Research

Who undertakes voluntary work aimed at encouraging the integration of migrants in rural areas? What contribution do the migrants themselves make towards a lively volunteering culture in rural areas? Geographers at FAU investigate how volunteering can contribute to successful integration in rural areas.

Spinal muscular atrophy describes a disease in which a genetic mutation causes certain nerves responsible for sending signals to muscles to degenerate. Genetic treatments have only been available for a few years, and can now be complemented by a procedure using short laser pulses that was developed at Uniklinikum Erlangen.

Does stress in social situations cause a particular posture? Do I move in a different way when I feel under pressure or fear a potential conflict? FAU researchers have been investigating these questions in their research. Using their results, they were able to train machine learning models to distinguish between people who were stressed and those who were not - a first step towards non-invasive methods of measuring stress.

The smartphone in your jacket pocket, LEDs for lighting your home and electronics for your charger, solar panels or your electric vehicle all have one thing in common: they depend on semiconductor materials and their properties. Researchers at FAU are researching how to make such devices more powerful, compact and energy efficient. Dr. Saskia Schimmel is one of them.

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.