FAU Research Center New Bioactive Compounds
About
The FAU Research Center “New Bioactive Compounds” (FAU NeW) promotes outstanding research at FAU and Universitätsklinikum Erlangen on new bioactive compounds, their targets and mechanisms of action and strengthens collaboration in the field of bioanalytics. For this purpose, internationally renowned researchers from pharmaceutical science, food chemistry, and pharmacology combine their research activities in interdisciplinary teams. In this environment, the FAU NeW members develop and optimize drug candidates, bioactive food components and formulations. Another focus is on the identification of new target proteins and studies on target–ligand interactions and the role of target proteins in signal transduction.
Goals
The interdisciplinary basic research on novel mechanisms of actions and pharmaceutical therapy concepts moves more and more to universities and academic institutions. The rational design of new drug candidates based on recent scientific results on their mechanism of action is a highly innovative field of basic research with a particularly high relevance for society. The entire spectrum of pharmaceutical and medical research is represented at FAU NeW – from the development and optimization of bioactive compounds and bioanalytics to applications and studies in clinical disease models. In addition to pharmaceutical substances, food components are also important bioactive compounds that interact with target proteins in the body creating a wide range of health effects.
Besides interdisciplinary scientific collaboration, FAU NeW aims to
- closely coordinate the interdisciplinary teaching in the educational programs Pharmacy, Food chemistry, Molecular science and Molecular medicine
- provide a structured post-graduation program for PhD students working in the field of FAU NeW in the Emil Fischer Graduate School
- boost the international visibility of research and teaching in the field of new bioactive compounds
- create a powerful instrumental infrastructure, particularly by setting up a Core Unit Mass Spectrometry/Formulation
- create interdisciplinary PhD positions working at the interface of different FAU NeW groups
- cooperate with other national and international research institutes engaged in similar goals
- reach out to the wide interested public by events and public relation measures transporting relevant FAU NeW topics
Emil Fischer Graduate Programme
Structured education of graduates within efs-NeW
It is the aim of the Emil Fischer Graduate Programme (efs-NeW) to provide young researchers pursuing their doctoral thesis in an interdisciplinary environment with key qualifications required for a successful career in drug target research and drug development. Main areas of interest are the identification and characterization of target proteins, signaling cascades, drugs and mechanisms of action as well as related bioanalytical techniques.