Archive Press Releases

Smoking is “out”, non-smoking is “in” – particularly among youth: The number of young people trying cigarettes or becoming regular smokers is declining. In the past decade, the smoker´s rate among youth has dropped from 28 percent to less than 12 percent. The German Cancer Research Center (Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, DKFZ) has brought forward this success in health protection. The WHO Collaborating Centre for Tobacco Control, based at DKFZ, has contributed effective measures for reducing tobacco use to the public debate. In collaboration with other national and international partners it supports decision-makers in implementing such measures.

To press release

Researchers of the KIT Institute of Functional Interfaces (IFG), Jacobs University Bremen, and other institutions have developed a new method to produce metal-organic frameworks (MOFs). By means of the so-called liquid-phase epitaxy, the scientists succeeded in producing a new class of MOFs with a pore size never reached before. These frameworks open up interesting applications in medicine, optics, and photonics. The new class of MOFs, called “SURMOF 2”, is presented in the “Nature Scientific Reports” journal.

To press release

The French National Institute of Health and Medical Research (Inserm) awards its prestigious “Prix International” to Ingrid Grummt this year. The scientist from the German Cancer Research Center (Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, DKFZ) is honored for her life’s work. Grummt studies the role of RNA molecules regulating gene expression.

To press release

How well are the most important climate models able to predict the weather conditions for the coming year or even the next decade? The Potsdam scientists Dr. Dörthe Handorf and Prof. Dr. Klaus Dethloff from the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in the Helmholtz Association (AWI) have evaluated 23 climate models and published their results in the current issue of the international scientific journal Tellus A.

To press release

Forschungszentrum Jülich and Solliance announce a new partnership in the field of thin film photovoltaics. Solliance is a cross-border initiative by ECN, imec, Holst Centre, TNO and TU Eindhoven. With Jülich as an additional partner, Solliance grows further as R&D cluster bringing thin film solar energy technology to excellence and is ramping up its activities to gain market share internationally. Some partner companies are successful global players in their segment already. The science and technology in this field are world class in selected areas, with a track record of 15 to 30 years.

To press release

Scientists from the German Cancer Research Center (Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, DKFZ) have discovered a molecular switch that plays a role in the development of lymphoma: If a protein called PP4R1 is missing, T cells can divide in an uncontrolled manner, migrate through the body and eventually form skin tumors. The researchers have published their results in the specialist journal “Immunity”.

To press release

Eleven universities from seven countries, all renowned in earth sciences, have established the “International University Consortium in Earth Science“ (IUCES). KIT is the only German institution that has joined this top-class consortium. IUCES is aimed at enhancing cooperation in geosciences, hydrosciences, and environmental sciences. In the long term, it wishes to act as an international contact partner for politics, media, and society. The official IUCES founding meeting took place at Wuhan/China in November this year.

To press release

Scientists from the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE) are participating in an international research project on the causes of rare degenerative brain and muscle disorders. Over the next five years, the DNZE Bonn site will receive 470,000 euros for the effort. The project, entitled "NEUROMICS: Integrated European Project on Omics Research of Rare Neuromuscular and Neurodegenerative Diseases," is being funded under the EU's Seventh Framework Programme for Research. The partners in the effort hail from Europe, Australia, Canada and the United States. "Such a concerted effort on this scale is unprecedented," explains Prof. Thomas Klockgether, Director of Clinical Research at the DZNE. Relevant work in Bonn will focus on patients and healthy people with increased risks of disease. "We expect the work to yield new findings on the causes of such diseases and to provide impetus for diagnosis and therapy," notes Klockgether.

To press release

With the X-ray vision of DESY's light source DORIS, a research team from Hamburg and Iceland has uncovered the molecular structure of a master regulator central to the most deadly form of skin cancer, melanoma. The results, published in the scientific journal "Genes & Development", throw new light on the workings of the so-called Microphthalmia-associated Transcription Factor MITF, that is not only connected to skin cancer, but also to a variety of hereditary diseases where the production of the skin pigment melanin is disturbed, and to certain aspects of ageing. "Our data could provide a rational basis for the development of tailor-made drugs targeting MITF", explains first author Vivian Pogenberg from the Hamburg branch of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL).

To press release

HZI and the Robert Koch Institute sign collaboration agreement. Press date: December 6, 3:15 pm. Two leaders in the field of infection research are planning on bundling their expertise in the future. Scientists at the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) in Braunschweig and at the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) in Berlin and Wernigerode will be sharing their resources and potentials to find answers to pressing questions of infection research and epidemiology. The two research institutes' ...

To press release