Research Groups

CEF successful in new round of Excellence Initiative

15th June 2012

The Joint Commission of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft and the German Council of Science and Humanities confirmed today that CEF is one of the Clusters of Excellence to receive funding in the new round of the German Excellence Initiative. This new multi-million Euro grant will begin in November 2012 and will last for five years. It confirms the high quality and international competitiveness of the CEF´s research.

CEF Director Harald Schwalbe is delighted: "There could be no better confirmation of the quality of the CEF's research. The decision shows that we are on the right track with our research plans and support for junior scientists."

The funding will be used to investigate macromolecular complexes not only with respect to their composition, three dimensional structures, dynamics in biological reactions and localization within cells but also with respect to their regulated interactions and their roles as constituting parts of macromolecular machines and even entire organelles. Bringing together studies that range from atomic detail to cellular function, CEF will build on a unique portfolio of a wide range of relevant state-of-the-art methods present in Frankfurt. CEF will continue to contribute to the understanding of fundamental functional mechanisms of macromolecular complexes in its established research areas. An entirely new research area will be devoted to the design of macromolecular complexes, thus capitalizing on the achievements during the first funding period. The introduction of optogenetics, to which CEF-I scientists made major contributions, is an example in this context. To drive interdisciplinary research to new frontiers and explore functions of macromolecular assemblies at an increasing level of complexity, the CEF will start a new program to support exceptionally innovative CEF focus projects on a competitive basis.

The Cluster of Excellence Frankfurt for Macromolecular Complexes (CEF) is a consortium of scientists from four different faculties of the Goethe University, the Max Planck Institute of Biophysics and the Max Planck Institute for Brain Research, all situated in Frankfurt/Main. CEF was founded in 2006 in the first round of the German Excellence Initiative. It is one of three Clusters of Excellence at the Goethe University Frankfurt. CEF is dedicated to scientific excellence and early independence of young researchers, and has achieved international visibility as a leading center for research in the life sciences.

As part of the Excellence Initiative a total of 64 proposals for clusters of excellence and 63 proposals for graduate schools were reviewed between November and the end of February 2012 by 37 international expert panels made up of about 480 scientists.

Link to DFG announcement and press release of Goethe University.