Research

Since 2020, very many people across the globe have been vaccinated against Covid-19, but the exact structure of this vaccine has remained largely unknown until now. Prof. Dr. Tobias Unruh from the Chair of Crystallography at FAU and his team are now taking a closer look. The results of their complex analyses differ at times considerably from previous expectations. Active substances and pharmaceutical excipients incorporated in these mRNA vaccines appear not to be solid, as was previously suspected, but instead consist of numerous liquid nano droplets.

Oracles, prayers, dance – what do these topics have in common? That is what the researchers from the KFG “Alternative rationalities and esoteric practices from a global perspective” hope to answer. In this interview, the group's speaker Prof. Dr. Michael Lackner discusses the term esoteric, explains their objectives and challenges and shares his own personal highlights.

Dr. Petra Schmidl from FAU has received one of the most prestigious grants from the European Research Council (ERC) together with researchers from Belgium, Italy and the USA: a Synergy Grant worth 10 million euros, with almost 2.3 million going to FAU in the next six years. The researchers are investigating historical sources on occult sciences in Islamicate cultures.

Using a new measuring method, FAU researchers have been able to determine that immune cells also exert traction on surrounding tissue in order to pull themselves through particularly tight pores.

The process of food intake appears to be organized at the cellular level like a relay race: during eating, the baton is passed between different teams of neurons until we have consumed the appropriate amount of energy. This is the conclusion of a recent study by FAU researchers.

Prof. Dr. Jana Hutter and Prof. Dr. Philipp Pelz and have been awarded the coveted ERC Starting Grant for their work on improving imaging processes in medicine and material sciences.

As a physicist, Gabriele Chiogna is used to working on complex equations. However, it is not enough to understand how the availability and quality of water will change during the coming years. The answer to this problem varies greatly, depending on how we use this vital resource in the future.