Hearing loss, the most common sensory disease, impacts communication, cognition, brain health, social participation, and well-being. As a leading consortium with unmatched interdisciplinary expertise in hearing research, we uncovered the effects of hearing loss on brain and cognition during previous funding phases and developed pioneering biomedical and engineering solutions for personalized hearing care. Although we have substantially advanced hearing loss treatment, we are still far from fully restoring the richness of natural hearing. This is due to a lack of insights into the links between molecular and auditory profiles necessary for causal therapies, and a scarcity of truly transformative technological approaches for rehabilitative treatment of hearing loss. However, with recent developments in genetics, data science, AI and health technologies, we now have an unprecedented opportunity to address these limitations.

The goal of the cluster of excellence Multiscale Bioimaging: from Molecular Machines to Networks of Excitable Cells (MBExC) is to decipher disease-relevant nanoscale functional units in cardiac and neural excitable cells.

One of the most spectacular of all animal behaviours is the ability to precisely navigate over vast distances. Transcontinental flights of tiny insects with minute brains or the global movements of billions of birds, sometimes to destinations never previously visited, are remarkable feats which are still barely understood. The scientific mission of NaviSense is to provide a thorough, interdisciplinary understanding of the senses and mechanisms used by animals to navigate, and how these mechanisms can inspire technology and impact society, ecology, and biodiversity.

PhoenixD, unique in Germany for technical optics, pursues a holistic approach by developing innovative optical systems that integrate hardware and software.

“To measure is to know” – that is the essence of the natural sciences. Measuring at the quantum frontier is the essence of quantum metrology.

The RESIST Cluster of Excellence team is committed to helping people who are particularly susceptible to infections. These include newborns, senior citizens and people with weakened immune systems. For them, viruses and bacteria can be not only stressful, but often life-threatening.

The cluster "Sustainable and Energy-Efficient Aviation" seeks to establish scientific foundations for the transformation of the air transport system over the next decades.

The ocean floor is the largest interface in the Earth system, where geological, physical, biological, and chemical processes drive global biogeochemical element cycling and climate dynamics. The Cluster addresses key gaps in process understanding on the global role of the ocean floor by quantifying interconnected budgets of energy, carbon and other elements as well as their dynamically changing properties under warming conditions.