Research News HHU

Researchers at Heinrich Heine University (HHU) Düsseldorf have developed a concept for a compact X-ray laser. The European Research Council (ERC) is now supporting the “NEXLIGHT – Next-Generation X-Ray Laser Light Sources” project with a Proof of Concept Grant to help translate the research findings into a commercially viable concept. This funding could pave the way for a marketable product that makes X-ray laser capabilities available at many locations for use in research, technology…

The SFF – the Strategic Research Fund at Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (HHU) – supports researchers in implementing their projects and acquiring funding. The application round for the internal HHU programme lines “project proposals in an early career phase” and “interdisciplinary projects with an exploratory character” for the second half of 2026 runs until 15 October.

Centromeres are crucial for cell division and emerged early in evolution. A research team led by Heinrich Heine University (HHU) Düsseldorf and the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research (MPIPZ) in Cologne has investigated how mutations have shaped the DNA sequences of centromeres over time. The researchers report in the scientific journal Nature how centromere DNA sequences evolve rapidly and extensively while retaining their function. Researchers from Tübingen, Karlsruhe, Munich and…

In March 2026, scientists succeeded in transporting antiprotons by road for the first time in a purpose-built trap loaded on a truck. The BASE collaboration, which realised this experiment at the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Geneva under the lead of Professor Dr Stefan Ulmer and Dr Christian Smorra from Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (HHU), now presents its findings and experiences from this pioneering experiment in the scientific journal Nature. Among other things,…

Communication between cells in plants, animals and humans takes place via specialised connecting structures. An international team led by biologists from Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (HHU) and involving the University of Tübingen has now discovered how the regulation of very similar structures was already present in multicellular bacteria, implying that this must have originated much earlier in the course of evolution. In the scientific journal published by the European Molecular Biology…