Breakthroughs and New Research Areas at TUM
In 20 years, our Fellows and hosts conducted more than 260 scientific projects together. The following are a few examples that we think were particularly successful: They yielded groundbreaking new results through interdisciplinary research and/or demonstrated new research avenues for TUM and opened up new research fields for the long term
Searching for new particles and forces beyond the standard model
Focus Group Fundamental Physics
The function and dysfunction of neural circuits
Focus Group Neuroscience
Andrzej J. Buras, Stefan Pokorski and Gino Isidori, 2007–2010
The TUM-IAS invested in efforts to consolidate and eventually extend the famous Standard Model of particle physics by providing first a Carl von Linde Senior Fellowship to Andrzej J. Buras (TUM) followed by Hans Fischer Senior Fellowships to Stefan Pokorski (Warsaw University) and Gino Isidori (Frascati National Laboratories). Despite the experimental confirmation of the existence of the Higgs boson in 2012 at CERN, many open questions in particle physics remain, requiring new particles and forces at distance scales by at least an order of magnitude smaller than an attometer. The Fundamental Physics group at TUM-IAS, led by Andrzej J. Buras, developed very powerful theoretical methods that help experimentalists around the world discover this new world and thereby answer several outstanding questions that the Standard Model could not. This includes a hierarchical spectrum of the elementary particles and leptons.
The Max Planck Medal 2020 and the Sakurai Award 2024, two of the highest awards in theoretical physics, given to Andrzej J. Buras, as well as his Advanced ERC Grant (2011-2016) culminate the successes of the TUM-IAS in this field in the last 20 years.
Arthur Konnerth, Thomas Misgeld and Bert Sakmann, 2007–2013
The work of Arthur Konnerth and Thomas Misgeld, in collaboration with Nobel laureate Bert Sakmann, revealed essential aspects of neuronal function and dysfunction from a cell biological view to the circuit level. This work ranges from discovery studies, how sensory information is processed in mammalian cortex, to disease-oriented studies of how cortical circuit function is disrupted in Alzheimer’s disease or Multiple Sclerosis. This involved new intravital microscopy approaches for imaging across many scales. These enabled large-scale studies of circuit function, that involved recording neuronal activity from hundreds of neurons using calcium imaging, but also subcellular investigations, e.g. into the function of individual neuronal contacts, interactions between neurons and their supporting glial cells, or even dynamic observations of intracellular structures, such as energy-providing mitochondria or the cell’s shape-giving cytoskeleton. Together, the efforts by this TUM-IAS Focus Group proved to be foundational for a new DFG Cluster of Excellence (initiated by Thomas Misgeld together with colleagues from LMU), which over the past decade has expanded such systemic approaches to brain function and dysfunction to the entire Munich neuroscience community.
2005:
- Founding of the TUM-IAS as the centerpiece of the Excellence Initiative proposal
2006:
- Founding of TUM-IAS management offices Founding Managing Director: Günter Schmidt-Gess
- Visits to role model institutions Princeton Institute for Advanced Study and Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Study
2007:
- Installment of the Board of Trustees
- Appointment of 1st Director: Patrick Dewilde (TU Delft)
- 1st TUM-IAS offices: Nymphenburger Straße
- 1st 8 Fellowship-Appointments: Carl von Linde Senior Fellows, Hans Fischer Senior Fellows and Hans Fischer Tenure Track Fellows
2008:
- Installment of the Advisory Council
- Integration of Institute for Earth System Preservation (IESP) into TUM-IAS
2009:
- 1st Rudolf Diesel Industry Fellows
2010:
- Move into TUM-IAS Headquarters (donated by BMW group) on the Garching campus
- 1st TÜV Süd Visiting Fellows
2011:
- Begin of Lecture Series Science and Society
2012:
- 2nd Round of the Excellence Initiative
- 1st Hans Fischer (Junior) Fellows
- Start of the EU Marie Curie COFUND funding phase
2013:
- Director: Gerhard Abstreiter
- 1ˢᵗ Scientists Meet Scientists - Wednesday Coffee Talk
- 1ˢᵗ Sunday Matinee Was machen eigentlich unsere Nachbarn, die Forscher, in Garching?
- 1ˢᵗ Munich Battery Discussion
- 1ˢᵗ Selection and Appointment of Rudolf Mößbauer Tenure Track Professors
Facilitating new bio-engineering technologies
Synbreed: Statistical and Quantitative Genomics. Enhancing genomic breeding with open-source software.
The chemistry beyond the molecule
Focus Group Medicinal and Bioinorganic Chemistry
Daniel Gianola, 2012–2015
Another fine example is the TUM-IAS funding of the development of methods for genome-enabled prediction of complex traits using DNA information as an input. Work focused mainly on adapting Bayesian theory and computational methods and machine learning to plant breeding, involving collaboration with various research groups in Denmark, Spain and the USA. The activities included international courses, seminars, symposia and the training of doctoral and post-doctoral candidates. The Synbreed open-source Statistical Analysis Package for Plant and Animal Breeding originally proposed by Chris-Carolin Schön had great impact in the scientific community towards making breeding based on DNA analysis and phenotyping practical. The combined expertise of Schön and Daniel Gianola created a powerful interdisciplinary environment for tackling challenging research questions in the field of agricultural genetics and genomics
Angela Casini, 2016–2019
One of the Focus Group’s aims included exploring su-pramolecular strategies to achieve novel drug delivery systems for metallodrugs. Since 2016, various proof-ofconcept results were obtained in this area by Hans Fischer Senior Fellow Angela Casini (Cardiff University) in collaboration with the Department of Chemistry of the TUM School of Natural Sciences (Fritz E. Kühn), which unraveled new uses of metal-based supramolecules and materials for biomedical applications, including as multi-functional targeted theranostics. Notably, Angela Casini established highly interdisciplinary connections with Hans Fischer Senior Fellow Bernhard Schrefler (University of Padova) and Hans Fischer Fellow Alessandro Reali (Uni-versity of Pavia), both world-leading experts in the field of computational mechanics and advanced materials. These interactions were pivotal in the development of the Focus Group’s topic towards the study of non-covalent interactions in materials by advanced atomistic simula-tions optimized by machine learning algorithms. Based on these advancements, Angela Casini now leads an in-ternational team funded by the prestigious EIC (European Innovation Council) Path Finder Open grant to develop next generation supramolecular radio-theranostic agents. Since 2019, Angela Casini has been a Liesel Beckmann Distinguished Professor and Chair of Medicinal and Bio-inorganic Chemistry at TUM.
2014:
- 1ˢᵗ TUM-IAS Faculty Day
- 1ˢᵗ Anna Boyksen Fellow
2015:
- Director: Ernst Rank
2016:
- 1ˢᵗ TÜV Süd Hans Fischer Senior Fellow
- Introduction of the Tandem Rule for Hans Fischer (Senior) Fellowship Nominations
- TUM-IAS at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Washington, D.C.
2018:
- 1st Regional Hans Fischer Senior Fellow (Latin America)
- 1st Hans Fischer (Senior) Fellows funded by Siemens AG
Reliable and predictive computational simulation
Computational Science and Engineering
Towards photorealistic reconstruction
Focus Group Visual Computing
Matthias Niessner, Angel Chang, Leonidas Guibas, Luisa Verdoliva, 2017–2023
The vast field of computational science and engineering has been a focus since the outset of TUM-IAS. World-leading researchers among the TUM-IAS Fellows include Mirko R. Bothien, Ioannis Brilakis, Eleni Chatzi, Markus Hegland, Antonia Larese, Rainald Löhner, Luca Magri, Michael Ortiz, Alessandro Reali, Bernhard Schrefler, Zohar Yosibash and Nicolas Zabaras, working with their hosts Kai-Uwe Bletzinger, André Borrmann, Hans-Joachim Bungartz, Phaedon-Stelios Koutsourelakis, Wolfgang Polifke, Ernst Rank, Thomas Sattelmayer, Daniel Straub, and Wolfgang Wall, and many others on advanced modeling of physical and technical systems or on the development of new computational methods, including sophisticated software and application-oriented simulations on all scales of computers. While fundamental algorithmic developments have been of central interest across all groups, application areas range from structural and fluid mechanics to biomechanics, simulation for additive manufacturing, and geophysical problems, including reliability analysis and system identification. TUM’s world-leading position in this field is documented, e.g., by establishing new international conference series (Simulation in Additive Manufacturing, biannual since 2017) or hosting the World Congress on Computational Mechanics in 2026. Furthermore, with a very substantial donation and enabled by previous achievements through TUM-IAS, TUM could establish the Georg Nemetschek Institute - Artificial Intelligence for the Built World.
The Focus Group Visual Computing hosted by Matthias Niessner (TUM-IAS Rudolf Mößbauer Tenure Track Fellow) is pushing the state-of-the-art at the intersection of vision, graphics, and machine learning with its research mission to obtain high-quality digital models of the real world. For instance, the group has developed methods to obtain photorealistic avatars from which videos can be synthesized that are barely distinguishable from the real video captures. The research ideas have led to the spin-off Synthesia, co-founded by the group, which now has a market evaluation of over 1 billion USD with over 450 employees across Europe. Academically, the group has established a wide range of collaborations, including on 3D geometric machine learning with Leonidas Guibas’ team at Stanford, who is also a Hans Fischer Senior Fellow at the TUM-IAS. In addition, the research on media forensics to detect AI-generated images and videos with the group from Luisa Verdoliva’s lab in Naples – also a Hans Fischer Senior Fellow – is critical to address the ethical implications of synthetically generated AI-based visual content. Finally, the Focus Group Visual Computing established a new DFG research unit “Learning and Simulation in Visual Computing” in collaboration with the other vision and graphics groups at TUM to further push the boundaries in AI-based visual computing research.
2019:
- Permanent Status of TUM-IAS as an institute of TUM
- 1st Round of Excellence University
2020:
- Director: Michael Molls
- TUM-IAS Co-Coordination of Garchinger Gespräche
- 1st Exploratory Workshops for Innovation Networks
2021:
- 1st Albrecht Struppler Clinician Scientist Fellows
2022:
- 1st Hans Fischer (Senior) Fellow funded by TUM Georg Nemetschek Institute
- Relaunch of Carl von Linde Fellowship
2023:
- 1st Philosophers in Residence funded by TÜV Süd Foundation
- 1st Awards by the Nobel Sustainability Trust
- 1st Fellows funded by Dieter Schwarz Foundation