Prof. Dobbek analyses the biochemical principles of bacterial growth on substrates, i.e. carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide as well as aromatic compounds, which also are pollutants. The main focus lies on the functional and structural investigation of metalliferous enzymes that transform unreactive molecules in oxygen free conditions and thus enable bacteria to grow in a seemingly hostile environment. Developing new (biological) catalysts capable of energy-efficiently transforming carbon dioxide and monoxide is Prof. Dobbek’s goal. Moreover these catalysts are designed to generate new enzymes for the biological decomposition of substances damaging to humans and the environment.

Prof. Freytag holds the chair of Databases and Information Systems (DBIS). His research interests include all aspects of processing and query optimisation in (object-)relational database systems, developments related to databases (such as semi-structured or graph based data), data quality, big data analyses as well as privacy support in database and information systems. Furthermore, Prof. Freytag is involved in many cooperations using database technology for applications such as geoinformation systems (GIS), bioinformatics, physics and life sciences. In the past, he received the IBM Faculty Award four times for collaborative work concerning databases, middleware, and bioinformatics/life sciences. In 2009 and 2010, Prof. Freytag won the HP Labs Innovation Research Award for his research in the field of databases and cloud computing. He was one of the organisers of the VLDB (Very Large Data Bases) conference in Berlin in 2003, the most important international database conference. From 2001 to 2007, he was a member of the VLDB foundation (VLDB Endowment Inc.). Since 2009, Prof. Freytag has been the spokesperson of the department DBIS of the German Informatics Society (GI).

Prof. Grimm and his team mainly investigate the metabolic control of tetrapyrrole biosynthesis and photosynthesis. They also do research on the regulation of sucrose transport in plants. The plant science team is interested in studying the unique properties and functions of plant cells, such as intracellular communication between the nucleus and the two main plant organelles, plastids and mitochondria. Prof. Grimm’s group applies several experimental methods and techniques from the areas of biochemistry, genetics, molecular and cell biology in their research and in the training programs for students and young academics.

Prof. Haerdle’s main research interests are quantitative finance, esp. multivariate methods in banking and finance, dimension reduction techniques, and computational statistics. In his roles both as coordinator of the Collaborative Research Center “Economic Risk” (CRC 649) and director of the interdisciplinary Center for Applied Statistics and Economics (C.A.S.E.) he primarily investigates economic risks on a global scale. Prof. Haerdle’s research aims at facilitating the evaluation of such risks and to reduce uncertainty to improve economic actors’ decision-making.
Prof. Haerdle is Distinguished Visiting Professor Wang Yanan Institute for Studies in Economics (WISE) at Xiamen University, China, as well as director of the International Research Training Group “High Dimensional Non Stationary Time Series” (ITRG 1792). Among other distinctions he received the “Econometric Theory Multa Scripsit Award” in 2012.

Prof. Helbrecht focusses her research on the cultural, social and spatial development of cities. She investigates urban branding, city image and identity as well as the marketing thereof. Neighbourhood and urban development policies, urban governance, housing markets and demographic change are also topics of her research. Furthermore, Prof. Helbrecht conducts analyses of social space and studies concerning the public sphere and space. As the director of the Georg-Simmel-Centre for Metropolitan Studies (Georg-Simmel-Zentrums für Metropolenforschung / GSZ), platform for interdisciplinary urban research, and as a member of the Integrative Research Institute on Transformations of Human-Environment Systems (IRI THESys) Prof. Helbrecht is well connected in her field of expertise and prepared for interdisciplinary research projects.

Prof. Hostert’s explores cutting-edge satellite data analysis. His main focus lies on questions regarding the global change, particularly large-scale mapping in agrarian- and forestry systems and near-nature ecological systems worldwide. He analyses the change of the earth’s surface through different methods, for example with machine learning, big data, time series analyses, hyperspectral and multisensor approaches, as well as multiscale analyses. Regional expertise of the team covers Germany, the mediterranean areas and South America, as well as Central Asia.

Model-driven engineering raises the level of abstraction in software engineering by using models as primary development artifacts. In particular, domain-specific modelling languages can ease the transition between informally sketched requirements or designs and implementations by supporting high-level yet formal representations as a starting point for automation. Moreover, using a model-based development approach, critical system properties can be analyzed, validated and verified even before the system is actually built. Model-driven development thus leads to an increase in both productivity and quality. To some extent, model-driven engineering has made its way into industrial practice, most notably for the development of embedded systems in various domains. However, model-driven engineering does not suffice to successfully manage all challenges of modern software engineering, and actually creates new problems. Research conducted at the Chair of Model-driven Software Engineering is particularly driven by relevant challenges and problems arising from the adoption of the model-driven engineering paradigm in industrial practice.

As part of their scientific activity Dr Markus Krutzik and the team members of the.quantum.chapter have acquired an extensive amount of expertise in developing tailored quantum sensors - from key technology to subsystem and system level. Quantum optical sensors and optical clocks are used in high-precision inertial navigation, gravimetry and gradiometry or for the synchronisation of networks. Hence, they are central for navigating GPS-free environments, for geophysics, the exploration of natural resources, the monitoring of climate change, and for addressing fundamental questions of modern physics. Central to their research are compact and robust setups for optical spectrocopy, absolute frequency references, and ultra-cold atom based inertial sensors. For this purpose, the team developed lasers and optical systems for generation and manipulation of light, as well as control software and data management platforms. Their setups are not only operated in laboratory research: They are also used as in field or even in space. In addition to development, testing and operation of atomic quantum sensors, Dr Krutzik and the team gained expert knowledge in all stages of mission and system design, ranging from mission architecture and identification of requirements to system integration and qualification, as well as development of control concepts and data analysis. In addition to Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin Dr Krutzik is also associated with Ferdinand-Braun-Institut, Leibniz-Institut für Höchstfrequenztechnik.

The research of Prof. Leser and his group is focused on all aspects of management, integration and analysis of heterogeneous, large and distributed data sets including natural language texts (text-mining and information extraction). This encompasses subjects such as data warehouses and ETL, graph databases, deep web and semantic web, machine learning, similarity search, scientific workflows, statistical methods of data analysis as well as methods for assessing and securing data quality. The team of Professor Leser conducts research in a variety of interdisciplinary projects, especially with colleagues from the life sciences covering the range from basic molecular biology to Systems Medicine.

http://humboldt.gmbh/forschungskooperation