Skip to main content
News Icon

Important visit from Melbourne

A high-profile delegation of the University of Melbourne visited the University of Bonn in order to discuss a closer cooperation in research and training of early-career researchers. The Australian university is one of three strategic partnerships the University of Bonn maintains. Close links already exist especially in the areas of Food and Nutrition Sciences and Agricultural Sciences.

The Australian delegation of five was led by Vice-Chancellor Prof. Duncan Maskell. The position of Vice-Chancellor is equivalent to the position of a Rector in the German higher education system. Prof. Dr. Andreas Zimmer, Vice Rector for Research and Innovation, and Prof. Dr. Klaus Sandmann, Vice Rector for University Development and Equal Opportunity provided a warm welcome to the honorable guest. Rector Prof Dr Dr hc Michael Hoch met the Vice-Chancellor the following day at the reception of the University of Melbourne at the Australian Embassy in Berlin.

The Cluster of Excellence ImmunoSensation and the University of Melbourne have been working together closely since 2016: Under the name ”Bonn & Melbourne Research and Graduate School‟, the two partners launched an International Research Training Group with by now over 30 jointly mentored doctorates. The exchange of doctoral students, young academics and researchers is promoted by the ”Bonn & Melbourne Academy for Excellence in ImmunoSciences/Infection‟ (BM-AXIS).

Find the press release here.

Related news

Authors

The Gut as a Key Player in Immunotherapy for MS

—B-cell depletion therapies, in which B cells of the immune system, which may drive disease activity in multiple sclerosis (MS), are temporarily removed, have contributed significantly to improved treatment for patients in recent years. Researchers from Bonn, along with their collaborators, have uncovered a previously unknown mechanism through which B-cell depletion therapies contribute to a better disease course in patients with MS. Surprisingly, the treatment appears to exert part of its beneficial effect by mobilizing regulatory immune cells that naturally reside in the gut.
View entry
Dr. Ivana Jorgacevic und Prof. Dr. Rayk Behrendt have discovered that the inflammatory messenger substance interferon-alpha can trigger Sjögren's syndrome: The researchers in Bonn.

Publication

New test points to precision treatment for autoimmune condition

—Interferon alpha is an inflammatory mediator that can cause Sjögren’s syndrome, an autoimmune disease. This is revealed in a recent study carried out by the University Hospital Bonn together with the University of Bonn, the University of Edinburgh and Newcastle University. Their findings, which have been published in the journal “Lancet Rheumatology,” could make it easier in the medium term to develop drugs to fight this chronic condition.
View entry
Prof. Dr. Elvira Mass (left) and Prof. Dr. Tatjana Tchumatchenko (right)

Honors & Funding

Hunting for New Angles

—New research questions often arise where different methods, mindsets and subject-specific cultures meet, and it is these kinds of encounter that Professor Elvira Mass and Professor Tatjana Tchumatchenko want to make happen in a targeted way in future. The two researchers have been picked as Henriette Herz Scouts by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.
View entry

Back to the news overview