News archive 2019

The science event “Münster’s knowledge freshly tapped” has been awarded a prize for outstanding science communication by the University Society (Universitätsgesellschaft). Behind the project are junior scientists, a lab assistant and a science communicator from the Cells in Motion Interfaculty Centre.

Scientists at the University of Münster use a broad spectrum of imaging techniques to investigate structures and processes in the body. Last week, they shared their knowledge with international junior researchers: The participants of the tenth annual Mouse Imaging Academy spent five days training on different methods for examining mice.

Although systemic inflammations such as sepsis are not uncommon, there are still major gaps in the understanding of disease progression and the development of treatment options. In order to close some of these gaps, the German Research Foundation is funding a new clinical research group at Münster University with around four million euros over three years.

How do immune cells behave in the body? What happens during immunotherapy? To answer these questions, the European Union brings together leading experts from research and the pharmaceutical industry. The Europe-wide research project "Immune-Image", which is funded with 30 million euros over five years and in which scientists from Münster University are involved, started on 1 October.

Physicists and chemists at Münster University have succeeded in developing a technique which is able to detect the typically invisible properties of nano-structured fields in the focus of a lens. This can help to establish nano-structured light landscapes as a tool for material machining, optical tweezers, or high-resolution imaging.

On 2 September, researchers from the Cells in Motion Cluster of Excellence presented highlights of their research and, at the same time, marked the transition to a new organizational form for the network: the University of Münster is embedding the research concept as an interfaculty institution. Yesterday, the network members elected the new Executive Board.

Biologist Dr. Lena Goedecke investigates how nerve cells in the brain communicate with each other and regulate anxiety reactions. In a guest article, she gives insights into her doctoral thesis, which she did at the graduate school of the Cells-in-Motion Cluster of Excellence.

Researchers at the Cells-in-Motion Cluster of Excellence have discovered that curvatures of cell membranes trigger a self-organising system. As a result, cells can move in the same direction over a longer distance, forming search patterns. The study has been published in the journal “Nature Physics”.

The Cells-in-Motion Brown-Bag Lunch encourages junior researchers from different scientific disciplines to exchange ideas in an informal atmosphere. The University of Münster is presenting this scientific lunchtime meeting in a current article about interdisciplinary culture among junior researchers.

Dynamic plays a central role in the research of the three Clusters of Excellence at the University of Münster. Prof. Lydia Sorokin, spokesperson of "Cells in Motion", as well as the representatives of the other two Clusters of Excellence explain how they understand and use "dynamics" in their research.

Immunologist Ana-Maria Lennon-Duménil from Paris 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 the importance of sharing, the unstable state as a scientist and the question of how to deal with gender bias.

For the first time, chemists at the Cells-in-Motion Cluster of Excellence have successfully developed a catalytic method to formally add elemental fluorine across simple, feedstock chemicals known as alkenes with control over the 3D structure. The study has been published in the journal “Angewandte Chemie”.