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Bill & Melinda Gates Agricultural Innovations (Gates Ag One) is providing approximately 25.8 million euros (28 million US dollars) in funding for an international research project led by FAU: The non-profit organization will support the cassava source-sink (CASS) project in the next five years to improve the productivity of one of the most important food crops in sub-Saharan Africa. The project unites researchers from 11 institutions around the world to optimize cassava physiology to significantly increase the yield of high-quality cassava storage roots under low-input farming conditions in smallholder farmer fields.

Cells are the basis of life and new cells arise by dividing one cell into two cells. In animals, cell division is typically mediated by a ring-like structure consisting of long threads of actin fibers. This actin ring shrinks in size and generates the two new cells. In case actin ring constriction fails, cell division is abolished and numerous diseases can arise. The research group of Prof. Dr. Esther Zanin discovered a novel type of ring that assembles and constricts in case actin fibers are missing. The molecular composition of the novel contractile ring and how it constricts was recently published by the research group in Cell Reports

Antibodies are crucial, not only for treating tumors and infections. Sometimes, however, the immune reaction they trigger can be too strong and end up causing more damage, for example in the case of people infected with Covid-19. Problems such as these can often be avoided by finetuning antibodies, as Prof. Dr. Falk Nimmerjahn from FAU and two of his colleagues in the Netherlands and in the UK have now reported in the journal Nature Immunology.

Our DNA is so tightly packed that it fits into the nucleus of every cell. Our genetic library is the source of products such as RNA and proteins. The first step in the production process is called transcription. The process behind how the areas in the nucleus where transcription occurs are created was not fully understood until recently.

The German Research Foundation (DFG) has approved another new Collaborative Research Center/Transregio (SFB/TRR) at FAU, which also involves scientists from the Department of Biology. The goal of  SFB/TRR 305 “Striking a moving target: From mechanisms of metastatic organ colonisation to novel systemic therapies” is to understand the molecular mechanisms of metastasis development and, on this basis, to create new therapeutic approaches against cancer metastases.

The Joint Science Conference (GWK) of the German federal states has just announced that FAU will receive funds to establish a National Center for High Performance Computing (NHR@FAU). It will be part of a nationwide network with (initially) seven other centers. The federal and state governments will provide a total of up to 625 million € in funding for the entire project over the next 10 years.

In cooperation with researchers of the University of Tübingen, the University of Tromsø, the UC Davis and the Sainsbury Laboratory in Norwich, the team of Prof. Dr. Markus Albert (Division of Molecular Plant Physiology at the Biology Department) has discovered how tomato plants identify Cuscuta as a parasite. The plant has a protein in its cell walls that is identified as ‘foreign’ by a receptor in the tomato. Their findings have now been published in the renowned journal Nature Communications.

Is it possible to influence the progression of an aggressive form of leukaemia and improve chances of recovery by adopting a special diet? Research conducted by the team of researchers led by Prof. Dr. Robert Slany at the Chair of Genetics at FAU and published in the journal ‘BloodAdvances’ suggests...

How does the immune system manage to fight invasive pathogens without damaging the body? And why does it sometimes turn against the body after all? A team from the Chair of Genetics at FAU has been exploring these questions together with the university hospitals in Erlangen and Regensburg.

A team of biochemists at the Biology Department led by Prof. Dr. Uwe Sonnewald have discovered why potato plants form significantly lower numbers of tubers or sometimes none at all at higher temperatures. A small RNA is responsible for this effect. They have even succeeded in deactivating this RNA to create potato plants that are resistant to high temperatures