Great success for our faculty: Two Clusters of Excellence approved

The Bavarian Minister of Science, Markus Blume, commented: “Gigantic excellence success for our Munich universities: With seven applications each, including six joint ones, TUM and LMU are successful in the race for the Clusters of Excellence. One thing is clear: Munich is the Mecca of excellence in Germany and sets standards for innovation in Europe. TUM and LMU are the best universities in Germany, and they are proving this once again here. Munich shines today.”

The Faculty of Chemistry and Pharmacy is involved in two of the seven clusters of excellence. The LMU clusters with spokespersons at our Faculty of Chemistry and Pharmacy are:

NUCLEATE - Cluster for Nucleic Acid Research and Technologies (Prof. Dr. Veit Hornung)

Understanding and making targeted use of nucleic acids: The NUCLEATE Cluster of Excellence at LMU, the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg (JMU) aims to become a driver of innovation in Germany and Europe by researching the functions and properties of DNA and RNA structures and expanding their immense potential for medical and technological applications.

Prof. Dr. Veit Hornung is one of the spokespersons for the new NUCLEATE Cluster of Excellence. © LMU / Stephan Höck

To this end, the network is highly interdisciplinary and brings together almost all natural science disciplines from organic chemistry and biochemistry, cell and microbiology to medicine and veterinary medicine - supplemented by contributions from computer science and artificial intelligence. NUCLEATE combines outstanding basic research, state-of-the-art technology and application-oriented research. For further translational development, NUCLEATE will work hand in hand with the CNATM future cluster funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research - for example in the development of RNA-based therapeutics.

For more information, see: Cluster for Nucleic Acid Sciences and Technologies

e-conversion: Fundamentals of Energy Conversion Processes (Prof. Dr. Achim Hartschuh und Prof. Dr. Frédéric Laquai)

Basic research for the energy transition

The scientists involved in e-conversion have undertaken not only to contribute directly to technological progress, but also to train a new generation of researchers, Hartschuh (left) and Laquai say. | © Stephan Höck / LMU

The joint Cluster of Excellence of LMU and TUM “e-conversion”, which is now entering its second round, is researching fundamental issues of energy conversion in order to find innovative solutions for future applications. The researchers are looking for new approaches for photovoltaics, catalysis and batteries, among other things, with which the global energy demand can be covered more sustainably, efficiently and diversified in the future. As an innovation platform for basic research, the cluster brings together different areas of expertise: from nanoscience and quantum research to semiconductor physics, materials science, computational science and artificial intelligence.

For more information, see: Cluster e-conversion