Initiative on transdisciplinary infection research reaches final round of Excellence Strategy

The application for the planned Cluster of Excellence Gateways to Health, in which the Leibniz Institute of Virology (LIV) was significantly involved, made it to the final selection round of the Excellence Strategy. Despite not being approved in the end, the successful participation in the final round underlines the high scientific quality of the concept and the central role of the LIV within Hamburg’s research landscape. The spokesperson of the applying consortium under the lead of the University of Hamburg (UHH) was LIV Research Department head Prof. Kay Grünewald.

The focus of the planned cluster was on how pathogens influence global life – from a scientific, medical, humanities and social science perspective.

“Bringing together a collaborative consortium that takes a genuinely transdisciplinary approach was a very enriching experience,” says Prof. Kay Grünewald. “Despite the Cluster unfortunately not being selected for funding, we will nevertheless continue the exciting interactions and we will also look for other funding formats.”

Prof. Marcus Altfeld, Scientific Director of the LIV, emphasizes: “The collaborative interactions in the preparation of the Gateways to Health application has further strengthened Hamburg’s research networks in infectious diseases – regardless of the outcome of the procedure.”

The application comprised four strands of research with a focus on globally relevant pathogens such as hemorrhagic fever viruses, mycobacteria and malaria parasites to be investigated from different scientific perspectives. In addition to the UHH and the LIV, the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, the Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine, the Research Center Borstel, Leibniz Lung Center, the Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY and the University Lübeck were jointly involved in the application.