About Transdisciplinary Research Area (TRA) Life and Health
The Life and Health TRA is a network of scientists active in a wide range of fields and faculties at the University of Bonn who collaborate on research issues of scientific, technological and societal importance to our future.
TRA Speakers
The TRA Life and Health is led by two speakers:
Prof. Dr. Heinz Beck
The neuroscientist Heinz Beck is director of the Institute for Experimental Epileptology and Cognition Research in Bonn.
His research focuses on how complex temporal and spatial input signals are translated into output signals by synapses of different types. This is essential for understanding the function of individual nerve cells in the context of neuronal networks.
Webseite: https://ieecr-bonn.de/ieecr-groups/beck-group/
Kontakt: heinz.beck@ukbonn.de
Prof. Dr. Elvira Mass
Developmental biologist Elvira Mass heads the “Developmental Biology of the Immune System” working group at the Life and Medical Sciences (LIMES) Institute at the University of Bonn. Her research aims to understand how the health of the mother during pregnancy influences the development and function of the innate immune system of the offspring. Her focus is particularly on macrophages.
Webseite: https://www.limes-institut-bonn.de/en/research/research-departments/unit-1/mass-lab/mass-lab-home/
Kontakt: elvira.mass@uni-bonn.de
Our members
Our members are professors and group leaders of the University of Bonn and cooperating Bonn institutions from medicine, life sciences, pharmacy, nutrition research, mathematics, computer science and other fields.
Looking for a cooperation partner? Have a look at the research profiles of our members!
Key Facts
- Establish a transdisciplinary research profile around the topic “Construction and Deconstruction of Life”
- Promote inter-faculty and transdisciplinary collaboration
- Create inter-faculty research infrastructures
- Increase the proportion of female academics in the TRA Life and Health
- Provide support for postdoctoral researchers (in partnership with BFB, the Bonn Biomedicine Forum)
- Translation and transfer of research results in collaboration with EnaCom4
The TRA is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and the Ministry of Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia (MKW) as part of the Excellence Strategy of the federal and state governments.
The TRA Life and Health is led by two speakers: Prof. Dr. Heinz Beck (Institute of Experimental Epileptology and Cognition Research) and Prof. Dr. Elvira Mass (LIMES-Institute).
The TRA Steering Committee consists of the TRA speakers, the deans of the faculties associated with the TRA, a speaker of the Cluster of Excellence ImmunoSensation2, other professorial members representing the research areas of the TRA, and representatives of the university status groups.
An overview of the members of the Steering Committee can be found further down this page (link).
Your contact for all questions about TRA Life and Health:
TRA Manager:
Dr. Meike Brömer
Strategic Development and Quality Assurance Unit
Vice Rectorate for Research and Career Development
email: life-and-health@uni-bonn.de
Phone: 0228-7354470
The TRA currently has around 130 members whose research addresses topics in the field of life and health. Our members are mainly professors and heads of research groups from medicine, molecular biomedicine, pharmacy, genetics, cell biology and nutrition and food sciences, but also from theology, psychology and philosophy. Further members come from our cooperation partners, the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), local Fraunhofer Institutes and the Max-Planck-Institute for Neurobiologiy of Behavior - caesar.
TRA Life and Health members
The TRA is closely linked with three faculties of the University of Bonn:
Faculty of Medicine
Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences
Faculty of Agriculture Faculty of Agricultural, Nutritional and Engineering Sciences
The deans of these faculties are members of the TRA Steering Committee.
All important information on the structure and legal basis can be found in the statutes (German only).
The Steering Committee, as the Board of TRA Life and Health, reflects the diversity of the areas belonging to the TRA. In addition to the deans of the faculties associated with the TRA, the Cluster of Excellence ImmunoSensation2 is represented by a speaker. The various research areas of the TRA are represented by professorial members. Furthermore, representatives of the university status groups are voting members of the steering committee.
Members of the Steering Committee:
Prof. Dr. Dr. Dominik Bach, TRA Hertz Chair
Prof. Dr. Heinz Beck, Institute of Experimental Epileptology and Cognition Research
Prof. Dr. Elvira Mass, LIMES-Institute
Jun.-Prof. Dr. Elena S. Reckzeh, Argelander Professor, TRA Life and Health
Prof. Dr. Heiko Schoof, Dean of the Faculty of Agricultural, Nutritional and Engineering Sciences
Jun.-Prof. Dr. Ana Ivonne Vazquez-Armendariz, Argelander Professor, TRA Life and Health
Prof. Dr. Bernd Weber, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine
Prof. Dr. Walter Witke, Dean of the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences
Professorial members:
Prof. Dr. Dirk Baumjohann, Medical Clinic III for Oncology, Hematology, Immuno-Oncology and Rheumatology
Prof. Dr. Oliver Brüstle, Institute of Reconstructive Neurobiology
Prof. Dr. Nicolas Gompel, Bonn Institute for Organismic Biology
Prof. Dr. Jörg Höhfeld, Institute for Cell Biology
Prof. Dr. Waldemar Kolanus, LIMES-Institute
Prof. Dr. Christa Müller, Pharmaceutical Institute
Prof. Dr. Markus Nöthen, Institute of Human Genetics
Prof. Dr. Alexander Pfeifer, Institute for Pharmacology and Toxicology
Prof. Dr. Anja Schneider, DZNE and Clinic for Geriatric psychiatry and cognitive disorders
Prof. Dr. Florian Schmidt, Institute of Innate Immunity
Prof. Dr. Marie-Christine Simon, Institute of Nutritional and Food Sciences
Prof. Dr. Tatjana Tchumatchenko, Institute of Experimental Epileptology and Cognition Research
Prof. Dr. Sebastian Zimmer, Medical Clinic and Polyclinic II
Representation of University Status Groups
Academic staff:Annalena Liesen
Katharina Sieckmann
Become TRA member!
We welcome anyone who wants to pursue collaborative, innovative and transdisciplinary research in the research area "Life and Health".
You are eligible to become a member if
- you lead an independent research group in the research area "Life and Health" and are member of a faculty of the University of Bonn
- you match the criteria above and are not member of University of Bonn but are staff of an institut that holds a cooperation agreement with the University of Bonn
Please contact us for any questions concerning the membership:
life-and-health@uni-bonn.de
Thank you!
For more information on TRA membership and governance, please see our statute.
Contact
Dr. Meike Brömer