Prof. Dr. Joachim von Braun from the Center for Development Research (ZEF) of the University of Bonn, has chaired the scientific group for the UN Food Systems Summit, which recently took place online. Some 40,000 participated at times. As Chair of the Scientific Group, Prof. von Braun chaired a committee of twenty-five internationally recognized experts who prepared the technical aspects of the Summit.

The University of Bonn has opened a "Green Office" as a central contact point for sustainability and to promote the exchange between students, teachers and other employees.

The University of Bonn continues to succeed in the competition for research funding. This is confirmed by the "Funding Atlas 2021" of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation), which has just been published. It provides a detailed and clear documentation of the funding flows of public funding institutions to universities and research institutions in the period 2017-2019. In a Germany-wide comparison of DFG funding amounts, Bonn improves to 15th place.

Combining artificially created building blocks with natural ones - that is the goal of two new assistant professors at the University of Bonn. Biophysicist Dr. Alena Khmelinskaia and biophysical chemist Dr. Patrycja Kielb work at the interfaces of different disciplines and hold so-called Argelander professorships, two new posts created at the university with funds from the Excellence program. Such junior professorships are cornerstones within the concept of the six Transdisciplinary Research Areas (TRAs), in which researchers work jointly on future-relevant issues across the boundaries of disciplines and faculties. Alena Khmelinskaia and Patrycja Kielb are now building a bridge between chemistry, physics, and life sciences in the TRA "Building Blocks of Matter and Fundamental Interactions". Their work is relevant for the development of sustainable technologies in modern societies, for example, in medicine or energy research.

The University of St Andrews, with which the University of Bonn has a strategic partnership since 2018, tops the current ranking of the Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2021 of the best British universities. The Rector of the University of Bonn sends congratulations.

Renowned reinforcement for the University of Bonn: With the first "High profile" professorships financed by excellence funds, three top-class scientific personalities join the University of Excellence to open up new fields of research and to provide important impulses in various disciplines. Ethicist Prof. Dr. Christiane Woopen takes up a so-called Hertz Professorship today (October 1), while agricultural economist Prof. Dr. Matin Qaim and Catholic theologian Prof. Dr. Klaus von Stosch fill so-called Schlegel Professorships. The three professors were officially appointed at a reception in the Rector's Office.

Researchers at the University of Bonn have shed light on the function of the enzyme SLK for the development of nerve cells in the brain. If it is missing, the neurons' branches are less abundant. In addition, it is then more difficult to inhibit the activity of the cells. This is consistent with the fact that there is less SLK in diseased brain tissue from epilepsy patients. Epileptic seizures are characterized by overexcitation of neuron clusters. The findings may help to improve treatment of the disease. The study is published in the prestigious Journal of Neuroscience.

In geographic atrophy, a late form of age-related macular degeneration (AMD), reading ability is closely related to the altered retinal structure. This has been demonstrated by researchers from the Department of Ophthalmology at the University Hospital Bonn with colleagues at the National Eye Institute and the University of Utah. Reading speed makes everyday functional impairment measurable, which the most common functional test in ophthalmology – the best-corrected visual acuity assessment - cannot reflect. Retinal imaging can be used to assess loss of reading ability even when central visual acuity is still good. The study has now appeared in "JAMA Ophthalmology."