Numerous research networks in which several departments join forces to address current scientific issues are testimony to the multidisciplinary character of research at the Department of Chemistry. Within the Excellence Initiative of the German federal and state governments, the University of Konstanz successfully applied for an interdisciplinary graduate school. The goal of the Konstanz Research School Chemical Biology is to provide PhD students with a strong foundation in chemical and biological methods and approaches that will enable them to better understand and experimentally unravel complex processes at the molecular level.
Furthermore, researchers at the Department of Chemistry participate in the Collaborative Research Centres (SFB) 767 (Controlled Nanosystems: Interaction and Interfacing to the Macroscale), 969 (Chemical and Biological Principles of Cellular Proteostasis) and 1214 (Anisotropic Particles as Building Blocks: Tailoring Shape, Interactions and Structures) as well as in the Center for Applied Photonics.
These research focuses underpin ChemLife, a transdisciplinary cluster aiming to gain insight into the molecular and network level adaptation of biological systems to changing conditions using chemical tools. Building on this understanding, the long-term objective is to fuse biological and synthetical components into hybrid systems with tailored properties.