How can we improve the identification and prompt diagnosis of genetic diseases? A new Research Unit at Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, the medical school operated by Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, will set out to identify and reliably interpret important non-coding sections of our genomes in the hope of finding the diagnosis for unsolved diseases. The researchers’ objective is to develop software capable of analyzing whole-genome data in the clinical setting. The interdisciplinary Research Unit will see medical specialists work alongside experts from the fields of genetics, molecular biology, cell biology, structural biology, and bioinformatics. Led by Prof. Dr. Markus Schülke of Charité’s Department of Pediatrics, Division of Neurology, the Research Unit will receive approximately 3.5 million euros over a period of three years from the German Research Foundation (DFG).

The Research Unit “Cinepoetics – Center for Advanced Film Studies,” which is based at Freie Universität and conducted in cooperation with Filmuniversität Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF, will be funded for four additional years. Led by the professor of film studies, Hermann Kappelhoff, the researchers explore the theoretical conditions and historical peculiarities of audiovisual discursivity.

The DFG also extended the funding for the Research Unit “Rough Paths, Stochastic Partial Differential Equations and Related Topics” at Technische Universität Berlin. The spokesperson for the Research Unit is Peter Karl Friz, an Einstein Professor at Technische Universität Berlin. Researchers from Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, the Weierstrass Institute for Applied Analysis and Stochastics (WIAS), and the University of Potsdam are also involved in the project devoted to differential equations in various fields of application.

Research Units enable researchers to pursue current and pressing issues in their research areas and to take innovative directions in their work. Centres for Advanced Studies in the Humanities and Social Sciences are tailored to the working methods used in these disciplines. As the DFG announced in Bonn, funding was approved for six new Research Units, and nine more were renewed for a second funding period. As a whole, the DFG is now funding 168 Research Units, 10 Clinical Research Units, and 12 Centres for Advanced Studies in the Humanities and Social Sciences.