Success in the Excellence Competition: New Research Cluster NUCLEATE
05/22/2025The University of Würzburg has secured funding for two Clusters of Excellence under the Excellence Strategy. One of them is the new NUCLEATE Cluster, which focuses on the innovative field of nucleic acids.
It is official: The University of Würzburg (JMU) has secured two Clusters of Excellence in the competition for funding under the Excellence Strategy. Launched by the German federal and state governments, the Excellence Strategy is a highly competitive funding programme designed to foster cutting-edge research. This paves the way for JMU to become the third University of Excellence in Bavaria. Not only the renewal proposal for the ctd.qmat Cluster in the field of quantum physics was successful, also the new NUCLEATE project will be funded for seven years beginning January 1, 2026.
Consisting of members from the Faculties of Medicine, Biology and Chemistry and Pharmacy, NUCLEATE (Cluster for Nucleic Acid Sciences and Technologies) is a Cluster in the innovative field of nucleic acids. Its objective is to harness the potential of nucleic acids towards a new understanding of their role in biology and to pave the way into the field of nucleic acid medicine. In the context of NUCLEATE, the University of Würzburg will work together with the two Munich universities LMU and TUM to strengthen interdisciplinary and interinstitutional collaboration in this field.
‘NUCLEATE investigates fundamental biological principles and mechanisms of action of nucleic acids in the cell in diverse disease contexts,’ said Cynthia Sharma, designated representative for Würzburg and holder of the Chair of Molecular Infection Biology II. ‘I am very happy that our proposal for this Cluster has been successful. In NUCLEATE, our Munich colleagues and we will, for the first time, pursue a nucleic acid-centred approach and investigate both the functions and mechanisms of nucleic acids as actors in the cell and the processes that influence nucleic acids themselves. We will use our findings to develop new nucleic acid-based biotechnological and biomedical applications.’
‘Working together across disciplines at three Bavarian universities and combining our expertise in the field of nucleic acids will strengthen biomedical research in Bavaria in the long term – both nationally and internationally,’ emphasises Professor Caroline Kisker, who is coordinating the research project on the Würzburg side together with Professor Sharma and who is also a Vice-President of JMU and the holder of the Chair of Structural Biology. ‘I’m curious to see what findings the Cluster will produce and how they will advance nucleic acid-based technologies and medicine.’
