New heads at the university

Alfons Dehé takes up the Georg H. Endress Chair of Smart Systems Integration at the Department of Microsystems Engineering (MST) of the Faculty of Engineering. The endowed chair is affiliated to the management of the Hahn-Schickard Institute at Villingen-Schwenningen. Dehé represents the Microsystem Design field of research and Cleanroom Manufacturing. He develops silicon microphones that are used in smartphones or in Industry 4.0 applications, as well as environmental sensors that can be used to monitor air quality, amongst other things.

Dehé studied physics at the RWTH Aachen University and received his doctorate in 1997 at the Technische Universität Darmstadt. Since 1998 he has built up the entire supply chain for silicon microphones at Infineon Technologies AG in Munich and developed innovative microsystem sensors for mobile applications.

Olaf Groß is Professor of Experimental Neuropathology at the Faculty of Medicine. The chair is established in the Institute of Neuropathology of the Freiburg University Medical Center. Groß is dedicated to research into issues of innate immunity and will be collaborating on the new special research area/TRR ‘Development, function and potential of myeloid cells in the central nervous system (NeuroMac)’. His research is focused on the molecular mechanisms that lead to tissue inflammation. These inflammations are a key part of the immune response, protecting people from infections and promoting wound healing. However they can also damage the tissue, especially when they become chronic. Groß’s research aims to understand the molecular mechanisms of inflammations and to influence them in such a way that they improve infection defense at the same time as damaging the human body as little as possible. He will also be researching in Freiburg into the role of a cellular signal complex in cells with innate immunity – known as the inflammasome – in chronic inflammations that trigger disorders such as Multiple Sclerosis.

Groß studied biology at the Technical University of Munich, where he obtained his doctorate in 2008. In 2015 he qualified to be a professor in Molecular Medicine. Following a period of research work at the University of Lausanne in Switzerland, from 2012 to 2017 he led a junior research group funded by the European Research Council (ERC) at the Technical University of Munich.

Andreas Vlachos is Professor of Neuroanatomy and heads the Department of Neuroanatomy at the Institute of Anatomy and Cell Biology of the Medical Faculty. The focus of his research is on the structural and functional adaptive responses of nerve cells and their molecular regulation. This ability of the nervous system is summed up by the term ‘neuronal plasticity’ and is believed to form the basis for complex brain functions such as the processes of learning and memory. Neurological and psychiatric diseases combine with disorders of neuronal plasticity. In this context, Vlachos’ department is researching the influence of coagulation and inflammation factors. The aim of the work is to develop new therapeutic approaches that influence neuronal plasticity – also known as neuromodulation. This involves the use of amongst other things non-invasive brain stimulation techniques such as transcranial magnetic stimulation.

Vlachos studied medicine at the Goethe University Frankfurt and received his doctorate in 2010 in Frankfurt am Main after a period of research at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel. In 2014 he qualified to be a professor in Anatomy. He previously held the Chair of Anatomy at the Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf. He has been honored for his dedication to teaching with faculty awards in Frankfurt and in Düsseldorf.