The University of Tübingen is one of 11 Universities of Excellence in Germany that are funded within the framework of the Excellence Strategy of the German Federal and State Governments under the supervision of the German Research Foundation (DFG) and the German Council of Sciences and Humanities (WR). The Excellence Strategy aims to promote top-level research and to improve the quality of German universities and research institutions in general, thus making Germany a more attractive research location and increasing its international competitiveness.
Read more about the Excellence Strategy at the University of Tübingen:
"Research - Relevance - Responsibility" is the University of Tübingen's strategy to further strengthen its excellent basic research position and to complement it with an emphasis on practical applications and support for young scientists.
Specific areas of action include:
Read more about the three Clusters of Excellence:
TRC partners involved: Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology, German Center for Infection Research, Natural and Medical Sciences Institute, University of Tübingen, University Hospital
The surfaces of the human body host colonies of microorganisms, known as microbiomes. Along with bacteria which have a positive effect on human health, microbiomes contain potentially life-threatening pathogens. In the past, broad-spectrum antibiotics have often been used to tackle them. Nowadays it is known that this not only promotes resistance to antibiotics in many cases it also damages the microbiome as a whole. Researchers in the Control of Microorganisms to Fight Infection Cluster of Excellence aim to develop a new strategy to control infections.
Their goal is to find new, targeted agents which will have a positive effect on the microbiome. We know that useful bacteria help to keep down the harmful ones. In order to understand and exploit the underlying mechanisms, the Cluster of Excellence will bring together researchers from the fields of molecular, bioinformatics and clinical disciplines. The Cluster speakers are Professor Andreas Peschel and Professor Heike Brötz-Oesterhelt of the Interfaculty Institute of Microbiology and Infection Medicine at the University, along with Professor Ruth Ley, Director of the Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology. The University Hospitals and the German Center for Infection Research (DZIF) are also partners in the Cluster.
TRC Partners involved: Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology, Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, Natural and Medical Sciences Institute, University of Tübingen, University Hospital Tübingen
The Image-Guided and Functionally Instructed Tumor Therapies (iFIT) Cluster of Excellence teams world-leading expertise in three important areas of cancer research which have so far been largely separated, but, when combined promise an unprecedented level of understanding of tumor biology and the development of novel diagnostic and therapeutic approaches for the treatment of tumor diseases These areas include A) the identification of functionally instructed molecular therapies via functional genomics, B) their combination with and further development of advanced immunotherapies and C) the use of multiparametric imaging techniques to guide tumor therapies and to unravel novel classes of therapeutic targets.
iFIT scientists will particularly focus biological processes which enable tumors to survive under stress. State-of-the-art imaging techniques will be used to visualize stress states and responses of tumors, enabling to apply novel molecular cancer therapies in an image guided and personalized setting. Spokesman of the cluster is the oncologist Professor Lars Zender, Medical Director of the department of Internal Medicine VIII - Clinical Tumorbiology. Co-spokesmen are Professor Bernd Pichler, Director of the Werner Siemens Imaging Center at the University of Tübingen, and immunologist Professor Hans-Georg Rammensee. Further participating institutions in the cluster are the Max Planck Institutes for Developmental Biology and Intelligent Systems, the Natural and Medical Sciences Institute at the University of Tübingen, and the Margarete Fischer Bosch Institute for Clinical Pharmacology.
TRC partners involved: Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, Leibniz Institute für Wissensmedien, University of Tübingen
The rise of intelligent technology is transforming engineering, industry and the economy at an increasing pace and on an unprecedented scale. At the core of this revolution are breakthroughs in the field of machine learning which allow machines to perform tasks that, until recently, could only be performed by humans. Less prominently discussed, developments in machine learning have the potential to transform science at an equally fundamental level. While machine learning methods have been used in the past to tackle isolated prediction problems, recent breakthroughs open up an exciting new opportunity: Automated inference methods will become increasingly useful in the process of scientific discovery itself, supporting scientists in identifying which hypotheses to test, which experiments to perform, and how to extract principles describing a broad range of phenomena.
The aim of this cluster is to enable machine learning to take a central role in all aspects of scientific discovery and to understand how such a transformation will impact the scientific approach as a whole.
Tübingen is a special place for research. Very few locations offer such a wide range of research areas in such close proximity - both physically and figuratively. Not only are all of Tübingen's research institutions just a stone's throw away from each other, they also collaborate closely within the Tübingen Research Campus.
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Life in Tübingen is life in the heart of Europe and in one of Germany's most scenic and economically competitive regions. It's a bustling mediaeval town with a young, international, and vibrant population and a rich cultural and artistic scene. Lectures, concerts, film festivals, and more: life in Tübingen never gets boring.
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The Neurosciences in Tübingen with more than 100 active research groups have the potential to rank among the most successful neuroscientific sites in Europe.
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