When a maize plant is attacked by the fungus Ustilago maydis, tumor-like tissue growths occur at the site of infection. How the pathogen causes this response in its host has long been unknown. But a University of Bonn study has now shown how the fungus takes over the plant’s function for forming lateral roots. The findings have been published in the journal New Phytologist.

When food prices skyrocket during an economic crisis, it is primarily urban populations and people with low levels of education who are affected. This can have lifelong negative health consequences – such as stunted growth in children. A research team at the University of Bonn has now demonstrated such long-term effects using the example of the "Asian financial crisis" in the 1990s. At that time, turmoil on the financial markets led to a drastic increase in the price of rice, Indonesia's most important staple food, which left measurable traces in the development of children. The study was published in the journal "Global Food Security."

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 University of Bonn has been hosting the digital consumer protection service Leak Checker for five years now. Provided by the IT Security Working Group at the Institute of Computer Science, this free and data privacy-compliant online tool allows users to check whether their access credentials have been comprised through known data leaks.

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.