40 million euros for cutting-edge research at the University of Hamburg and UKE

"The new Collaborative Research Centre and the extended Transregio projects are beacons in the fields of viruses, climate and neuroscience. The volume of almost 40 million euros of the three major interdisciplinary projects illustrates their special significance," explains Prof. Dr Hauke Heekeren, President of the University of Hamburg. The new Collaborative Research Centre "Emerging Viruses: Pathogenesis, Structure, Immunity" at the UKE aims to provide a more precise understanding of viruses, infection processes and immune reactions. It will be funded with 10.8 million euros until 2028. Under the leadership of Prof Dr Marylyn Addo, the UKE is working intensively on the interaction between viruses and hosts in order to improve treatment and prevention options. Other research institutions in Hamburg are also involved in the project, including the Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine and the Leibniz Institute of Virology.

In addition, the supra-regional Transregional Collaborative Research Centre "Treatment Expectation" will be extended for a further phase until 2028 and is expected to receive 15 million euros. 3.8 million euros of this will go to the UKE. The researchers are investigating how patient expectations influence the effectiveness of medical treatments. "The focus is always on transferring the knowledge gained into practice as quickly as possible and using it in medical therapies," says Prof Dr Christian Büchel from the UKE. The head of the Institute of Systematic Neuroscience is coordinating the project phases, which are focussing in particular on chronic pain and depression and also include other clinical pictures such as autoimmune diseases.

Another DFG-funded research project aims to better understand the interactions of turbulence, waves and eddies in the ocean and atmosphere. The transregional project "Energy Transfers in Atmosphere and Ocean", which has been running since 2016, is entering its third funding phase and is also being supported with around 15 million euros. Under the leadership of Prof Dr Carsten Eden from the University of Hamburg, researchers from the fields of oceanography, meteorology and mathematics aim to develop more accurate models of the climate system. "Many models of the Earth's climate system have so far been unable to accurately depict these often very small-scale processes and relationships; there are energetic and mathematical inconsistencies," explains Eden.
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