Since May, Maria Barbarossa has been a FIAS Fellow and research group leader within Loewe's focus area CMMS (Center for Multiscale Modeling in Life Sciences). Her work is dedicated to the development of mathematical models and methods for understanding multiscale processes in immunology and the dynamics of epidemics. In this interview, she talks about her career and her current research on the COVID-19 epidemic.

Within the new LOEWE focus "Center for Multiscale Modeling in Life Sciences" (CMMS), the FIAS was able to recruit three new group leaders as Fellows.

The Romanian Academy of Sciences (Academia Română) has appointed Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. mult. Horst Stöcker as honorary member in recognition of his work on hot, dense elementary matter in heavy ion research and astrophysics, as well as his many years of commitment to the international scientific community. He is thus one of 91 foreign scientists who are entitled to bear this title.

Using a new model, scientists from the Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies (FIAS) and Goethe University can explain the development of binocular vision, which is the joint vision of the right and left eye. In doing so, they show how amblyopic visual impairment can occur.

In connection with the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2), the Goethe University provides information on mobility and health care. We refer to recommendations of the Robert Koch Institute and the Federal Foreign Office.

​In October 2019, during the Sino-German Conference for Science, Technology, Innovation and Cooperation in Berlin, representatives of Xidian University and FIAS signed the founding documents of the XF-IJRC.

Numerous working groups at FIAS work with methods of machine learning. In order to intensify the scientific exchange between the many scientists involved, the FIAS PhD students and Postdocs have created an exchange platform on their own initiative with the installation of the Journal Club.

The annual FIAS summer party, which was attended by numerous FIAS members, served as a worthy platform to award Dr. Sabine Hossenfelder with the newly established prize.

The Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies (FIAS), a unique think tank in Germany for cross-linking the natural sciences, has a new board of directors.

How can complex biological systems be described theoretically and how can their functions be precisely predicted? The new LOEWE focus "CMMS - Multi-Scale Modelling in the Life Sciences" at the Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies will investigate this.

The FIAS and the Chinese Xidian University have confirmed the idea to establish a 'Joint Research Center' in AI research during a visit of the FIAS delegation under the leadership of the chairman of the FIAS board of directors, Prof. Dr. Enrico Schleiff.

With his article "Model Brain - Boundary Conditions for a Cognitive Architecture" FIAS Senior Fellow Christoph von der Malsburg has contributed a chapter to the book "Cognitive Computing - Theory, Technology and Practice" recently published by Springer Verlag.

Efficient power grids are an essential prerequisite for a successful conversion of the energy system. In order to support work on the power grids of the future, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) is extending the funding of an interdisciplinary research project by three years, in which seven institutes, including the Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies with Professor Stefan Schramm, are involved. The joint project is funded by the BMBF with a total of 2.5 million euros.

One of the outstanding mysteries of the cerebral cortex is how individual neurons develop the proper synaptic connections to form large-scale, distributed networks. Now, an international team of scientists has gained novel insights from spontaneously generated patterns of activity by local networks in the early developing visual cortex. Apparently these form the basis for long-range neural connections that are established through brain activity over the course of cortical development. The scientists report their findings in the journal Nature Neuroscience.

The unique ability of cuttlefish, squid and octopuses to hide by imitating the colors and texture of their environment has fascinated natural scientists since the time of Aristotle. Uniquely among all animals, these mollusks control their appearance by the direct action of neurons onto expandable pixels, numbered in millions, located in their skin. Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Brain Research (MPI Brain Research), and the Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies (FIAS) and Goethe University (GU) used this neuron-pixel correspondence to peer into the brain of cuttlefish, inferring the putative structure of control networks through analysis of skin pattern dynamics. The scientists report their findings in the journal Nature.

FRANKFURT. How do neighboring synapses interact during learning? Frankfurt scientists have proposed a new mathematical model describing a competition of neighboring synapses for limited resources during learning. The scientists report their findings in the current issue of eLife.

On September 3, 2018, the STIFTUNG GIERSCH and the Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies (FIAS) invited to the ceremony marking the appointment of Prof. Dr. Edvard Moser as a FIAS Senior Fellow Laureatus. This honorary award is given to outstanding international scientists who are not only distinguished by their excellent research, but are also committed to the scientific community.