Research news

The research team led by materials scientist Ralf Busch from Saarland University is preparing for its first science-in-space mission. If everything goes to plan, from 31 August the researchers will spend one week remotely studying metallic-glass alloys in experiments carried out on board the International Space Station, ISS. Working with the European Space Agency, ESA, and the German Aerospace Center, DLR, the team will investigate the properties of these alloys using hot, levitating droplets. [...]

A team led by Samer Ezziddin, Professor of Nuclear Medicine at Saarland University and Director of the Department of Nuclear Medicine at Saarland University Medical Center, has shown that individually tailored PSMA radioligand therapy can be used effectively and is well tolerated even in patients with very advanced prostate cancer. The results of the study, which involved 227 patients, have been published in the European Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging. [...]

Researchers from Saarbrücken and Augsburg have shown how artificial cellular compartments can autonomously form, dissolve and influence biochemical processes. Their findings could provide another piece of the puzzle in the quest to understand the origins of life on Earth and help predict the behaviour of subcellular compartments. The team led by physical chemist Dora Tang from Saarland University has published its findings in the journal Cell Reports Physical Science. [...]

Attitudes towards immigration are particularly strong predictors of support for Alternative for Germany (AfD), a right-wing populist political party. In a study with almost 32,000 people, Saarland University sociology professor Martin Schröder and his team were able to demonstrate that lower income, lower educational attainment and subjectively perceived disadvantage, by contrast, were much less significant than previously assumed. The study was published in the journal PLOS One. [...]

Data centres are springing up all over the world – along with power stations designed to satisfy the energy demands of artificial intelligence. A research consortium led by Wolfgang Maaß (German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence DFKI and Saarland University) found ways to reduce AI’s electricity consumption by up to 90 per cent using hardware and software technologies. [...]

At the height of the coronavirus pandemic, scientists observed extreme immune reactions in some patients. This overreaction, called hyperinflammation, manifested as severe inflammatory responses in the body. A team of researchers from Saarland University, the University of Münster and their respective university hospitals have suggested a possible mechanism for this response in the journal Nature Communications. This mechanism is also observed in other inflammatory diseases. [...]

Saarbrücken-based biopharmacy professor Marc Schneider, his team and their collaborative partners have been awarded the 2026 Phoenix Pharmacy Science Prize the Pharmaceutical Technology category. The prize honours their work on the development of a novel adhesive film that releases beneficial probiotic bacteria into the oral cavity to maintain healthy oral flora. The prize is worth 10,000 euros. [...]

Progress in chemistry is often gradual, with some of its most important advances taking years – sometimes decades – to unfold. A case in point is the discovery of a novel ‘ferrocenophane’ from the class of compounds known as ‘sandwich molecules’ – so named because of their particular structure. In a ferrocenophane, the ‘bread slices’ are two carbon rings that enclose an iron atom as the sandwich ‘filling’. [...]

Saarland University is one of 20 higher education institutions in Germany that has been tasked with attracting top international talent in the fields of artificial intelligence and quantum technologies, with the goal of retaining these researchers in the country long-term and building Germany as a centre of scientific excellence. [...]

How can waste be put to good use instead of being disposed of? A research team at Saarland University developed an innovative approach that converts readily available waste materials – urine and ash – into valuable raw materials. The researchers aim to make good use of these two waste materials to provide nitrogen, phosphorus, calcium and magnesium – the basis of many fertilizers currently in high demand. The research findings were recently published in the renowned journal Bioengineering. [...]