At the University of Bonn’s International Days 2024 from October 15 to 18, everything was about tackling global challenges together, strengthening international cooperation and honoring excellence in research. In addition to the traditional ceremony for the state awards and the DAAD Prize, the Vice Rectorate for International Affairs invited the public to attend a host of info events, talks and workshops. The keynote speech by Harvard professor Homi K. Bhabha, who is a key figure in post-colonial theory, was a particular highlight.

Propofol is used in the operating room to induce anesthesia. To maintain anesthesia, a continuous infusion of the agent via a separate syringe pump is the standard procedure for total intravenous anesthesia. However, this is not entirely sustainable: propofol produces about 45 percent of the drug waste in the operating room, and a quarter of the agent remains unused. Researchers at the University Hospital Bonn (UKB) and the University of Bonn have now shown that an alternative method reduces the amount of waste. Instead of a separate syringe for the induction and maintenance of anesthesia, the researchers were able to show that the use of a single syringe pump for the induction and maintenance of anesthesia is more sustainable: propofol waste could be reduced by between 30 and 50 percent. The study has now been published in the British Journal of Anaesthesia. 

Our ability to see starts with the light-sensitive photoreceptor cells in our eyes. A specific region of the retina, termed fovea, is responsible for sharp vision. Here, the color-sensitive cone photoreceptors allow us to detect even the smallest details. The density of these cells varies from person to person. Additionally, when we fixate on an object, our eyes make subtle, continuous movements, which also differ between individuals. Researchers from the University Hospital Bonn (UKB) and the University of Bonn have now investigated how sharp vision is linked to these tiny eye movements and the mosaic of cones. Using high-resolution imaging and micro-psychophysics, they demonstrated that eye movements are finely tuned to provide optimal sampling by the cones. The results of the study have now been published in the journal "eLife".

Researchers from the University of Bonn have trained an AI process to predict potential active ingredients with special properties. Therefore, they derived a chemical language model – a kind of ChatGPT for molecules. Following a training phase, the AI was able to exactly reproduce the chemical structures of compounds with known dual-target activity that may be particularly effective medications. The study has now been published in Cell Reports Physical Science.

The University of Bonn is once again welcoming a top-notch reinforcement in the shape of mathematician Professor László Végh. He has been appointed to a Hertz Chair, which connects up different disciplines at the University of Excellence in a unique way. Professor Végh will be based in the Transdisciplinary Research Area “Modelling”, where he will help to strengthen the links between different departments in the fields of algorithms and optimization problems in particular.

As is tradition, the University of Bonn opened its 2024/2025 academic year on October 18, the date of the institution’s founding. The joy at everything that the University of Excellence and its members had achieved was tempered by a contemplative mood due in particular to the many conflicts currently affecting the world—conflicts whose impact can also be felt here in Bonn.

What has been known up until now as the Faculty of Agriculture at the University of Bonn is being renamed the Faculty of Agricultural, Nutritional, and Engineering Sciences with immediate effect. The faculty is taking this step in order to better reflect the specialist fields that it covers by giving equal weight to the nutritional and engineering sciences alongside the agricultural sciences.