Creat­ing the Future
Projects

Science Evening 2025 in Retrospect

Recording of the Event Now Available on YouTube The 10th Science Evening of the Hector Fellow Academy took place on July 10, 2025, at the K20 Museum in Düsseldorf and was streamed live online. The event was organized in cooperation with Heinrich Heine University...

Modular Synthe­sis of Nitro­gen-Stabi­lized Carbene Complexes

Vanessa Vethake - Hector Fellow A. Stephen K. Hashmi

This project dealt with the development of a modular synthesis that allows access to a wide range of catalysts with properties tailored to the needs of the reactions to be catalyzed. The synthesis makes it possible to construct various N-heteroacyclic and N-heterocyclic carbene ligands with a wide range of electronic and steric properties directly at the metal center.

© Vanessa Vethake

Adaptive plastic­ity devel­op­ment in visual percep­tual learning

Markus Becker - Hector RCD Sebastian Frank

This project investigates neural mechanisms that play an important role in visual perceptual learning (VPL) when processing task-relevant and task-irrelevant visual information. Of particular interest here is how mechanisms of VPL change from childhood to adulthood and how the occurrence of VPL can be supported in different age groups.

© Markus Becker

Electri­cally Free Thermal Actua­tor for Preci­sion Control

Athira Kattiparambil Sivaprasad - Hector RCD Jingyuan Xu

Non-electric actuators offer a promising alternative for sustainable and remote operations. My research focuses on the development of thermal micro-actuators based on thermomagnetic thin films, which harness the intrinsic material property of magnetization loss near the Curie temperature to achieve controlled mechanical motion. Unlike conventional actuators that rely on electrical stimulation, these devices operate by thermal triggering, eliminating the need for continuous electrical input and thereby reducing power consumption.

© Athira Kattiparambil Sivaprasad

tRNA thioepi­tran­scrip­tome: Regula­tion of protein synthe­sis in vessel development

Ioannis Theodorou - Hector RCD Sofia-Iris Bibli

This project investigates how sulfur-containing amino acids regulate tRNA thiolation in endothelial cells, thereby controlling protein translation during vessel growth. Mapping the human endothelial tRNA thio-epitranscriptome will uncover novel translational control mechanisms and lay the foundation for potential therapeutic strategies targeting pathological angiogenesis.

© Ioannis Theodorou

Mecha­nisms under­ly­ing patho­gen­e­sis of SARS-CoV‑2 infections

Yannick Stahl – Hector Fellow Ralf Bartenschlager

SARS-CoV‑2 has caused a pandemic and is responsible for more than 18 million infections. It is hypothesized that COVID-19 is the result of killing of infected cells and excessive immune activation. To reveal cell types and pathways that are critically involved in viral replication and pathogenesis, I will use transcriptomics and functional studies of genes likely involved in these processes. The results might inform the development of therapeutic strategies and the discovery of biomarkers.

Mechanismen der Pathogenese von SARS-CoV-2 Infektionen© Yannick Stahl