Key research areas
Plant sciences
Research in this key area seeks to interpret genetically encoded traits of plants and determine the impact that environmental factors have on them. Its objective is to establish a body of fundamental knowledge for the purpose of optimising crops, e.g., by increasing their yield or drought resistance, and breeding new (agricultural) plants with improved properties. The studied traits are encoded by a large number of genes. Decoding them is a highly complex process that requires an interdisciplinary approach combining genetics, cell biology, biochemistry and bioinformatics.
In this field, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf collaborates particularly closely with the University of Cologne, the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research (MPIPZ), Forschungszentrum Jülich, and the Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK) in Gatersleben.
Collaborative key research projects:
CEPLAS – The Cluster of Excellence on Plant Sciences [since 2012]
CRC TRR 341 Plant Ecological Genetics [since 2022]
Bill and Melinda Gates Stiftung Healthy Crops [since 2017]
ERC Synergy Grant SymPore – Plasmodesmata, Symplasmic pores for plant cell-to-cell communication [since 2021]
DFG NFDI BioImage [2023 – 2028]
Synthetic Life Sciences
At the heart of Synthetic Life Sciences at HHU lies the idea of learning from nature. The aim is to understand biological processes in order to model them and harness them for innovative applications. To this end, Synthetic Life Sciences combine modern life sciences with engineering approaches, opening up new avenues in both basic research and biotechnology.
At HHU, these activities are centred at the Centre for Synthetic Life Sciences (ZSL), which opened in 2018. Here, researchers from the plant sciences, microbiology and key technology platforms work closely together. There is a particular focus on researching microbial networks and plant-microbe interactions in order to understand how complex biological communities arise, function and evolve.
Collaborative key research projects:
CEPLAS – The Cluster of Excellence on Plant Sciences [since 2012]
SFB 1535 Microbial networking – from organelles to cross-kingdom communities (MibiNet) [since 2023]
The NRW strategy project BioSC [since 2013]
BMBFTR Methylotrophic yeast Pichia pastoris as a platform for the production of aromatic lactones (PiLacto) [2024-2027]
Membrane biology
This key research area focuses on biological membranes both inside cells and between cells and cell systems. Research in this field explores the nature of membranes, the way in which they control their dynamic processes over time and space, and the role of their individual components, such as membrane proteins and membrane protein complexes.
A unique spectrum of methods including techniques from structural biology, biochemistry and cell biology is used to study the molecular and cellular processes at play on a time scale ranging from nanoseconds up to periods of multiple days.
Collaborative key research projects:
CRC 1208: Identity and Dynamics of Membrane Systems [2016-2024]
Active Carbon Capture for Sustainable Synthesis (ACCeSS) [2023-2026]
Cardiovascular research
Cardiovascular research was the first key research area to be established at Heinrich Heine University. Since 1968, the German Research Foundation has funded five successive collaborative research centres in this area. Current research projects focus on the connection between the responses of the heart and those of other organs shortly after a myocardial infarction. They also investigate the communication pathways that are involved in heart disease, both within the cardiovascular system and between the heart, kidneys, skeletal muscles and brain. Another major field of research into cardiovascular diseases at Heinrich Heine University deals with aortic diseases.
In this key research area, HHU collaborates closely with the University of Cologne, the University of Bonn, the University of Duisburg-Essen and the University of Virginia in Charlottesville (USA).
Collaborative key research projects:
CRC 1774 CARDDIAB [since 2026]
CRC 1116 Master switches in cardiac ischemia [2015-2023]
TRR 259: Aortic Disease [since 2019]
IRTG 3109 Plasticity in the cardiovascular system [since 2025]
RTG 2576: vivid - In vivo investigations towards the early development of type 2 diabetes [2019-2026]
Molecular and clinical hepatology
Liver diseases have a high mortality rate and are usually chronic, which makes them highly socio-medical relevant. They are, in fact, the leading cause of death in individuals under the age of 40. In recent decades, the focus of the research area has been on communication and system relevance in liver damage and regeneration. A new strategic focus is currently being planned, particularly in the areas of fatty liver disease and the development of liver cancer with molecular and clinical-translational research approaches. In addition to scientific excellence, the research field has a high level of clinical expertise. For example, the Düsseldorf outpatient clinic for liver diseases and viral hepatitis is one of the largest facilities of its kind in North Rhine-Westphalia.
Collaborative key research projects:
RU 5889 How Death and Danger Signals dynamically control Stage Transitions in Chronic Hepatic Disease [since 2026]
Translationales Netzwerk zu hereditären intrahepatischen Cholestasen (HIChol) [2019-2026]
Language – Knowledge – Cognition
This key research area focuses heavily on representation. It is based on the hypothesis of a uniform structure of representations called 'frames’ underlying the neural layer, the cognitive layer, the linguistic layer and the layer of institutional concepts. The aim of this research focus is to develop a general frame theory for concepts and terms. Other key areas of focus include the study of linguistic sounds and the processing of complex words.
Research in this area pursues two long-term objectives: to achieve closer collaboration between the fields of general linguistics, neurolinguistics and artificial intelligence, and to establish foundations that will facilitate progress in machine translation, dialogue systems and computer-assisted language learning.
Collaborative key research projects:
CRC 991: The Structure of Representations in Language, Cognition, and Science [2011-2020]
RU 2373: Spoken Morphology: Phonetics and phonology of complex words [2015-2023]
RU 2495: Inductive Metaphysics [2017-2025]
Sofja-Kovalevskaja-Price „Towards intelligent dialogue systems“ [2018-2024]
ERC Starting Grant „Dynamic Dialogue Modeling“ (DYMO) [2019-2026]