at speeds a million times faster than those of today. Scientists at FAU have now come one step closer to achieving this goal as they have succeeded in using ultra-short laser impulses to precisely control electrons in graphene.