From January 1, 2026, the number of clusters of excellence funded at the University of Bonn will rise to eight – more than at any other university in Germany. Two new cluster projects will receive funding from the Excellence Strategy of the German federal and state governments for the first time. Starting in 2026, a total of around 40 million euros will flow into Bonn each year to strengthen the research activities of this University of Excellence.

Two projects by researchers from the University of Bonn and University Hospital Bonn (UKB) have each been awarded up to €1 million in funding from the Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space’s “GO-Bio initial” program. The funds will be used to translate research findings from the life sciences into marketable products and services, e.g. through securing patent protection and spinning off start-ups.

MOG Antibody-associated Disease (MOGAD) is a rare autoimmune disease of the central nervous system. The blood of patients contains antibodies against myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG), a protein in the myelin layer that surrounds the neurons in the brain. It is believed that these antibodies contribute to the destruction of this protective layer in the brain. Researchers at the University Hospital Bonn (UKB) and the Universities of Basel and Bonn, in collaboration with Yale School of Medicine and the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), have now deciphered the construction plan of the anti-MOG antibodies. The researchers see their findings on the misdirected immune response, which have now been published in the journal Neurology® Neuroimmunology & Neuroinflammation, as the basis for developing specific MOGAD therapies.

The largest contributions in the history of the European Space Agency, €22.3 billion, have been approved at its Council meeting at Ministerial level in Bremen, Germany. Researchers at the University of Bonn are among those elated by this record sum, because it also includes strong funding for ESA’s Earth observation program. This will benefit Collaborative Research Center (CRC) 1502 “Regional Climate Change: Disentangling the Role of Land Use and Water Management,” which is based at the University. Researchers from CRC 1502 are involved in ESA’s Next Generation Gravity Mission (NGGM), which is developing new satellites in order to furnish precise data about our planet’s water resources, among other things.

If gut bacteria are too similar to the protective layer of nerves, they can misdirect the immune system and cause it to attack its own nervous system. This mechanism can accelerate the progression of multiple sclerosis, as researchers at the University of Basel, together with colleagues in Bonn, have shown in trials with mice. However, their results also open up opportunities for treatments that make use of the microbiome. The results have now been published in the journal Gut Microbes.

People’s conceptions of health are strongly influenced by their cultural values and norms, such as their religious beliefs. In an increasingly diverse society, different understandings of health are combining and melding through interaction and dialogue. This phenomenon has been investigated by Kevin Becker and Adjunct Professor Carsten Butsch from the Department of Geography at the University of Bonn, who is also a member of the Sustainable Futures Transdisciplinary Research Area. Their findings have now been published in the journal “Science & Medicine.” 

Germany will only be able to achieve net zero by 2045 with a concerted approach to cutting emissions and removing carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere according to the conclusion drawn from the first phase of the CDRterra research program. This has seen over 100 researchers from 39 institutions investigate some of the risks and areas of potential for land-based CO2 removal in Germany across 10 collaborative projects with strategies ranging from capturing the CO2 directly out of the air through to agriculture-based processes. Professor Eike Lüdeling from the University of Bonn, a horticultural researcher at the Institute of Crop Science and Resource Conservation and member of the Sustainable Futures Transdisciplinary Research Area, led a subproject on agroforestry. We asked him a few questions about it: 

The finalists presented innovative solutions for a better future at the University of Bonn's 5th ideas competition. A total of seven teams of students and researchers from the university made it through the preliminary selection and pitched their ideas to a packed hall and an expert jury at DIGITALHUB. Four of them ultimately received prizes from the jury and—for the first time—from the audience, which were donated by the University Foundation Bonn, Comma Soft AG, DIGITALHUB.DE, and Sparkasse KölnBonn.