Welcome to the Medical Faculty of the University of Bonn

Bonn has again prevailed in competition for funding from the European Research Council (ERC), with researchers of the University of Excellence landing two prestigious ERC Starting Grants. Neuroscientist Professor Lukas Kunz, also associated with University Hospital Bonn (UKB), conducts research on how the human brain constructs the first-person perspective of our experiences. Dr. Riccardo Pennetta is leading a research project on large-scale quantum physics. The two researchers are to each receive approximately 1.5 million euros from the ERC for their projects over a five-years period.

Cancer is the second leading cause of death in Germany. In the search for new therapeutic approaches that target the uncontrolled growth of tumor cells, a class of enzymes known as cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs) has come into focus. This is because this family of enzymes plays a fundamental role in gene expression and cell division. An overview of the current state of research on the transcriptional regulation of CDKs and the prospects for cancer treatment was compiled by Prof. Matthias Geyer of the University Hospital Bonn and the University of Bonn in collaboration with Prof. Robert P. Fisher of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, and has now been published in Nature Reviews Drug Discovery.

Researchers at the University Hospital of Bonn (UKB) and the University of Bonn have identified a previously unknown signaling pathway in the immune system that helps newborn heart cells survive and regenerate after injury. The findings could open new avenues for future therapies aimed at repairing damaged adult hearts after heart attacks or chronic cardiovascular disease. The study has now been published in the journal Cell Communication and Signaling (Springer Nature).

Macrophages formed in the bone marrow can only assume the function of embryonal phagocytes, or “scavenger cells,” to a certain degree according to a study by the University of Bonn and the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity at the University of Melbourne. The researchers have demonstrated that malaria infection causes permanent damage to resident CD163 macrophages in the spleen, which are responsible for cleaning the blood, recycling iron and communicating with other cells involved in the body’s immune response. Their findings could harbor potential not only for more effective malaria vaccines but also for developing drugs and treatments to combat other infectious diseases. The paper is to be published in the journal “Immunity” but can already be accessed online.