News

For the first time, researchers have created, within a single generation, a new crop from a wild plant – the progenitor of our modern tomato – by using a modern process of genome editing. Participating in the study was a team led by Prof. Jörg Kudla from the Institute of Plant Biology and Biotechnology at the University of Münster.

A decision has been reached in the first funding line, “Cluster of Excellence”, in the Excellence Strategy being pursued by the national and state governments in Germany. In the competition, the University of Münster was successful with two of the three Cluster applications it submitted. The following Clusters of Excellence will receive funding for a period of seven years: “Religion and Politics. Dynamics of Tradition and Innovation” and “Mathematics Münster.

In the science journal 'Nature' an analysis is presented by scientists of a series of experiments at major particle accelerators which sheds light on the formation of matter. Prof. Anton Andronic, physicist at Münster University, is part of the international team of scientists.

Accumulating evidence suggests that new genes can arise spontaneously from previously non-coding DNA instead of through the gradual mutation of established genes. Bioinformaticians at the University of Münster are now, for the first time, studying the earliest stages in the emergence of such “genes out of thin air”, also known as de novo genes.

Dr. Noelia Alonso Gonzalez and Dr. Maria Bohnert have started working as junior research group leaders at the Cells-in-Motion Cluster of Excellence. Funding for their work is being provided by a new programme designed by the Cluster to support outstanding female researchers in leading positions.

Dr. Barbara Verfürth from the Institute of Analysis and Numerics at the University of Münster has been doing research into wave propagation in materials with special optical properties. Her PhD dissertation demonstrates pioneering mathematical work, and in it she is the first to calculate the connection between materials and their light refraction.

Cells produce signalling molecules, the Chemokines, which can control the behaviour of other cells. For this purpose they bind to a protein, the chemokine receptor. Each receptor can trigger different responses. Researchers at the Cells-in-Motion Cluster of Excellence have discovered a mechanism behind this.

Prof. Martin Winter was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit 1st Class for his outstanding achievements in the field of battery research. The chemist makes an essential contribution to the success of the energy and mobility turnaround in Germany, the letter of reasons states.

Dr. Mubarak Hussain Syed, who comes from Kashmir, in the Himalayas, is an alumnus of the University of Münster. He worked on his PhD at CEDAD-IMPRS, a PhD programme run jointly by the University and the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Biomedicine, now known as the CIM-IMPRS programme. He reports on his time in Münster.

Prof. Cristian A. Strassert is fascinated by the interaction between light and matter. As new Professor of Coordination Chemistry and Molecular Imaging in the Cells-in-Motion cluster of excellence, he is, among other things, developing strategies designed to fight diseases with the aid of light.

Hours of contemplation, approaching a solution in small steps, and a healthy scepticism towards computer-generated results. Two mathematicians at the University of Münster, Dr. Franziska Jahnke und Dr. Mira Schedensack, explain what mathematical research means to them and what the aim of it is.

Born in 1987, Prof. Michael Seewald is Germany’s youngest Professor of Theology and holds the Chair of Dogmatics and the History of Dogma at the Faculty of Catholic Theology – as the successor to, among others, Joseph Ratzinger and Karl Rahner – and he is also involved in the "Religion and Politics" Cluster of Excellence.

A team of researchers led by Prof. Frank Glorius from the University of Münster have presented a new chemical reaction path which may prove to be of interest both for research and for the production of active ingredients in medicines. The new reaction leads to a splitting of bonds between two sulphur atoms.

After ten years, Prof. Raimar Wulkenhaar from the University of Münster’s Institute of Mathematics and his colleague Dr. Erik Panzer from the University of Oxford have solved an equation which was considered to be unsolvable. In this interview, Wulkenhaar looks back on the challenges encountered in looking for the formula for a solution.

On 25 July the European Court of Justice gave its long-awaited ruling on new techniques of breeding plants. The judges decided that these new techniques fall under existing legislation regulating genetically edited organisms.