Newsletter School of Science June 2021

Any problems viewing this page? View online

SCHOOL OF SCIENCE

June 2021

Newsletter 04/2021

News

Prof. Dr. Karl Leo. Copyright: EPO

Karl Leo receives the European Inventor Award in the “Lifetime Achievement” category

Dresden physicist Prof. Karl Leo is honored with the European Inventor in the “Lifetime Achievement” category. This was announced by the European Patent Office on 17 June in a digital award ceremony. Leo receives the award for his trailblazing work in organic semiconductors, which is reflected in more than 20 European patents and numerous successful spin-offs. "He has no fear of drilling the hardest boards and persistently searches for solutions to problems that others would not even tackle," says Prof. Ellen Hieckmann, describing her colleague Prof. Karl Leo at the Institute of Applied Physics. It is certainly precisely this drive for research and his perseverance, but equally his acumen, an almost endless motivational force and his entrepreneurial spirit that led to Karl Leo being named European Inventor in the renowned “Lifetime Achievement” category. Congratulations to this amazing honor, Prof. Leo!

» Read the full article on Karl Leo

TU Dresden applies with "Saxonian Institute of Technology" for a large-scale research center for digitization in Lusatia

Leading researchers at TU Dresden working in fields such as materials research, communications engineering, robotics, artificial intelligence, psychology, sustainability research and social sciences have teamed up with extramural partners in a unique consortium and have pooled their expertise in the application for a "Saxonian Institute of Technology" (SIT) on how Lusatia can become a high-tech model region for digital transformation and thus set an example for Germany as a whole. The project's spokesperson Karl Leo explains: "At SIT, we want to shape digital innovations for the future, for healthcare, nutrition, mobility and energy. Trustworthy, sustainable and economically successful. For this, we need top researchers from all over the world to approach this exciting topic together with the people from the region."

» Learn more on the SIT

Virtual showcase for the collections of TU Dresden: The digital collection database of the Custody is now online

The TU Dresden has significant and wide-ranging collection holdings from 200 years of teaching and research - many of them located at School of Science, ranging from herbarium specimens from the Herbarium Dresdense, dyes from the time before industrialization, to mathematical models from geometry. With the launch of "University Collections Online" on 5 May 2021, these outstanding holdings, which are consolidated under the umbrella of the Custody, have now been given a virtual showcase.

» Online database

Prizes and Awards

The President of the German Physical Society, Lutz Schröter (center),congratulates the winners of the DOPPLERS competition, including TUD students: Max Schneider (upper row, 2nd from left.), Jonathan Gräfe (upper row, 3rd from left) and Maximilian Kotz (center, 1st from left.)
© DPG / Georg Glebe 2021

TU Dresden students successful in national physics competition

More than 100 students solved tricky problems in the German physics competition DOPPLERS. In the meantime, the winners have been determined, including four physics students from TU Dresden. Jonathan Gräfe, Maximilian Kotz, Christian Schmidt and Max Schneider belong to the German selection that will compete in the international competition for physics students PLANCKS. The Dean of the Physics Faculty, Prof. Carsten Timm, congratulated the winners on their outstanding achievements and emphasized: "Half of the German delegation at PLANCKS comes from TU Dresden! This is an overwhelming success."

European Physical Society honors Dr. Uta Bilow and Prof. Kai Zuber

Outreach Prize for Dr. Uta Bilow

Dr. Uta Bilow, group leader at the Institute for Nuclear and Particle Physics (IKTP) at TU Dresden, receives the Outreach Prize together with former Dresden Fellow Ken Cecire for their long-term coordination and extensive expansion of the International Particle Physics Masterclasses. "The EPS Outreach Prize once again brings science communication into focus as an integral part of research. For me, the prize is an incentive to further expand the program. Important goals are to promote the International Particle Physics Masterclasses in more countries - there is still great potential in Africa and Asia, for example. We also want to keep our finger on the pulse of research, i.e. make current data from experiments available and include new discoveries - such as the Higgs particle in 2012," says Uta Bilow about her award.

Giuseppe and Vanna Cocconi Prize for Borexino

This year’s Giuseppe and Vanna Cocconi Prize goes to the Borexino collaboration, which also involves Prof. Kai Zuber and his team members Dr. Mikko Meyer and Jan Thurn from the IKTP. The international team receives the prize for “their ground-breaking observation of solar neutrinos from the pp and CNO chains that provided unique and comprehensive tests of the Sun as a nuclear fusion engine.” The Cocconi Prize is awarded by the EPS to recognize an outstanding contribution to Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology in the last fifteen years, in an experimental, theoretical or technological area.
For Prof. Kai Zuber and his collaborators involved in Borexino, the EPS award is a great recognition for the complex work of the collaboration: "Compared to all previous and ongoing solar neutrino experiments, Borexino is the first and only experiment worldwide that is able to measure these different components individually and in real time. However, the evaluation of the measured data is extremely complex and borders on searching for a needle in a haystack. All the greater is the joy of success at the end," comments Kai Zuber.

Research

A mineral pump for gold in the earth's crust

To form an ore deposit, gold must be enriched thousands to millions of times more than it occurs on average in the Earth's crust (which is only about 1 mg per ton of rock). In nature, very few minerals, namely arsenopyrite (arsenopyrite) and löllingite (arsenic iron), are known to have such enrichment factors for gold. However, despite its enormous importance, the state of this "invisible" gold and the cause of its emplacement in these sulfides remains one of the greatest mysteries in the history of ore deposit exploration.
An international and interdisciplinary scientific consortium, including chemist Prof. Thomas Doert, has been able to unravel this mystery. They have demonstrated the nature of gold uptake by these minerals, revealing the fundamental mechanism that drives these "mineral pumps" on an atomic scale. By combining high-resolution experiments - conducted at the European Synchrotron Source (ESRF) - and physicochemical modeling, the team found that gold is taken up into these minerals at the +2 oxidation state. This is made possible by a redox reaction between the liquid and the mineral, which causes gold to bind to arsenic and leads to the formation of the atomic cluster AuAsnS6-n (image). "This universal gold-arsenic coupling mechanism explains how these sulfides can capture and later release gold in large quantities, controlling both the concentration and distribution of gold in different types of hydrothermal deposits. The new conceptual model opens perspectives for finding novel sources of gold and other valuable and critical metals hidden in iron sulfide minerals, and can thus contribute to an improvement in processing and recycling of metal ores in our "metal-hungry" society," explains Thomas Doert.

Schematic representation of atomic clusters of gold, arsenic, and sulfur next to an SEM image of arsenopyrite (top image, not to scale). The existence of these clusters was revealed in this study using a high-resolution X-ray absorption spectroscope installed at the FAME-UHD beamline of the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility, ESRF (lower image).© G. Pokrovski, M. Kokh, M. Blanchard, D. Testemale

Unlike other Aristolochia species with their showy flowers, A. microstoma has inconspicuous brownish flowers that are horizontal, partially buried or close to the ground under leaf litter or stones. The flowers emit an unpleasant, carrion-like odor to attract and trap pollinators.
© Thomas Rupp et al.

Botany: Scent of death attracts coffin flies to pipevine flowers

In a new study, an international team of plant researchers including the Institute of Botany at Technische Universität Dresden has discovered an unusual and previously unknown reproductive strategy in plants: the Greek pipevine species 'Aristolochia microstoma' produces a unique mixture of volatiles that resembles the smell of dead and decaying insects to attract the pollinating fly genus 'Megaselia' (also known as 'coffin flies') to its trap-flowers. The study was recently published in the open-access journal ‘Frontiers’.
“Aristolochia contains over 550 species spread around the world, especially in tropical and subtropical areas. Aristolochia species are mostly woody vines and herbaceous perennial plants with spectacular, complex flowers that temporarily imprison their visitors for pollination purposes”, explains Prof. Christoph Neinhuis, co-author of the study, who cultivates one of the largest Aristolochia collection worldwide at the Botanical Garden of TU Dresden.

» Learn more on the reproduction stragegy of Aristolochia

Varying the ratio of 3T molecules (foreground) and 6T molecules (indicated in the background) in the blend allows tuning the gap continuously.
© Sebastian Hutsch, Frank Ortmann

Tuning the energy gap: A novel approach for organic semiconductors

What is already established for inorganic semiconductors stays a challenge for their organic counterparts: Tuning the energy gap by blending different semiconducting molecules to optimize device performance. Now, scientists from TU Dresden, in cooperation with researchers at TU Munich, as well as University of Würzburg, HU Berlin, and Ulm University demonstrated how to reach this goal. he results of this study have just been published in the renowned journal "Nature Materials".The researchers now found an unconventional way by blending the material with mixtures of similar molecules that are different in size. “The key finding is that all molecules arrange in specific patterns that are allowed by their molecular shape and size”, explains Frank Ortmann, a professor at TU Munich and group leader at the Center for Advancing Electronics Dresden (cfaed, TU Dresden). “This induces the desired change in the material´s dielectric constant and gap energy.”

Drinking in Europe declined on average in the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic

Following the outbreak of the corona pandemic in March 2020, scientists from TU Dresden initiated a research collaboration with more than 20 participating European research institutions with great commitment and without external funding. The aim of the large-scale study "European Survey on Alcohol Use and COVID-19" was to investigate alcohol consumption during the pandemic in 21 countries. Now, the results of the study are available, showing that average alcohol consumption declined significantly in all countries except Ireland and the United Kingdom. The study was published this week in the journal 'Addiction'.

» Learn more on the "European Survey on Alcohol Use and COVID-19"

Welcome at the School of Science

Prof. Stefan Kaiser from the Institute of Solid State and Materials Physics

Since March 1, Stefan Kaiser holds the Chair of Experimental Solid State Physics at the Institute of Solid State and Materials Physics. He is mainly engaged in investigations in the field of ultrafast spectroscopy and optical control of quantum materials. "My motivation for Dresden was mainly the strong research environment in the field of solid state physics, especially also in the field of quantum materials and their fascinating properties. By this I mean not only the collaboration within the research groups at the institute but also within the TUD and with external partners in Collaborative Research Centers and the Cluster of Excellence. I would like to fit into this strong research environment with my research approach, dynamics and optical control in solids. I hope that I can also set new impulses to establish these new methods in Dresden and successfully develop them further with my colleagues on site as well as with DRESDEN-concept partners and also international partners.

International Affairs

AvH fellow Dr. Nusrat Sultana researches the mango genome

Within the framework of a Georg Forster Research Fellowship of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Dr. Nusrat Sultana from Bangladesh is researching the genome of various mango species at the Chair of Cell and Molecular Biology of Plants for almost two years. On this basis, strategies for mango breeding and the conservation of the endangered wild species in their homeland will be developed.

» Learn more on Dr. Sultana's research

Studies

Conversation group 'Compact Support' at the Faculty of Mathematics

The conversation group "Compact Support" offers students at the Faculty of Mathematics a first point of contact and a platform for exchange in case of questions, worries, big or small problems concerning their studies.

In a weekly conversation group (for the time being digital) a team of sensitive contact persons is available for individual inquiries, but also for the common exchange among each other. The meetings always take place on Wednesdays at 4 pm.

» Website of the Compact Support

Survey

Equality in times of pandemic

The project "Equality Despite Pandemic" addresses the essential issue of reconciling a scientific career and the organization of family life since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic has posed significant challenges for all of us, while also providing an opportunity for realignment at the structural and individual levels.
By participating in the survey, you will help to identify the areas in which you perceive particular challenges and the support you would like your employer to provide to address them.

» To the Survey

Service

"SweepMe!" simplifies the use of measuring devices: TUD to cooperate with an IAP spin-off

Axel Fischer and Felix Kaschura were facing exactly the same problem when they did their doctoral studies at the Institute of Applied Physics (IAP) of TU Dresden. So they spontaneously developed a user-friendly solution for the hitherto complicated handling of measuring devices. They developed a software application that allows various devices to be assembled for a measurement with just some mouse clicks - initially for experiments in the field of organic electronics. Following the foundation of the "SweepMe!" company in 2018, they expanded their program to include other areas of research.

Fischer and Kaschura have now signed a cooperation agreement with TU Dresden. "All TUD members can download our 'SweepMe!' software and the additional modules free of charge during the term of the contract, and use it for an unlimited period of time," Fischer is pleased to say. "Moreover, the handover of device drivers which TUD employees create for our software will be significantly simplified. Transferring them to us is voluntary and can be realized via a simple form."

» Learn more on SWEEPME!

Current Calls

Internationalisation Award 2021

TU Dresden is once again giving out the internationalisation award. The internationalisation award 2021 wants to honour and shine a light on the people and initiatives at the TU Dresden who, with their commitment, make a valuable and sustainable contribution to the internationalisation of our university.
A total of up to 6.000 EUR in prize money is available. The 1st prize is endowed with 3.000 €, the 2nd prize with 2.000 € and the 3rd prize with 1.000 €. The internationalisation award is funded by the Excellence Strategy of the Federal and State Governments.
All members of the TU Dresden are eligible to apply for funding, even if they apply on behalf of a group, a joint activity or initiative, as well as the StuRa, student councils and university groups.

» Learn more on the Internationalisation Award 2021

Boysen-TU Dresden-Summer School 2021

Mobility is in transition. Today’s mobility of people and goods is undergoing a fundamental and long-term change: While many countries worldwide shift away from the traditional car-friendly paradigm to promote sustainable transport such as cycling, walking, and public transport, there is also a push towards the electrification of motorized vehicles and the search for alternative engine technologies across the automotive industry. Which challenges stem from the mobility transition? Which disruptive technologies and innovations drive the mobility transition? Which technological and societal solutions on an international scale should be pursued to foster the mobility transition? Join us from the 20th to the 21st of July, 2021, for the Boysen-TU Dresden Summer School 2021 to find out more about ‘Mobility in Transition’ and interdisciplinary facets of this global socio-technical transition.

» Registration till 16 July 2021

Symposium Engineering Life 2021 from 27 to 29 September 2021
The individual motion of active entities from molecules through cells and tissues to animals give rise to emergent collective behaviour across large scales. These, often marvel, phenomena are described in the context of Active matter. Active matter encompasses out of thermodynamic equilibrium systems in which individual particles extract or produces energy used to generate mechanical work. The goal of this conference is to bring scientists together with engineers to initiate an interdisciplinary, multi-faceted discussion on active matter across scales. This year's ‘Engineering Life’ takes place September 27 - 29th 2021 in Dresden, Germany. Organised by the B CUBE Center for Molecular Bioengineering of the Technische Universität Dresden, the conference takes place at the Steigenberger Hotel in the historic city center.

» Website Engineering Life 2021

The annual call for FOSTER (Funds for Student Research) is online!

As part of the excellence strategy "TUD 2028 - Synergy and beyond", FOSTER - Funds for Student Research was established as one of three programs to promote research-oriented learning and teaching. FOSTER enables students and teachers to apply for funding to support student research.
Applications must be submitted by July 15. Projects with a volume of €10,000 or more can be applied for under this call. The projects are expected to be approved after the review process in mid-September 2021. The start of the project is planned for 01.10.2021.

» Call for FOSTER 2021

Events

till 28 September 2021

Exhibition

Disappearing Diversity

Biology Building

>

18.7.2021

Meet the expert at the Botanical Garden

Michael Kobel: Das Quantenpendel: Wie Neutrinos sich umwandeln und tarnen

Botanical Garden, 3.30 - 4.30 pm

>

every Friday, till 23 July

Summer movies

"The wizard of Oz" and others

Behind the HSZ, Entry: 9pm

>

Web findings

Active break at TU Dresden

Do you already know the playlist of the "Bewegte Pause" at TU Dresden? A new video with sports scientist Alexander Hübner is uploaded here every week.

Active break on YOUTUBE

Studying mathematics at TU Dresden

In collaboration with the Student Marketing, short study program testmonials of students are being created for all bachelor's degree programs and to be linked in the Student Information System (SINS). At the School of Science, the campaign started with mathematics.

"Studying mathematics" on YOUTUBE

New Master's program "Biology in Society"

Doner kebab and doping - what these two topics have to do with the new master's program "Biology in Society" is explained by program coordinator Prof. Klaus Reinhardt.

YOUTUBE video "Biology in Society"

Sound & Science": Artificial Intelligence & Music

What is the future of music? How do Artificial Intelligence, Augmented Reality, Internet of Skills or the tactile Internet affect the world of music? Prof. Frank Fitzek, Prof. Shu-Chen Li and Prof. Susanne Narciss from TU Dresden got to the bottom of these and other questions together with musicians Prof. Karl-Heinz Simon and Mirjam Hinrichs from the Hochschule für Musik Carl Maria von Weber Dresden at the discussion concert "Sound & Science" on June 3.

"Sound and Science" on YOUTUBE

Online training 'bounce'

Now also for all non-TUD members: You have difficulties to deal with the changes caused by the Covid 19 pandemic? Then the training program "bounce" can support you! You can choose which topics and focal points are individually important to you. The free online training program was developed at TU Dresden. Through your participation you support research! For the exact procedure & how to participate you can find more details here: http://tud.link/bc7z

YOUTUBE video on "Bounce"

OFP Podcast with virologist Dr. Andreas Kurth of the RKI

A new podcast episode of the School of Science's Research and Practice Orientation Platform ' (OFP) is always released on the 15th of each month. In the current episode (in German only), OFP coordinator Christina Schulz interviews virologist Dr. Andreas Kurth. He studied biology at TUD and now heads a high-security laboratory of the highest protection level at the RKI in Berlin. His research interests include life-threatening pathogens. And bats. In the podcast, he chats out of the box about his studies, his job and the career prospects for biologists in general.

» Latest Podcast (German only)