Cluster of Excellence NaviSense
© Exzellenz-Cluster NaviSense
DFG funds an excellence cluster initiative on animal navigation at University of Oldenburg with about 55 Mio Euro for the next seven years (2026 to 2032).
NaviSense aims at an interdisciplinary understanding of the mechanisms used by animals to navigate, and how these mechanisms can inspire technology and impact society, ecology, and biodiversity.
Research is structured in 4 interconnected foci:
(1) animal navigation mechanisms and their underlying senses
(2) quantum effects at ambient temperature in model systems and biology
(3) ecological and conservation related consequences of animal navigation
(4) linking biological and technical systems through models, algorithms, and devices.
NaviSense Speaker: Prof. Dr. Henrik Mouritsen
Magnetic perception in bacteria as inspiration for the identification of the magnetic receptor in animals? - © project PIs
Dirk Schüler participates in the excellence project as principal investigator.
He will contribute his expertise from decades of research on the magnetite-mediated navigation of magnetotactic bacteria in the geomagnetic field and the biosynthesis of their magnetic sensor organelles (enveloped magnetic nanocrystals, magnetosomes) within the research focus 'animal navigation mechanisms and their underlying senses'.