life newspaper of the university of freiburg www.leben.uni-freiburg.de 01 2017 climbing up: new paths to academic careers > s. 2 stretching out: leisure over eight centuries > s. 6 whizzing down: medals in alpine para-skiing > s. 12 living in längenloh a relaxed student atmosphere: flatmates in house no. 2 gather in the kitchen. photos: ingeborg lehmann we visit students and refugees sharing a residential complex on the northern edge of freiburg just before the start of semester in the middle of october 2016. this social project was originally meant to end when the winter semester did. in january 2017 the city au- thorities gave their approval for the students to stay another semester. but no longer than that, says the city. the reason - new regulations mean that the state of baden- württemberg has to provide refu- gees with about seven square me- ters more living space per person. plan with room for the unplanned there is an atmosphere of stu- dent coziness in the huge open- plan kitchen on the first floor of house no. 2. dishes are piled up on the sink. four young women are sitting on a sofa on one side of the room. one of them has her legs pulled up. it’s warmer that way. two more are sitting at the kitchen table. they talk about how happy they are to be allowed to stay in längenloh - for the time being. “we like it here,” they say. are they afraid of the refugees? “no, never were.” nina allard says people here don’t just live in the same place, they live together. the oth- ers nod and talk about parties they’ve had with their new neigh- bors - housewarmings, for st. nikolaus’ day, or even just for the hell of it. “and we made christmas cookies with the kids,” chiara möser adds. suddenly six children had appeared in the kitchen. they came to help with the baking but then decided they’d do the dishes instead. nobody minded that the washing-up water also ended up on the kitchen floor. a lot of the contact between students and refugees in längenloh is a spur of the moment thing. for instance, they strike up a conversation on the way to the tram stop or receive a spontaneous invitation to dinner with a refugee family, allard says. by stephanie streif längenloh – it sounds like some idyllic swedish log cabin scene, with gnarled fruit trees and waist-high grass. like bullerby or lönneberga, längenloh could be some astrid lindgren children’s paradise. but it’s not. längenloh nord is located in the freiburg dis- trict of zähringen, on gundelfi nger strasse. there’s a supermarket and a gas station across the road. a lot of traffi c goes through the area. if you are going into the in- dustrial zone which borders the residential area, you don’t need to push open any white garden gate. a few stone steps lead up and along a metal fence. welcome to längenloh, one of 21 refugee shel- ters in freiburg. it is also the only refugee shelter in town where stu- dents too are allowed to live. längenloh is a pilot project. student services freiburg-schwarz- wald and the helferkreis zähringen cooperating to make it work. the idea is that integration starts with where you live. there is already more than enough container hous- ing where refugees live on the pe- riphery of society. “längenloh is meant to show we can do this differently,” says renate heyberger, deputy business manager of stu- dent services. last august 150 refugees moved into the apartment buildings - among them, many children. the 72 students, who live in two of the seven buildings, moved in playing and making things: volunteer students work with refugee children one afternoon per week. that happened after the cookie- baking adventure. “we really only wanted to see the children home - and before we knew it, we were sitting with the family around the table, being served a delicious dinner.” she says it was a lovely ex- perience. “so open, so spontane- ous.” but other meetings in läng- enloh are not left to chance. social involvement is part of the project. students give german lessons and handicrafts, go along to official appointments with the refugees, and organize games afternoons for the children in the project. there are groups for gardening, soccer, and drumming, and of course - this being freiburg - a bicycle work- shop. the zähringen volunteers planned and launched most of the projects in längenloh. the student join in - some because they have committed themselves to do so, others because they have the time and inclination. for instance, chiara möser is one of five tutors and organizes child minding. when she moved in, she undertook to do 20 hours of coordination work per month. for this she receives a small volunteer’s payment from student services. she says she was active in helping refugees even before she came to freiburg. so was jana zickler. while she was still in bonn, looking for a place to live in freiburg, she found längenloh by chance on the internet. her first thought was “that’s what i want.” so she applied to live here. 25 of the 72 students went through a special selection process to be volunteers. gernot kist, of student services, says the organi- zation received more than 400 ap- plications. students were chosen who had experience in aid to refu- gees or in other voluntary work. “we also considered students who had very good reasons for wanting to live in längenloh,” kist adds. it ends in summer the tutors coordinate the stu- dent volunteers’ work. they also have to meet with student services, the volunteers’ association, and with the caritas social service on location. but there are more stu- dents who have been helping out in längenloh even though they don’t have to. like jessi nicholson. her place in the student accom- modation is not linked to volunteer work. but she assists with german lessons for mothers and children or with the mobile games bus which comes to the project every second wednesday. there is no longer any great difference be- tween offi cial and unoffi cial volun- teer students, möser confirms. “we’re all working side by side.” one wonders what will happen when the students have to move out after summer semester 2017. möser doesn’t think she would come to längenloh often then - purely because of the distance; after all, this is the very edge of town. but that doesn’t mean it was all for nothing. all the volunteers have a guaranteed place in student accommodation after the längen- loh project ends. that is part of their contract. and the city of freiburg is considering the inclu- sion of student apartments in its plans for a new refugee housing complex. because of längenloh.

01 2017 news 3 unı life newspaper of the university of freiburg www.leben.uni-freiburg.de newspaper of the university of freiburg www.leben.uni-freiburg.de obelix and the ethics of robots a new building at the faculty of engineering is home to robotic research a new building at the faculty of engineering is home to robotic research by sonja seidel a new research center started work at the faculty of engineering in february 2017 – the integrated robotics center. researchers from microsys- tems engineering, medicine, philoso- phy, biology, informatics, and law will be working together there in the future. the focus is on technical development of robots - but also on the ethical and legal issues which arise when humans and machines come in contact. “the integrated robotics center will be an exemplary project at the university of freiburg,” says professor wolfram burgard. his working group, autono- mous intelligent systems, is based at the department of computer science and located in a new building under one roof with the excellence cluster brainlinks-braintools, a new professor- ship of neurorobotics, and the gradu- ate school of robotics. burgard’s team works on robots which perceive their environment and can move inde- pendently. eleven doctoral candidates are now at the graduate school and supporting burgard’s research; seven of them are from technical and engi- neering subjects; four from medicine, philosophy, cognitions sciences, and law. engineering, biology, computer sci- ence, and medical researchers in the excellence cluster have been investi- gating the man-machine interface since 2013. the results of their work may help patients who use prostheses. to this end, the researcher are devel- oping techniques to enable artifi cial limbs to be steered by nerve cells in the brain. “this can only work if you cooperate closely across the different disciplines,” burgard says, stressing 800 square meters for up to 65 people to work - the integrated robotics center is the newest building at the faculty of engineering campus. photo: ingeborg lehmann the importance of the importance of communication be- communication be- tween the center’s tween the center’s institutions. “we institutions. “we plan workshops and plan workshops and lectures in which our lectures in which our researchers can pre- researchers can pre- sent their work and sent their work and maintain a continu- maintain a continu- ous exchange.” ous exchange.” help around help around the house forty staff forty staff are already at are already at work in the 800 work in the 800 square meter building, which has space for 65. the university has invested for 65. the university has invested some two million euros in the building, and the state of baden-württemberg topped that up with an additional half- million. the new tenants include the robots obelix, nao, and marvin. obelix became known across germany when he drove himself from the faculty of engineering into the center of freiburg in 2012. nao is programmed to carry out small household tasks. so far, it can do things like opening a cupboard; burgard’s team aims to develop the robot further so that it can help humans in their everyday lives. scenarios like that lead to frequent public debates over the ethical and moral repercussions. what if a self- driving car crashed into a group of people? if a machine had the choice of having to injure a child or an elderly person, what would it do? the researchers plan to address issues like this. “people mustn’t forget that so far, we are just playing around with ideas,” burgard explains. “today’s robotic systems simply don’t have the data and computing capacity to make such a moral decision. and certainly european label special status for research and teaching projects within the european campus by sarah nieber whether it’s a joint seminar with the university of basel, a research project with colleagues from the uni- versité de strasbourg or a colloquium for doctoral researchers from the universities of freiburg and haute- alsace... eucor – the european campus puts a common label on cross-border projects. the european campus an- nounces which project has received the label on its website or in its month- ly newsletter. it also makes it easier to apply for subsidies toward travel ex- penses which arise when groups work collaborate across the borders. bi- and trinational cooperation on the upper rhine didn’t just start a few months ago, neither in teaching nor in research. “the european campus did not come from nowhere. the many dif- ferent forms of collaboration between our universities has existed for several decades,” says florence dancoisne, coordinator of eucor – the european campus at the university of freiburg. “but with our label, we aim to make visible the fact that various projects belong to the european campus.” it’s hoped that this will help create an awareness at the universities that the european campus is an active reality and not just an abstract idea. who gets a label? the label may be given to educa- tional and academic projects as well as for cultural and sporting ones. the chief requirement is that the project takes place at one of the universities in eucor – the european campus. on the german side, those institutions are the university of freiburg and the karlsruhe institute of technology; in france they are the universities of haute-alsace and strasbourg, and the university of basel in switzerland. depending on the type of project and depending on whether ects credits are given for it, at least two or three member institutions from two countries must be taking part. other national must be taking part. other national or international partner institutions or international partner institutions may also be involved. may also be involved. how to apply if you think your if you think your project qualifies project qualifies for a label, send for a label, send an application an application to the coordina- to the coordina- tion offi ce at the tion offi ce at the université de stras- université de stras- bourg. include a bourg. include a description of the description of the project, details of the project, details of the people responsible at people responsible at the eucor member universities, the eucor member universities, and a budget outline. what must project organizers do? if your project receives the label, you are obliged to use the logo for that project. in addition the coordination offi ce and the european campus con- tact person at your location – in freiburg it is florence dancoisne – should be informed about events and eucor’s seal eucor’s seal of approval of approval photo: photo: pixelot/ pixelot/ fotolia fotolia any changes to the project any changes to the project so that, for instance, uni- so that, for instance, uni- versity newspapers can versity newspapers can report on them. report on them. applying for the label eucor – the european campus coordination offi ce université de strasbourg maison universitaire internationale 11 presqu’île andré malraux 67100 strasbourg france phone: +33 (0)3 68 85 82 95 e-mail: info@eucor-uni.org  www.eucor-uni.org obelix is already a media star. wolfram burgard and his team will keep develop- ing the robot. photo: patrick seeger not in a split second. a human being driving a vehicle or fl ying a plane can respond by making more mistakes and may be a greater threat than a robot.” burgard says one of the trickiest issues is the legal situation when there is no human being behind the driver’s wheel. among the things at the heart of burgard’s own research is “deep learn- ing” – a technique in which large amounts of data are fed into a com- puter. the computer is then meant to recognize patterns, form categories, and in that way learn more about the world the way a human brain does. burgard’s robots are to get smarter. because burgard is sure of one thing - that robots will be a fundamental part of our everyday lives in the future. deputy administration chief walter willaredt the university of freiburg has a new deputy head of administration. at the start of the year, walter willaredt, head of the organizational develop- ment department, succeeded barbara windscheid, who was head of finances and controlling until her appointment as executive vice-president at the university of mannheim. willaredt has worked at the university of freiburg since 1982 in various administrative areas. he is responsible for a number of major areas including information management, administrative organi- zation and room distribution, process development and quality manage- ment, as well as for controlling and statistics.

01 2017 research 5 unı life newspaper of the university of freiburg www.leben.uni-freiburg.de police, paramedics, garbage disposal microglial cells are the brain’s jack of microglial cells are the brain’s jack of all trades - researchers shed light on all trades - researchers shed light on their role in keeping us healthy their role in keeping us healthy microglial cells are fi rst on the scene to fi x the damage to a neural network. marco prinz calls them “the brain’s immune system.” illustr ation: svenja kirsch by jürgen schickinger beware: something is feel- eware: something is feel- ing its way through your ing its way through your brain. it is the tentacles of brain. it is the tentacles of microglial cells, which divide the brain up into territories. the brain up into territories. each microglial cell guards each microglial cell guards its own little empire of neu- its own little empire of neu- rons. with fi ne tentacles rons. with fi ne tentacles which stretch out and con- which stretch out and con- tract these guard cells are tract these guard cells are constantly pacing the beat constantly pacing the beat of their neuro-networks. of their neuro-networks. are communications work- are communications work- ing right? are the cells ing right? are the cells healthy? if an infection is healthy? if an infection is spreading or something else spreading or something else goes wrong, the guard cells goes wrong, the guard cells take action. “they are the take action. “they are the brain’s immune system,” brain’s immune system,” says professor marco prinz, says professor marco prinz, medical director of the institute of medical director of the institute of neuropathology at the freiburg uni- neuropathology at the freiburg uni- versity medical center. prinz is the versity medical center. prinz is the spokesman of the new transregional spokesman of the new transregional collaborative research center (sfb) collaborative research center (sfb) neuromac. freiburg is coordinating neuromac. freiburg is coordinating this research effort to investigate the this research effort to investigate the properties of microglial cells. they properties of microglial cells. they fulfi ll important tasks in almost all fulfi ll important tasks in almost all illnesses and disorders of the brain, illnesses and disorders of the brain, as well as in its growth and mainte- as well as in its growth and mainte- nance. they are the brain’s building nance. they are the brain’s building supervisors, police, nurses, paramed- ics, and garbage disposal. getting an appetite for alzheimer's “in a healthy brain microglial cells even feed the cells,” prinz says. every- thing has to be shipshape in a micro- glial cell’s territory. sometimes that means doing more than means doing more than stretching out a tentacle. stretching out a tentacle. when things get rough, the when things get rough, the entire cell moves to the troubles- entire cell moves to the troubles- pot and divides, creating an army of pot and divides, creating an army of identical guard cells. they gobble up identical guard cells. they gobble up pathogens, dying cell parts and pro- pathogens, dying cell parts and pro- teins which get into the brain via teins which get into the brain via bleeding or are created by multiple bleeding or are created by multiple sclerosis and other infl ammatory pro- sclerosis and other infl ammatory pro- cesses, or which form plaques similar cesses, or which form plaques similar to those of alzheimer's disease. un- fortunately, microglial cells can get enough. after a few weeks, they tire of eating alzheimer’s plaques and other undesirable material. “the cells are exhausted and aged,” prinz ex- plains. he is testing ways of replacing the population, for instance by replac- ing the bone marrow where the micro- glial cells can grow. the 46 year old glial cells can grow. the 46 year old believes that fresh microglial cells eat believes that fresh microglial cells eat up far more alzheimer plaques than up far more alzheimer plaques than older ones and could - maybe - heal older ones and could - maybe - heal sufferers. but he says it is too soon to sufferers. but he says it is too soon to get our hopes up: “that is still a far-off goal.” in adult brains microglial cells coor- dinate reconstruction, and in embryo brains they supervise development. they encourage young neurons to form functional networks. faulty con- struction of the brain can lead to disorders such as autism and schizo- phrenia. is it just a supervisor’s mis- take? “we don’t know the cause,” prinz says. yet severe viral infections during pregnancy raise the risk of such developmental illnesses – and alter the shape and function of the microglial cells. for example, they are bigger and look deformed in mice with no intestinal fl ora. the animals sometimes behave oddly. prinz be- lieves that nutrition plays a role in the risk of developing autism or alz- heimer’s. because food determines which bacteria fl ourish in the gut. “we replace certain bacterial strains and see what happens,” prinz says. he aims to discover which types are good, which are bad, and what signals gut bacteria send to the brain. researchers are testing various bacterial products to fi nd out if they can be used as messenger molecules. 4.9 million for freiburg many exciting findings and many unanswered questions. it’s hoped some of them will be answered by the sfb/transregio 167: development, function and potential of mye- function and potential of mye- loid cells in the central nervous loid cells in the central nervous system (neuromac). along with the system (neuromac). along with the experts from several university of experts from several university of freiburg institutes and the medical center, researchers at berlin’s charité and max delbrück center for molecular medicine and scientists at israel’s weizmann institute of science in rehovot are investigating what makes microglial cells tick. they will receive nearly 10.9 million euros from 2017 to 2020. some 4.9 million of that will  come to freiburg. the long-term goal is the development of new treatments for conditions such as alzheimer’s, strokes, depression, and multiple sclerosis. but marco prinz is careful to dampen expectations: “i will be happy if we come up with a defi nite new approach to treatment.” support for exciting habilitation projects biologist dr. julia jellusova and chemistry dr. anayancy osorio- madrazo of the university of freiburg are to receive support from the margarete von wrangell habilitation program for women. the two re- searchers will develop their own pro- jects over the next five years and write their habilitation theses on their work. the state ministry of science, research, and the arts and the uni- versity of freiburg are providing some 400,000 euros. jellusova’s project examines how human immune cells and cancer cells survive under diffi- cult conditions. osorio-madrazo will develop hydrogel biomaterials to pro- mote regeneration of intervertabral disk tissue. the search for dark matter the european research council (erc) has selected physicist marc schumann and his plan, ultimate, for a consolidator grant of two million euros over the next fi ve years. marc schumann, professor of experimental astroparticle physics at the university of freiburg, is seeking to improve the search for dark matter and to con- duct studies on a large, underground detector. the biggest challenge is to reduce the background “noise” caused by natural radioactivity. the erc grant was decided while schumann was at the university of bern, switzer- land; erc grants are among the most sought-after prizes for european researchers. research alliance launched the baden-württemberg ministry of science, research, and the arts has approved an application for the “upper rhine research alliance on the technical foundations of sustainabil- ity.” the university of freiburg, the karlsruhe institute of technology, the furtwangen, karlsruhe, and offen- burg universities of applied sciences are working together on the three- year project. among the researchers’ plans is to design stable constructions for vehicles using biological materials and to raise the effectiveness of solar cells. the ministry is investing 900,000 euros, a sum the alliance partners together will match. the project spokesman is professor leonhard reindl of the department of micro- systems engineering and one of the directors of the university of freiburg’s centre for renewable energy.

01 2017 learning 7 unı life newspaper of the university of freiburg www.leben.uni-freiburg.de uniform standards an internet platform and practical exercises help medical students learn the right ways to examine a patient by petra völzing today, janine traut and jan-luca penner have the practical course, “introduction to clinical medicine.” the two medical students are in their third semester and, in this preclinical phase of their studies, are taking five modules to learn the basic patient examination techniques - how to examine a patient’s head and neck, abdomen, spine, and joints. today they’re learning to check neurostatus. at the direction of student tutors kathrin hanke and philip keye, the members of each group practice the techniques by examining one another. that’s not easy without at least some basic knowledge. for students who’ve grown up in the digital age, since sum- mer 2015 there has been an open- access online platform, www.ukurs. uni-freiburg.de, to accompany the lecture and the printed manual. these doctors of the future can use it to prepare for each module and to prac- tice afterward. “it is a tight, compact summary of everything that may come up in the course,” says penner. traut worked through the module prior to the course, too. they are particularly enthusiastic about the videos, which show the examination techniques in detail. now they are swinging the reflex hammer themselves. doctors marit stenzel and dr. paul von pöllnitz created the material in five months under the guidance of dr. here’s looking at you! students practice patient-examination techniques on each other.. photo: jürgen gocke irmgard streitlein-böhme. they used the manual as their guide. producing the videos was a great deal of work. “moving pictures are necessary to understand the techniques better than if you’re looking at the photos in the manual,” says streitlein-böhme, specialist doctor and teaching special- ist in general medicine. after each section, students can solve a case- quiz to test what they have learned. but it is not just the lower semesters who use the site; more experienced students also refer to it when preparing for their state exam. other programs such as nursing science also work with the platform. petra jung is a regular user. the lecturer is supervising the eight paral- lel examination technique course groups, along with the student tutors. “the examination technique courses aim to teach uniform standards so that all the students are at the same level when they finish,” she explains. previ- ously, lecturers had taught the tech- niques more or less as they saw fit, she says. the online course makes it easy to understand the standards. lecturers and tutors can demonstrate the course requirements in an uncom- plicated way. “that is also important for examiners,” jung adds. better results in the exams the development of the preclinical practical course - including the online platform - has a long history. “the uni- versity made it a goal some years ago to link the preclinical and clinical phas- es of studies more closely,” streitlein- böhme says. so in 2012 the faculty of medicine overhauled the preclinical phase practical course “introduction to clinical medicine” with new material. until then, practical units did not start until the clinical phase of studies. the development of uniform standards for the basic patient examination was a long process, too. “in a working group we worked through which examina- tions need to be in there and which can be left out at this stage,” streitlein- böhme explains. now students have a well-rounded program at their finger- tips. and the first evaluations are already in. “we have found that the results of student exams in this area have improved by ten percent since we introduced the new course.” a pilot questionnaire of 60 students showed two-thirds were using the online plat- form. in 2016 the platform was even singled out for the teaching prize for outstanding teaching at the faculty of medicine.  www.ukurs.uni-freiburg.de it’s about finding answers a master’s program teaches students how to find engineering and scientific solutions by stephanie heyl natural disasters, climate change, and dwindling resources all create problems for society which academia and industry must find solutions. the institute of sustainable technical systems (inatech) at the university of freiburg in winter semester 2016-17 introduced the sustainable systems engineering (sse) program, which is taught in english. building on the three pillars of “sus- tainable materials,” “energy systems,” and “resilience,” master’s students from the sciences and engineering sciences learn to explore technical advances and to put them into practi- cal application. the university is cooperating closely with the five fraunhofer institutes in freiburg. lecturers from all those institutes are active at the sse; a total of 14 professors are taking their ex- pertise into the lecture halls and labo- ratories. professor stefan glunz of inatech and section head at the fraunhofer institute for solar energy systems says the idea is good: “the contributions the parties make in the field of sustainability complement one another. the university is much stronger in basic research, and the fraunhofer institutes are very good in applied research.” glunz himself lectures on solar energy and has been in the program since the get-go. this cooperation has another advan- tage - students can get student assistants’ jobs both at the university and at the fraunhofer institutes, allowing them to get the feel of work in the laboratory. what are the students’ expectations? “firstly - classic, solid, basic training in the engineering sciences,” glunz explains. that means a lot of materials science - from electrotechnology, infor- matics, physics, and chemistry. “it’s not a lightweight program,” he says. safe cars, stable power grids “we don’t just skim the surface of the problems - we go into the technical details.” how can you build a car to be light and also safe? at the fraunhofer ernst mach institute researchers at the crash-test center use various technologies to find out what happens when a vehicle hits something. photo: fr aunhofer emi it’s about finding answers. how can you build a car to be light and also safe? how can functional products be made cheaply and sustainably? how can electricity produced by renewables be sensibly fed into the power grid and stored? resilience is a bit topic. “put simply, it is the ability of a system to return to its ground level state despite a massive disturbance - after a natural disaster, for example,” glunz explains. how can we reduce the physics of fail- ure as far as possible? how can we construct a power grid to prevent a blackout? to answer such questions, the students also learn to examine the socio-economic, legal, and psycho- logical aspects. “we have to under- stand how society responds to chal- lenges, what the effects will be on the economy and the law,” he adds. not a sea - an ocean the program has proven popular. there were 280 applications for the first round; more than 40 students were chose - “the pioneers,” glunz calls them. a bachelor’s program is being considered for winter semester 2018-19; it would be in german as well as english. most of the students came to germany especially to take the master’s program. for some, it is their first time abroad. puneeth jakkula, an engineering student from india, is proud to be in the program. “i have learned more in these courses than ever before,” is his comment. but he wishes there were more lively discus- sion with the professors. graduates have a broad choice of potential professions. yupak satsrisakul completed a bachelor in electrotele- communications, has worked for some years in rail transport in her home country, thailand, and wants to do a master’s in the area of sustainable design and resilience development. nissanth kumaman from india went looking for a master’s program in europe so as to explore sustainable energies. “before i came, i thought the subject was a sea. in fact, it’s an ocean.” sustainability center the institute of sustainable technische systeme (inatech) at the university of freiburg is the third and newest institute at the faculty of engineering. at the same time it is the engineering core of the sustainability center founded by the university of freiburg and the five fraunhofer institutes in march 2015. the head of inatech and co-director of the center is professor stefan hiermaier.  www.pr.uni-freiburg.de/go/master-sse

01 2017 campus 9 unı life newspaper of the university of freiburg www.leben.uni-freiburg.de awoooooooooooooo! “wolf tracks” game lets players hunt and howl in a pack by rimma gerenstein in the “abgezockt!” series, members of the uni’leben editorial team meet with university of freiburg research- ers to play a game. the aim is to shed light on board games from an academic perspective. or something like that. the game raising cubs, hunting, fighting - players dice their way through the fi ve phases of a canis lupus. but the cliché of the lone wolf doesn’t escape without a few scratches. the game requires all parties to cooperate, for example to hunt down a bison or a moose. and howling together is more fun, anyway. but you can’t always avoid problems in the pack; there are fi ghts to see who’s top dog. this puts social behavior to the test. the players professor gernot segelbacher, wildlife ecology and management; felix böcker, forest research institute sonja seidel, press and public relations office how to play “we are all multiple personalities,” says gernot segelbacher. each player has three wolves. a roll of the dice determines who is a leader and who a follower. felix böcker is on top - he has the parents, the alpha male and the alpha vixen. “ah, these are clearly the alpha vixen. “ah, these are clearly north american timber wolves,” says north american timber wolves,” says the expert as he looks at his cards. the expert as he looks at his cards. they show two big animals with shiny they show two big animals with shiny brownish-black coats. “at last - a game brownish-black coats. “at last - a game in which i can impress you with my in which i can impress you with my boundless knowledge,” he jokes. boundless knowledge,” he jokes. segelbacher follows with another pair segelbacher follows with another pair and becomes the beta male, the and becomes the beta male, the pack’s deputy leader. it’s not sonja pack’s deputy leader. it’s not sonja seidel’s lucky day; she has omega, the seidel’s lucky day; she has omega, the runt of the pack. the game begins with a correction. the game begins with a correction. “we don’t call them alpha and beta “we don’t call them alpha and beta males any more,” böcker explains. males any more,” böcker explains. those terms arose in the mid-20th cen- those terms arose in the mid-20th cen- tury, when researchers observed tury, when researchers observed wolves in artificial enclosures. “the animals were all tossed in together and had no way of separating. so that kind of structure formed.” nowadays researchers know more, segelbacher assures us. “we know that a pack is made up of the parents and their cubs. the parents get food and teach their young everything they need to know. a lot like we humans do.” when a cub is old enough, it is sent out into the big wide world - that can mean trotting a few thousand kilometers from germa- ny to eastern poland - to fi nd its own territory and a mate. a wolf may live diversity on fi lm capturing diversity in seven min- utes – a new fi lm goes with members of the university of freiburg as they travel to work. they have roots in armenia, korea, romania, argentina, indonesia, and germany. they drive, cycle - or simply walk. they teach, work in the administration, or are writ- ing a doctoral thesis, and as they go, they tell us how they see the univer- sity, the city, and the country. the fi lm at a roll of the dice - felix böcker (left) draws the alpha wolf card, gernot segelbacher is the runner-up with the beta wolves – but the two experts say these terms are not in line with the current state of research. photo: thomas kunz fi ve to six years alone and waiting for the right wolf to come along. pretty much the way humans do. menu - a white-tailed deer which will cost the pack 24 points, and a caribou for a full 40 points. “the wolves wouldn’t attack the strongest male; they’d look for a weaker animal which the next step is - looking for food. can’t defend itself so well,” is segel- a wolf can catch small prey, such as rabbits and voles, by itself. for bigger bacher’s comment. the pack plays it rabbits and voles, by itself. for bigger bacher’s comment. the pack plays it players can make decisions about the players can make decisions about the phases of a wolf’s life by playing their phases of a wolf’s life by playing their action chips and strength tokens. action chips and strength tokens. photo: ma x orlich photo: ma x orlich game, like caribou or elk, wolves need to work together. seidel goes hunting. a lemming bites the dust. “for a wolf that’s barely an entrée, a snack at most,” says segelbacher. great. now everyone’s tummy is rumbling. make way for the hunting pack! the players lay down their action chips, face down. they determine how active the animals will be during the hunt. böcker is thinking “my alpha vixen needs enough strength to raise her cubs. the whole group benefi ts from that. so i won’t exhaust myself hunting.” on the safe. “the small deer is enough.” the animal is brought down. the card says it yields nine servings. the wolves eat according to their pecking order. alpha starts fi rst, then it’s beta’s turn, and omega is unlucky again - he goes hungry and looses points on strength. that job done, it’s time for the next phase... awooooooooo! that gives you recognition points. howling is more than just team building, the two re- searchers explain. for instance, if a wolf loses track of its family while hunt- ing, it can fi nd them again using this was made for the 2016 day of diver- sity. the event, which is held every year by the gender and diversity offi ce, shines a light on the issue of origins. nadine zacharias, a univer- sity of freiburg alumna, produced the fi lm with her company “moving ideas – filme für forschung und kultur.”  www.pr.uni-freiburg.de/go/fi lm-vielfalt neue produkte im sor timent produkte fi nden sie im online-shop: www.shop.uni-freiburg.de und in den buchhandlungen rombach und walthari acoustic signal. wolves also use the howl to tell neighboring packs - “we’re here, there are a lot of us, stay away!” the next phase includes hierarchical battles - a chance to move up the pecking order. the experts have some pecking order. the experts have some correction here too. “of course wolves correction here too. “of course wolves fi ght among themselves, but not within fi ght among themselves, but not within their own families. that is very rare.” their own families. that is very rare.” the players draw battle cards with the players draw battle cards with the numbers one to ten, which they use against one another. a higher number beats a lower one. all this baring of teeth, growling, and snap- ping shifts the ranking. segelbach- ping shifts the ranking. segelbach- er’s beta wolves put their tails be- er’s beta wolves put their tails be- tween their legs, while seidel’s runts tween their legs, while seidel’s runts move up. böcker’s alpha wolves re- move up. böcker’s alpha wolves re- main unchallenged but lose vitality main unchallenged but lose vitality points. however, nature compensates points. however, nature compensates for the losses. after more than an hour, for the losses. after more than an hour, three cubs strengthen the pack. but the three cubs strengthen the pack. but the end of the game is nowhere in sight. the analysis the game would be helpful in giving players an insight into the world of wolves - however it is not up to date, the two wildlife ecologists agree (regarding hierarchy battles and alpha males). “you could certainly use it to make stu- dents find out where the differences from the current research are,” says böcker. “for instance, they could think about setting up the different phases so that they were more like the real life cycle of a wolf,” segelbacher suggests. segelbacher and böcker would fi nd it interesting to add the aspect of wild- life management to the game. “it would be fascinating if the players had to solve problems - for example, if the wolves started killing sheep.” it would also be possible to include the relation- ship with farmers and hunters in the game, says segelbacher. “we work according to the motto ‘we don’t man- age animals but people.’ it would be possible to integrate research fi ndings - such as the question of when it’s worth putting up fences, or when the state should compensate farmers for stock killed by wolves.” the game’s overall focus is on north american animal life, böcker says. “not until the last decade was the infl u- ence of research there on the central european image of the wolf pushed aside by our own experience.” the sci- entifi c community here has caught up, and there would be plenty of material for a game to suit the european experi- ence. “but the principle is very much in line with the matter close to our hearts, which is to tell the public about wolves in a neutral and factual way, and to dispel their fears.” the big bad wolf only exists in fairytales. „wolfsspuren“, spieltrieb www.spiele-entwickler-spieltrieb.de foundation launches fi rst funding round doctoral candidates and postdocs at the university of freiburg can now apply for scholarships from the grünewald-zuberbier foundation. it sponsors extended research and study stays at a university or academic insti- tution abroad. it is the first dividend paid out by the foundation, which was founded and is administered by the university of freiburg. members of the medical faculty and the faculty of biology may apply via their deans’ offi ces. in order to support the univer- sity’s internationalization, the foun- dation is making available a sum of 21,000 euros in 2017. the foundation’s capital is drawn from the estate of professors karl gerhard grünewald, who died in 2013, and his wife erika grünewald, née zuberbier.

01 2017 compass 11 unı life newspaper of the university of freiburg www.leben.uni-freiburg.de all in one galaxy a new online platform allows scientists across europe to share bioinformatics’ infrastructure and service by nicolas scherger more than 30 terabyte of data, some 500,000 calculations - this example from the working group of pro- fessor lutz hein and dr. ralf gilsbach demonstrates how the life sciences could become data sciences. the team from pharmacology is working within the university of freiburg collaborative research center (sfb) medical epi- genetics and has decoded the entire epigenome of heart muscle cells. the epigenome is the entirety of epigenetic mechanisms, which determine which genes are active in a cell and which aren’t, whereby changing environmen- tal factors, such as nutrition, stress, or medication can create patterns. the group was able to use infrastructure which also arose with the sfb: galaxy – an open-source community project, initiated at penn state university in the us. it is a simple-to-use online platform via which the researchers can use high-performance computers for their data analysis. “galaxy enables us to carry out this kind of research quickly and efficiently,” gilsbach says. the pharmacologist took part in one of the first galaxy workshops which was organized by freiburg bioinfor- matics in 2013. since then, the group headed by professor rolf backofen and dr. björn grüning has continually expanded the infrastructure and the service. the team has been coordinat- new events for postdocs the university’s freiburg research services (frs) have expanded their options for postdocs planning their professional careers inside or outside of academia, with several new formats. on 4 april 2017, interested parties participated in the workshop time to write: your research proposal – our expertise, getting support with their funding applications and the chance to ask questions. the writing workshop took place from 9am to 4pm at friedrich- str. 41–43, second floor, room 02003. in summer semester 2017 the “brown bag” events will be launched, offering the chance of a snack around noon and information on issues such as the law relating to time-limited employ- ment contracts in academia, tenure track, or child care at the university. the frs also offers a coaching pro- gram for the first time, helping post- docs to reflect on the challenges of their everyday work with professional support. frs already provides finan- cial support for child care during the events. all events are free and open to researchers of all disciplines except medicine. registration is required.  www.frs.uni-freiburg.de/kurse_postdocs björn grüning and rolf backofen (from left) open doors to other researchers to analyze their own large data sets. photo: patrick seeger ing a performance center for bioinfor- matics since 2015. it is sponsored by the german ministry of education and research to the tune of some 5.8 million euros; it now makes its services available across europe. “the inter- ests and requirements of the users is paramount for us,” says backofen. working with the university computer center’s high performance computing team, the group is able to access mainframes and additionally offers advice and workshops - all free and on an open-source basis. more than 800 analytical tools another advantage to galaxy is that instead of developing the programs themselves - as is usual in informatics - the users can input all the settings for their data analysis easily via a graphic interface in the browser. “the researchers upload their data and can then apply and combine various ana- lytical tools, alter the parameters, translate the data into a relevant format, and much more - all on one platform,” backofen explains. already, more than 800 such analytical tools are available. if the right one is not there, the bioinformatics team will help in programming a solution. processes in the life sciences. instead of a clearly-viewed experimental setup, analyses are now often conducted which are the equivalent of hundreds of thousands of single experiments. “to be in the global forefront of your research, you need statistical method, high-quality data analysis, and a lot of computing power,” says grüning. around 400 researchers from some 40 working groups in the university, the medical center, and the max planck institute of immunobiology and epi- genetics use galaxy for their work; and in subjects such as pharmacy and biology, the platform is also used in teaching. if you would like to use the service, contact the team by email. easy access is provided with the help of the workshops and interactive online training materials, some of which take the user step by step through a simple data analysis. but that’s just the start. “galaxy is like excel; you can soon use plus and minus, but it really only gets interesting when you are doing more complex cal- culations,” says gilsbach. today all members of the pharmacology work- ing group use the platform and com- bine various data formats in ambitious analyses. the team reported their decoding of the heart muscle cell epi- genome in the specialist journal nature communications. “that kind of publication,” says gilsbach, “would not have been possible without galaxy.” the possibilities of big data are fun- damentally changing many research  http://galaxy.uni-freiburg.de move while you work sitting motionless, staring at the screen - that’s what students and office workers often do for hours. and as exams and deadlines approach, relaxation seems nigh impossible. no wonder that back pain, neck stiffness, headaches, or simply the discomfort of low blood pressure are common complaints. and yet it is not really hard to get relief. in this series, members of the university of freiburg’s health and fitness center demonstrate exercises which anyone can do any time at their desk. a strong back prevents pain when you pull your shoulder blades together, it should feel as if you could hold a pencil between them. photos: klaus polkowski by petra völzing humans have evolved (or mutated!) from homo erectus to homo se- dens. few people realize what hard work for the back sitting is. the mus- cles have to hold quite a bit of weight in position without moving. they can cramp up painfully. but you can strengthen your back muscles with a dynamic exercise which you can do any time at your desk: shift back slightly from the desk and hold your body loosely upright. part your knees slightly. with a straight back and neck, move your upper body forward and as you do, lightly tense your stomach muscles. put your arms, bent, between your knees. raise your upper body back to an upright position and lift your bent arms out to the sides. pull your shoulder blades together. you should feel as if you could hold a pencil bet- ween them. then tip your upper body forward again and repeat the whole exercise 15 or 20 times. you shouldn’t do it to fast, but it should be a fluid and conscious movement. breathing is important, too - breathe in as you sit up, and out as you go forward. and another thing: deep breathing now and again never hurts; because when more oxygen gets into your body, it activates your brain, and you can work better. move it! if you would like to take up an activity, contact the health and fitness center or book regular exercise sessions in your office with pausenexpress.  www.fgz.uni-freiburg.de www.gesunde.uni-freiburg.de/angebote/ projekte/pausenexpress

01 2017 personnel 13 unı life newspaper of the university of freiburg www.leben.uni-freiburg.de achievements appointments physicist professor peter jenni was selected by the american physical society (aps) for its panofsky prize. he receives the 10,000-dollar award jointly with michel della negra and tejinder virdee of imperial college london. the aps honors the physi- cists leading role in the conception, design, and construction of the atlas experiment. it is located at the large hadron collider at the european organization for nuclear research cern in geneva, switzerland. pd dr. dimitra kiritsi of the der- matology and venereology hospital at the freiburg medical center receives the 10,000-euro mathilde- wagner-preis. the university of freiburg medical faculty equal opportunities office has been making the award annually since 2014 for outstanding habilitation theses by researchers at the faculty. kiritsi’s research is into post-zygotic mosai- cism in heritable skin diseases. her work enables a new form of cell ther- apy in patients with genetically-deter- mined skin diseases. the sonja-bernadotte-medaille for garden culture goes to vivien von königslöw for her master‘s thesis at the chair of nature conservation and landscape ecology at the university of freiburg. the lennart-bernadotte- stiftung has been making the 1,000- euro award since 2004 to writers of above-average bachelor’s and master‘s theses in the field of horti- culture. in her thesis von königslöw showed that home-made insect hotels contribute considerably more to the protection of bees than the commercially-sold types. molecular biologist dr. jia li of im- perial college london, uk, receives a humboldt research fellowship for postdoctoral researchers from the alexander von humboldt foundation. with the fellowship, the foundation supports highly qualified researchers from abroad at the start of their careers. at the university of freiburg li will investigate new methods allow- ing the simultaneous identification of several dna signatures in bacteria at the single-cell level. this is intend- ed to improve diagnosis of hospital infections in the future. the host is dr. felix von stetten of the department of microsystems engineering. chemist lili liu of university of wollongong, australia, receives a humboldt research fellowship for postdoctoral researchers from the alexander von humboldt foundation. with the fellowship, the foundation supports highly qualified researchers from abroad at the start of their careers. at the university of freiburg liu will conduct research into the characteristics of lithium-air batteries at the nano-level, in order to raise the batteries’ life and power density. the host is dr. simon thiele of the de- partment of microsystems engineering. dr. susana minguet garcia of the bioss centre for biological signalling studies excellence cluster receives funding for her research project of 97,000 euros over three years from the baden-württemberg foundation’s elite program. bioss is to add another 12,000 euros. minguet garcia is to investigate chemical signals which cause the activation of the body’s defence cells and ultimately, an immune reaction. the findings will help in the development of an immu- notherapy against cancer. the foun- dation’s elite program for postdocs supports junior researchers on their way to a professorship. dr. martin pfeiffer of the deutsches seminar receives funding of 95,000 euros from the baden-württemberg foundation over the next three years. the deutsches seminar is to top up pfeiffer’s research project with a further 12,000 euros. pfeiffer will investigate exclamative constructions and conduct the first research into the ways in which adults and children use these expressions of surprise in dialogue. the foundation’s elite program for postdocs supports junior researchers on their way to a profes- sorship. dr. bidhari pidhatika of the minis- try of industry yogyakarta, indonesia, receives the georg forster research fellowship for experienced research- ers from the alexander von humboldt foundation. the fellowship is intend- ed for researchers in countries with developing or emerging economies, who have above-average qualifica- tions. pidhatika’s work focuses on the surface modification of biomaterials used in implants. while at the univer- sity of freiburg, she will investigate the particular question of how such surfaces could be fitted with bioactive molecules. the host is professor jürgen rühe of the department of microsystems engineering. improving agents for cancer treat- ments - for the project hide and seek with cancer drugs wilfried weber, professor of synthetic biology, receives a grant of approximately 150,000 euros. the funds are provid- ed by the european research coun- cil as part of a proof of concept grant. this goes to researchers whose proposals have already received funding from the erc, who use the innovation potential of an idea, and who aim to develop it until it is marketable. weber’s project aims to improve tolerance and efficiency of cytotoxic agents used in chemotherapy for the treatment of cancer. the dura- tion of the funding is 18 months. anniversaries 25th anniversaries helga heidiri, central administration rüdiger klöcker, university library professor konrad küster, music institute professor ferdinand r. prostmeier, institute of biblical and historical theology silke schillinger, central administration professor thomas stieglitz, department of microsystems engineering petra weber, central administration alexandra weber-flamm, central administration 40th anniversaries werner pfefferkorn, central administration venia legendi for dr. kerstin dittrich, psychology dr. göz kaufmann, german linguistics dr. lena partzsch, environment and development policy faculty of law faculty of humanities the rector has appointed dr. rüdiger engel, director of the freiburg planning office and assistant lecturer at the university of freiburg since 2004 as an adjunct professor. faculty of medicine professor tobias huber has accept- ed an appointment to the univer- sitäts-klinikum hamburg-eppendorf. he vacates the heisenberg chair of chronic kidney disease and gerontology at the freiburg medical center. the rector has appointed professor christiane kugler, universität witten, as a professor of nursing science as of 2 november 2016. faculty of philology professor antje dammel has accept- ed an appointment to the university of münster. she vacates the chair of german linguistics with a focus on variation and transformation at the deutsches seminar. professor rolf kailuweit of the rom- anisches seminar has turned down an appointment at the university of potsdam. the rector has appointed professor ursula schaefer, professor at the technische universität dresden until becoming an emeritus in 2013 and since then an assistant lecturer at the university of freiburg, to be an adjunct professor. dr. katharina kraus of the philoso- phisches seminar, university college freiburg has accepted an appointment to the university of notre dame, usa. the rector has appointed profes- sor andreas urs sommer, of the forschungsstelle nietzsche-kom- mentar at the heidelberger academy of sciences and humanities, a professor of philosophy focusing on cultural philosophy, effective 14 november 2016. faculty of mathematics and physics the rector has appointed professor tanja schilling, university of luxem- burg, as a professor of theory and statistical physics of soft condensed matter and complex systems, as of 1 april 2017. professor eicke weber, institute of physics and fraunhofer institute for solar energy systems ise, retired on 31 december 2016. faculty of engineering the rector has appointed dr. uwe pelz of the institute of microsystems engineering to the academic council for three years from 1 february 2017. faculty of biology the rector has appointed dr. maja banks-köhn, european molecular biology laboratory, a professor of integrative signal research at the institute of biology iii/bioss centre for biological signalling studies, as of 1 december 2016. the rector has appointed dr. oliver niehuis, of the stiftung zoologisches forschungsmuseum a. koenig, to be professor of ecology , evolutionary biology and biodiversity at the insti- tute of biology i as of 1 january 2017. professor edward pearce, deputi- zing professor at the university of freiburg, has accepted an appoint- ment as professor of immunobiology with the focus on the innate immune system at the institute of biology iii. the rector has appointed dr. wenjing qi vom institute of biology iii to the academic council for three years from 1 january 2017. the rector has appointed dr. pablo ríos-muñoz vom bioss centre for biological signalling studies to the academic council for three years from 1 december 2016. faculty of environment and natural resources professor dirk jaeger has been appointed to a professorship at göt- tingen university. he leaves the professorship of forest operations at the institute of forest sciences. the rector has named professor peter poschen-eiche, director of the brazilian office of the international labor organization and assistant lecturer at the university of freiburg, as an adjunct professor. mit direktbank und bundesweitem filialnetz. für mich: bbbank-junges konto 1 voraussetzung: genossenschaftsanteil von 15,– euro/mitglied. kostenfreie kontoführung bis 27 jahre, danach erfolgt automatisch die umwandlung in ein gehalts-/bezügekonto. voraussetzung für eine kostenfreie kontoführung ab ausbildungsbeginn/berufsstart: eingang ausbildungsvergütung bzw. gehalt/bezüge. 2 zinssatz variabel, befristet bis zur vollendung des 27. lebensjahres; vierteljährliche zinsgutschrift ihre vorteile: • kontoführung, bankcard und depot zum nulltarif 1 • für jugendliche unter 18 jahren: bei kontoeröffnung schenken wir ihnen die mitgliedschaft in höhe von 15,– euro • verzinsung bis max. 1.000,– euro kontoguthaben2 informieren 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