ImmunoSensation2 is one of six Clusters of Excellence of the University of Bonn!

The University of Bonn received with great euphoria the commission’s decision to fund six Clusters of Excellence at the University of Bonn – more than any other university in Germany. The clusters are in the fields of mathematics, immunology, dependency research, robotics, economics and quantum physics and represent the entire spectrum of the university’s subject range. Rector Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Michael Hoch says in a first reaction it is a “sensation”. The decision gives the University of Bonn "tailwind on its way to becoming a University of Excellence".

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Isabel Pfeiffer-Poensgen, Annette Storsberg und Ashok Sridharan are the first to congratulate the rector Michael Hoch and the vice-rector Andreas Zimmer. Foto: Volker Lannert/Uni Bonn.

Rector Hoch received the news together with many colleagues, including fellow-representatives of the cluster initiatives, staff, junior researchers and students. They all gathered in the new auditorium in Bonn-Poppelsdorf to watch the live broadcast of the funding decision press conference. Elated and surrounded by jubilation, the rector says: "It is a sensation! The great efforts of recent years have paid off! I thank everyone who has contributed. This is above all a communal success, fitting in well with the motto of our 200th jubilee year “Us”. It is a collective effort of the entire university and will inspire us on our way forward.” Hoch adds: “It is a big step on our way to becoming a University of Excellence. That is our end goal.”

In December, the University of Bonn will submit its application for the funding program "Universities of Excellence". Which universities will succeed is decided in July 2019. Almost exactly a year ago, the Joint Commission of the German Research Foundation (DFG) and the German Council of Science and Humanities asked the University of Bonn to submit full applications for seven excellence clusters - more than any other German university. The seven interdisciplinary projects covered the university’s broad spectrum of research areas.

Successful Clusters of Excellence at the University of Bonn:

• Hausdorff Center for Mathematics: Foundations, Models, Applications
• ImmunoSensation2: the immune sensory system
• Beyond Slavery and Freedom: Asymmetrical Dependencies in Pre-Modern Societies
• PhenoRob - Robotics and Phenotyping for Sustainable Crop Production
• ML4Q – Matter and Light for Quantum Computing (together with RWTH Aachen and the University of Cologne)
• ECONtribute: Markets and Public Policy (together with the University of Cologne)

ImmunoSensation2: the immune sensory system (Cluster speakers are Leibniz prize winners Prof. Dr. Gunther Hartmann and Prof. Dr. Eicke Latz and Prof. Dr. Joachim L. Schultze from the LIMES Institute)

The identification of important players and functions of the immune system and two extremely successful biotech spin-offs are among the outstanding achievements of the current funding phase for this cluster. With “ImmunoSensation2: the immunosensory system”, Bonn researchers want to continue the success story of the existing Cluster of Excellence “ImmunoSensation”. While the emphasis so far has been on fundamental research in particular of the innate immune system, now the mechanisms of immune intelligence are to be uncovered, i.e. the question of how the body succeeds in adapting immune responses to specific situations and then remembers this in order to be optimally prepared for similar challenges in the future. This can help predict and treat autoimmune diseases as well as chronic infections, atherosclerosis, diabetes, tumors and Alzheimer's disease.

to the website ImmunoSensation