FWF Funds Three New Special Research Areas

The body’s cells can “remember” previous damage or inflammation. Epigenetic bookmarks store this “inflammatory memory” in the cells’ genetic information (DNA) and affect how strongly the body reacts to new challenges later on. Chronic inflammation in epithelial cells, the cells that form the surface of our body, contributes significantly to the development of malignant tumors originating from these cells, which are responsible for around 80% of cancer deaths worldwide.

We know that different organs (e.g., skin, stomach, intestine, lungs, liver) have different effects on the properties of their cells, but we still barely understand how exactly an organ’s environment affects the memory that remains in the cells after inflammation. This is precisely where the work of the Special Research Area “EpiFlaMe” comes in: The research team will carry out the first systematic molecular mapping of the inflammatory memory of epithelial cells in various organs, bringing together experts from the Paris Lodron University of Salzburg and the Medical University of Vienna from the fields of immunology, microbiology, cancer research, and computer-aided systems biology. They plan to use innovative organoid cell cultures and in vivo models to systematically investigate organ-specific memory formation in epithelia and its effects on inflammatory processes and carcinogenesis.

The aim of the Special Research Area “EpiFlaMe” is to create the basis for future therapies to treat chronic inflammatory diseases and to inhibit tumor formation in individual organs.

In future, so-called quantum simulators could be used to investigate complex phenomena that are difficult or impossible to study with traditional computers. Ultracold atoms and molecules play an important and promising role in the development of such applications: In current experiments, researchers can already individually and precisely manipulate these particles using super-low temperature laser light, assembling them into larger structures based on a modular system. In order to fully exploit this potential, future research will need to achieve a high degree of connection and quantum mechanical entanglement of many particles, even long-distance.

This is precisely the aim of the Special Research Area, in which researchers from theoretical and experimental fields will be working together on an interdisciplinary basis at the interfaces of atomic physics, quantum optics, and many-body theory. With the realization and investigation of quantum systems, which will now be experimentally accessible for the first time, the planned cooperation promises not only a deeper understanding of novel states of matter, but also practical breakthroughs in the field of quantum technology.

Researchers from the Universities of Innsbruck and Vienna and the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA) are cooperating in the Special Research Area “Dark UNiverse Explorations” (DUNE). One of their key goals is to learn more about dark matter and dark energy in the universe. Together, these invisible components account for 95% of the universe’s energy content, but their physical nature is still largely unknown. Neither dark matter nor dark energy can be observed directly. Indirectly, however, they leave signatures, for example in the distributions and properties of galaxies, as well as in tiny distortions of the observed shapes of galaxies due to the gravitational lensing effect, which means that comparing observations of galaxies with theoretical models could shed light on the dark universe.

DUNE uses observation data from the Euclid mission and the James Webb Space Telescope. As part of international research collaborations, the DUNE team will be analyzing Euclid data at the University of Innsbruck and observational data from the James Webb Space Telescope at ISTA. In order to draw conclusions about the properties of dark matter and dark energy, the results of the observations will be compared with simulated “virtual universes.” These simulations are being (co-)developed at the University of Vienna and will model the cosmic structure formation in these digital replicas of our universe: COLIBRE is a simulation project generating a small number of particularly detailed simulations. This is complemented by simulations from the DISCO project, which can quickly test many different theories using the new Austrian mainframe computer MUSICA.

The DUNE Special Research Area opens a new window on the dark universe for Austria and brings us one step closer to answering the biggest questions of modern cosmology.

In addition to the three new Special Research Areas, the FWF is extending funding for the following existing Special Research Areas for a further four years with a total funding volume of €9.4 million: 

Meiosis

Coordination: Verena Jantsch-Plunger, University of Vienna
Research network: Gregor Mendel Institute of Molecular Plant Biology of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA), Johannes Kepler University Linz, European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL)

Computational Electric Machine Laboratory

Coordination: Coordination: Annette Mütze, Graz University of Technology
Research network: Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Technical University of Darmstadt

With a Special Research Areas grant, five to fifteen researchers can form an internationally visible research network and explore research questions in greater depth at one location. The program is aimed particularly at multi- and interdisciplinary research. With Special Research Area funding, research institutions have the opportunity to create excellent working conditions for promising researchers and to sharpen their own research profile. The program is financed by the Fonds Zukunft Österreich and will be replaced by the new Specialized Research Groups funding program in the future.