The European Research Council (ERC) supports visionary projects in basic research through its “Advanced Grants.” This year, the Council awarded a grant to cancer researcher and physician Dieter Saur from the DKTK Munich* site, and Aurelio Teleman, a metabolism expert at the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ).

Prof. Dr Fred Hamprecht from the Interdisciplinary Center for Scientific Computing of Heidelberg University is receiving valuable funding from the ERC, which will support a project in the field of computational quantum chemistry. An ERC Advanced Grant also goes to Prof. Dr Andreas Meyer-Lindenberg, Director of the Central Institute of Mental Health and professor at the Medical Faculty Mannheim of Ruperto Carola.

Medical Center – University of Freiburg has created a new miniature animation of the beating heart. To the knowledge of Medical Center – University of Freiburg, it is the first schematic 3D animation to showcase the dynamic movement of the heart in an anatomically and temporally representative manner. It shows that the heart pushes blood into the body while simultaneously drawing blood in from the veins.

In order to further strengthen Heidelberg University as an internationally recognized location of infection research, Prof. Dr Mathias Lichterfeld has been selected for an Alexander von Humboldt Professorship endowed with 7.8 million euros. Leading international academics are granted this most valuable of German research awards to enable them to conduct long-term, cutting-edge research at German universities.

In the latest QS World University Rankings, the University of Freiburg is ranked 14th nationally. It is among the top ten German universities in three indicators. In the overall international ranking, it is ranked 245th out of more than 1,500 other universities.