Building the Multiscale Imaging Centre

Photos

April 2018: With the addition of a second crane, the shell construction is growing upwards fast. The workers on the site are currently completing the first storey. Three more are to follow.
© CiM/S. Marschalkowski
  • The atrium in the interior of the building takes shape. At the moment it provides space for the base of the second crane.
    © CiM/S. Marschalkowski
  • The building workers use prefabricated components to make the formwork for the many shafts for technical equipment and lifts.
    © CiM/S. Marschalkowski
  • The shell construction of the auditorium has already been completed. In future, it will have space for almost 200 people.
    © CiM/S. Marschalkowski
  • February 2018: The basement on the west side is finished. The precision mechanics workshop will be in these rooms later.
    © CiM/S. Marschalkowski
  • The ground floor is also taking shape. There, the construction workers are currently building a stable floor slab.
    © CiM/S. Marschalkowski
  • Many steel struts increase the tensile strength of the concrete and thus stabilize the building. The free space in the middle will form the atrium.
    © CiM/S. Marschalkowski
  • In the meantime, two cranes have also started operation.
    © CiM/S. Marschalkowski
  • November 2017: The basement on the north side of the Multiscale Imaging Centre has been given an especially thick concrete foundation.
    © CiM/S. Marschalkowski
  • The reason is that a particle accelerator will be standing in the basement later which will be used to produce radioactive substances for nuclear medicine imaging. The concrete, two metres thick, will prevent any radiation from leaking into the soil below. Walls and ceilings will also be reinforced by means of barite concrete and lead plates.
    © CiM/S. Marschalkowski
  • On the south side the foundation is already being laid for the office area and the seminar rooms on the ground floor.
    © CiM/S. Marschalkowski
  • August 2017: The basement and the lift shaft have now been prepared, …
    © CiM - Friedemann Kiefer
  • … and the water and electricity mains for the building have been laid.
    © CiM - Manfred Thomas
  • July 2017: The foundation stone for the Multiscale Imaging Centre is laid! The coordinators at the Cells-in-Motion Cluster of Excellence are delighted, as are some of the group leaders who will be doing research in the new building, as well as the Deans of the Faculties involved.
    © WWU - Christina Heimken
  • A time capsule is filled with daily newspapers, coins and building plans by representatives of the Ministry of Science of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), the City of Münster, Münster University, the Construction and Real Estate Management Authority for NRW and the Gerber architectural practice …
    © WWU - Christina Heimken
  • … and is then deposited in the foundation walls of the new building.
    © WWU - Christina Heimken
  • The Multiscale Imaging Centre (MIC) is being built at the heart of the natural and life sciences campus of the Münster University in Röntgenstraße.
    © CiM
  • May 2017: Now it can really get going! Building permission has been granted and first stone laying is scheduled for 7 July 2017.
    © CiM - Sylwia Marschalkowski
  • The building site was first searched thoroughly for unexploded bombs from World War Two – luckily, none were found.
    © CiM - Sylwia Marschalkowski
  • The construction site sign has already been up for some while.
    © CiM - Sylwia Marschalkowski
  • February 2017: A touch of snow on the new building site
    © CiM - Doris Niederhoff
  • This is how the Multiscale Imaging Centre will look when it is finished. In an area of 5,700 m2 with state-of-the-art laboratories, approximately 260 staff members will undertake research together under one roof. The construction costs, around 63 million euros, will be covered by the federal government, the state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the Münster University.
    © Gerber Architekten

In the Multiscale Imaging Centre (MIC) that is scheduled to be completed in 2019, researchers will be bringing together a broad spectrum of biomedical imaging processes to be used in studying the behaviour of cells in organisms. The building gives a structural basis for the long-term establishment of the Cells-in-Motion Cluster of Excellence research concept at the university.

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CiM/sis

Restricting overwhelming immune reactions

© T. Vogl et al./ J Clin Invest

Researchers at the Cells-in-Motion Cluster of Excellence have decoded a mechanism found at the beginning of almost every inflammatory response. Their study provides a new approach to develop novel treatment options for many inflammatory disorders with many fewer side effects compared to current drugs.

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CiM/sr

“Research is not an end in itself”

© WWU/P. Grewer

Prof. Stephan Ludwig investigates at the Cells-in-Motion Cluster of Excellence, looking at how viruses get into a cell, multiply and, as a result, make entire organisms ill. His greatest wish is that one day new treatments to tackle viral diseases will be developed on the basis of his research.

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CiM/sr

How scientists analyse cell membranes

© L. Rakers et al/Cell Chem Biol

In an interdisciplinary collaboration, researchers at the University of Münster have developed a method of visualizing an important component of the cell membrane in living cells. Therefore, they synthesized a family of new substances. The study has been published in “Cell Chemical Biology”.

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CiM

Migrating cells and their environment

© CiM/T. Hauss

Phd student Sargon Groß-Thebing investigates in a research group at the Cell-in-Motion Cluster of Excellence how the cells’ environment affects their migration. As a biologist he works closely with mathematicians. In a guest contribution, he explains his research in a way that everyone can understand.

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CiM/sis

1.3 million euros for cancer research

© CiM/P. Grewer

Through its Emmy Noether Programme, the DFG is funding medical chemist Dr. Anna Junker with 1.3 million euros. As a postdoc, she had obtained third-party funding in the Cells-in-Motion Cluster of Excellence. Now she is putting together her junior research group at the European Institute for Molecular Imaging.

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WiS

“What matters most is enjoying the process”

© privat

Cell biologist Prof. Anna Akhmanova from Utrecht has recently held a lecture at the Cells-in-Motion Cluster of Excellence. PhD students from the “Women in Science” network at the cluster have talked to her about enjoying the process of doing research and acquiring confidence about your own work.