Faculty of Natural Sciences and Technology

The global skin care company Beiersdorf and the Helmholtz Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland (HIPS) on the Saarbrücken university campus have entered into a long-term, exclusive partnership. In this collaboration they aim to investigate the role of the skin microbiome in maintaining healthy skin. The goal is to identify natural products produced by microorganisms on the skin that have a positive effect on skin balance. [...]

Industrielle Abwässer enthalten häufig Öle und Fette, die unsere Flüsse und Meere belasten können. Für Unternehmen gelten deshalb strenge Vorgaben, bevor das Wasser wieder in die Umwelt gelangen darf. Ein neues gemeinsames Vorhaben der inomat GmbH, der Hochschule für Technik und Wirtschaft des Saarlandes (htw saar) und der Universität des Saarlandes will moderne Filtermembranen entwickeln, die diese Verunreinigungen zuverlässig und ressourcenschonend abtrennen. [...]

When red blood cells are centrifuged in a density-gradient medium, they form a striking banded pattern. The cells arrange themselves into vivid red stripes containing high concentrations of red blood cells with paler bands containing far fewer red blood cells in between. The lowest density red cells are found in the uppermost red band while those with the highest density are located in the lowest band. Until now, scientists believed this was caused by uneven water loss as cells age. [...]

On Monday, 19 January, one of the leading experts in the development of quantum computers will explain how Nobel Prize winners in Physics John Clarke, Michel H. Devoret and John M. Martinis paved the way for the supercomputers of the future –even though their original work was conceived as fundamental research. All interested members of the public are warmly invited to attend Frank Wilhelm-Mauch's general-interest lecture, which will start at 6 p.m. on the Saarbrücken campus (E2 5, Hall 1). [...]

How can living and bio-based materials contribute to resource efficient construction and healthy living? How can these materials enable new technical solutions for innovative sensors and durable structures? These questions are the focus of the 14th Regional Forum Saar, which will take place on 13 January at 4.30 p.m. in the auditorium of Saarland University. [...]

Physicists identify a fundamental mechanism

We all know that when held up to a mirror a right hand looks like a left hand – and that a right hand and a left hand differ in that they cannot be superposed on each other. This absence of left–right (mirror) symmetry is known as chirality and is ubiquitous in nature: from the coiling of snail shells to the double helix of DNA. Despite its importance, chirality has largely been missing from theoretical descriptions of interacting active matter.
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It sounds a bit like the search for an alternative philosopher's stone. Over the next few years, a team led by Dominik Munz, Professor of Coordination Chemistry at Saarland University, will be looking for ways to turn cheap coal into valuable materials such as diamonds, which play an important role in industry. Munz received an ERC Consolidator Grant from the European Union for this project, meaning two million euros will be allocated to the research group over a period of five years.

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Since 2020, Rita Bernhardt, Professor of Biochemistry, has been working with research partners on a new explanatory model for the development of Parkinson's disease. In her most recent publication, she and geneticist Julia Schulze-Hentrich demonstrate that the disease cannot be explained solely by genetic or environmental factors, as previously assumed. Instead, Parkinson's disease emerges from a complex interplay of influences that also brings metabolic signalling pathways into focus. [...]