Research

Until now, the generation and storage of electricity from solar energy has been dependent on various devices, leading to conversion losses. That may change soon: chemists at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) and other research institutes are conducting research into a hydrocarbon molecule that can either convert sunlight into electricity or save the energy for a long time in a chemical form.

Yellow fever and other infectious diseases, some of them dangerous, are triggered by pathogens from the flavivirus family. A very effective vaccine is available for yellow fever that provides protection lasting several decades. A team of researchers from FAU and various partners are investigating how the secret behind the success of the yellow fever vaccine can be transferred to other infections triggered by flaviviruses.

Cortisone and other related glucocorticoids are extremely effective at curbing excessive immune reactions. But previously, astonishingly little was known about how they exactly do that. A team of researchers from Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Uniklinikum Erlangen and Ulm University have now explored the molecular mechanism of action in greater detail.

Certain RNA molecules in the nerve cells in the brain last a life time without being renewed. Neuroscientists from FAU have now demonstrated that this is the case together with researchers from Germany, Austria and the USA.

Although the two huge icefields in the Andes in South America cover approximately 16,000 square kilometers, not much is known about the Patagonian icefields.

An international team of researchers has succeeded in “filming” the activation of an important receptor. The results, that have now been published in the journal Nature, may lead in the medium term to the development of more effective medicines.

Researchers at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) and Universitätsklinikum Erlangen have examined a man who has received more than 200 vaccinations against Covid-19. Until now, it has been unclear what effects hypervaccination such as this would have on the immune system.

Macrophages that “gorge themselves” on a certain protein may promote the progression of cancer rather than fight it. PD Dr. Heiko Bruns, immunologist at FAU, discovered this mechanism in connection with bone marrow cancer.

Bill & Melinda Gates Agricultural Innovations (Gates Ag One) is providing 28 million US dollars in funding for an international research project led by FAU: The non-profit organization will support the cassava source-sink (CASS) project in the next five years to improve the productivity of one of the most important food crops in sub-Saharan Africa.

Spelling in letters from around 1900 Dr. Markus Schiegg, Privatdozent at the Chair of German Linguistics has received Heisenberg funding for his new research project.