Another double success for excellent research at Leipzig University

Annette G. Beck-Sickinger is the spokesperson of the Collaborative Research Cent
Annette G. Beck-Sickinger is the spokesperson of the Collaborative Research Center 1423 ’Structural Dynamics of GPCR Activation and Signal Transduction’. Photo: Christian Hüller/University of Leipzig

Top-level research at Leipzig University gets a boost thanks to another double success. Two collaborative research centres (CRCs), including a Transregio programme, that focus on climate and membrane receptors will be extended for another four years starting in January 2024. This was announced by the German Research Foundation (DFG) today (24 November 2023).

"Today is a great day for Leipzig University! We have achieved a double success for the proposals we submitted to the DFG," says Rector Professor Eva Inés Obergfell. "After four years of top-level research in the excellently positioned research networks, we have once again received confirmation of the outstanding work being done there. I would like to thank everyone involved in the applications - and, of course, congratulate them on their great success." Thanks to the funding decisions, the strategic research field Sustainable Principles for Life and Health gets another boost. "Against the background of the two current applications for Clusters of Excellence as part of Leipzig University’s Excellence Strategy, this further support is highly relevant."

Collaborative Research Centre / Transregio 172 "Arctic Amplification: Climate Relevant Atmospheric and Surface Processes and Feedback Mechanisms (AC)3"
Over the past 25 years, a drastic increase in near-surface air temperature has been observed in the Arctic, which is two to three times more pronounced than global warming - a phenomenon known as Arctic amplification. The overall aim of the research network is to make fundamental and significant advances in our understanding of Arctic amplification and improve the reliability of models used to predict the dramatic warming of the Arctic.
The network also includes the Universities of Bremen and Cologne, the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) and the Leibniz Institute for Tropospheric Research (TROPOS).

Spokesperson for the third funding period: Professor Manfred Wendisch , Leipzig Institute for Meteorology , who is involved in the Breathing Nature cluster as part of the second competition phase of the Excellence Strategy of the German federal and state governments

Learn more: read the full story here

Collaborative Research Centre 1423: "Structural Dynamics of GPCR Activation and Signaling"
The focus here is on G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs). Scientists want to research the function and complex interaction of these receptors in the human body in order to develop novel drugs and treatments.
The research network also includes Charité university hospital in Berlin, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf and the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg.

Spokesperson for the second funding period: Professor Annette G. Beck-Sickinger , Leipzig Institute of Biochemistry , who is involved in the Leipzig Center of Metabolism - LeiCeM as part of the second competition phase of the Excellence Strategy of the German federal and state governments

Learn more: read the full story here

The news means that Leipzig University now represents five collaborative research centres (including Transregios) and participates in a further eleven.

Katrin Henneberg