Collaborative Research Centers • Department of Biology, Chemistry, Pharmacy

Collaborative Research Centers at the Department of Biology, Chemistry, Pharmacy

CRC 1449: Dynamic Hydrogels at Biointerfaces

Hydrogels are three-dimensional networks consisting of water-swellable polymers that can hold a high proportion of water. The scientists want to use the respiratory tract and the intestine to determine and investigate the most important physicochemical factors that characterize the protective functions of hydrogels at biological interfaces. The CRC team also aims to define the prerequisites for the development of new therapeutic strategies in pulmonary and gastrointestinal diseases.

Speaker: Prof. Dr. Rainer Haag
Start: January 2021
Web: www.sfb1449.de
Partners: Freien Universität Berlin, Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, TU Berlin, Leibniz-Institute for Molecular Pharmacology, Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine, Max-Planck-Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, Zuse Institut Berlin

CRC 1349: Fluorine-Specific Interactions

The scientific objectives are to understand and control the complex interactions that can emanate from fluorinated structural units in chemical systems. For this purpose, the wide-ranging expertise of the different working groups involved in synthesis/biosynthesis, analytics/spectroscopy, and theory/modeling will be complementarily and synergistically linked to systematically expand our understanding of both the conceptual underpinning of Fluorine-Specific Interactions and their many consequences across many areas of chemistry.

Speaker: Prof. Dr. Sebastian Hasenstab-Riedel
Start: January 2019
Web: www.sfb1349.de
Partners: Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt University Berlin, Technical University Berlin, Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing, University Bayreuth, University of Stuttgart

CRC 973: Priming and Memory of Organismic Responses to Stress

Life forms with a nervous system and an immune system can recall experiences of stress such as a past illness. This memory allows the organism to protect itself when facing the same event repeatedly – in the case of illness, for example, by developing antibodies. But do organisms that lack a nervous system, such as plants, fungi, or bacteria, also have some memory of stress? That is the topic now being pursued by ecologists, molecular biologists, and biochemists within CRC 973.

Speaker: Prof. Dr. Monika Hilker
Start: 2012
Web: www.sfb973.de
Beteiligt: Freie Universität Berlin, University Potsdam, Max-Planck-Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, Leibniz Institute of Plant Biochemistry

CRC 958: Scaffolding of Membranes

Spatiotemporally controlled assembly of protein scaffolds at membranes plays crucial roles in membrane traffic and remodelling, cell signalling, as well as in differentiation and development. The collaborative research centre aims at elucidating the molecular mechanisms by which dynamically organized protein-protein assemblies scaffold cellular membranes and exert cellular functions.

Speaker: Prof. Dr. Stephan Sigrist
Start: 2011
Web: www.sfb958.de
Partners: Freie Universität Berlin, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, German Institute of Human Nutrition, Leibniz Institut für Molekulare Pharmakologie, Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine