Falko Mohrs, Minister of Science and Culture of Lower Saxony, visited the researchers of the Göttingen Cluster of Excellence “Multiscale Bioimaging: From Molecular Machines to Networks of Excitable Cells” (MBExC) on Friday, 22 March 2024. The occasion was the continuation application to be submitted by MBExC in August to apply for funding for a further seven years as part of the Excellence Strategy.
The Cluster of Excellence “Multiscale Bioimaging: From Molecular Machines to Networks of Excitable Cells” (MBExC) at the University of Göttingen has been funded with up to 56 million euros since January 2019 as part of the Excellence Strategy of the German federal and state governments. The University Medical Center Göttingen (UMG) assumes the role of the spokesperson. In August of this year, the Göttingen Cluster will submit the renewal application to apply for funding for a further seven years. To mark the occasion, Falko Mohrs, Lower Saxony’s Minister for Science and Culture, visited the MBExC scientists on Friday, 22 March 2024. The aim of the meeting was to discuss the current state of research in the cluster and its future strategic direction.
Prof. Dr. Metin Tolan, President of the University of Göttingen, Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Brück, Spokesperson of the Board of Directors and Director of Research and Teaching at the UMG, and Prof. Dr. Claudia Steinem, MBExC Deputy Spokesperson, welcomed Minister Mohrs. Together with Prof. Dr. Peter Rehling, Director of the Institute for Cell Biochemistry at the UMG, and Prof. Dr. Silvio Rizzoli, Spokesperson of the BIN Executive Board, both members of the MBExC Board, as well as around 20 participating cluster members, the challenges and requirements with regard to a successful extension of the cluster were discussed.
“The Göttingen Cluster of Excellence ‘Multiscale Bioimaging’ deals with two highly relevant and forward-looking aspects of biomedical and clinical care. Innovative imaging technologies, which are indispensable in medical diagnostics, are developed and tested here. Göttingen has an ideal research landscape and infrastructure for this. On the other hand, the joint view of heart and brain health practised here helps to break down isolated views of individual organs and to think more holistically,” said Lower Saxony’s Minister for Science and Culture, Falko Mohrs. “The University of Göttingen and the University Medical Center Göttingen have succeeded in developing the excellence cluster into an anchor for interdisciplinary research into new approaches for the diagnosis and treatment of diseases of the heart, the brain or both organs, and in integrating and linking complementary projects and initiatives. We want to strongly support this approach in order to further strengthen this research infrastructure, which is unique in northern Germany,” Mohrs added.
“The cooperation between the University, the UMG, the Max Planck Institutes and other partners in the MBExC Cluster of Excellence is a prime example of the strength of the Göttingen campus and Göttingen as a science location as a whole,” says Prof. Dr. Metin Tolan.
“The Minister’s visit shows the high priority the state government attaches to research in the cluster. We are particularly pleased for our researchers at the UMG and, of course, for the scientists at the University of Göttingen and the Max Planck Institutes here in Göttingen about the interest shown, especially with regard to the continuation of previous research activities,” adds Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Brück.
“We very much appreciate the support of the state of Lower Saxony for MBExC research and for the renewal application for the next funding period,” says Prof. Dr. Tobias Moser, spokesperson for the MBExC and Director of the Institute for Auditory Neuroscience at the UMG. “This will contribute to the competitiveness of the cluster and is therefore of immense importance for the success of the renewal application,” says Prof. Dr. Moser.
Towards the end of his visit, Minister Mohrs also visited the research laboratory of Prof. Dr. Emilie Macé, Professor of Dynamics of Excitable Cell Networks at the Center for Biostructural Imaging of Neurodegeneration (BIN), who was appointed to the UMG during the first MBExC funding period to support the MBExC research objectives with her expertise in functional ultrasound imaging.
CONTACT
University Medical Center Göttingen, University of Göttingen
Institute for Auditory Neuroscience
Professor Dr. Tobias Moser
Robert-Koch-Straße 40, 37075 Göttingen
Phone +49 551 / 39-63071
tmoser[at]gwdg.de
Cluster of Excellence Multiscale Bioimaging (MBExC)
Dr. Heike Conrad (press contact MBExC)
Phone 0551 / 39-61305
heike.conrad[at]med.uni-goettingen.de
University Medical Center Göttingen, University of Göttingen
Corporate Communications department
Lena Bösch (Press contact)
Phone +49 551 / 39-61020
lena.boesch[at]med.uni-goettingen.de
Link to the UMG press release (in German)
Please find the pdf of the press release (in German) here 
