The University of Bonn has once again demonstrated its excellence as a research institution in the latest Global Ranking of Academic Subjects 2024—part of the high-profile Shanghai Ranking. Mathematics and Economics held on to their respective first-place rankings in Germany, enjoyed for several years now. Agricultural Sciences now ranks third nationally.

Whether lying on their back, all-fours position, sitting upright or squatting - women adopt different birthing positions during childbirth. What has not yet been researched is how the respective final birthing position affects the satisfaction of the woman giving birth. Researchers from the University Hospital Bonn (UKB), the University of Bonn and the University of Cologne have now investigated precisely this. In particular, they also took into account whether the choice of birthing position was voluntary. The results showed that it was precisely when this was chosen voluntarily that women were more satisfied. Around three quarters of those surveyed were lying during the birth and were particularly dissatisfied if they felt that they had not made this choice themselves. However, if the expectant mothers had chosen the supine or lateral supine position themselves, the position actually tended to make them more satisfied. The study has now been published in the journal "Archives of Gynecology".

Our ability to see starts with the light-sensitive photoreceptor cells in our eyes. A specific region of the retina, termed fovea, is responsible for sharp vision. Here, the color-sensitive cone photoreceptors allow us to detect even the smallest details. The density of these cells varies from person to person. Additionally, when we fixate on an object, our eyes make subtle, continuous movements, which also differ between individuals. Researchers from the University Hospital Bonn (UKB) and the University of Bonn have now investigated how sharp vision is linked to these tiny eye movements and the mosaic of cones. Using high-resolution imaging and micro-psychophysics, they demonstrated that eye movements are finely tuned to provide optimal sampling by the cones. The results of the study have now been published in the journal "eLife".

Propofol is used in the operating room to induce anesthesia. To maintain anesthesia, a continuous infusion of the agent via a separate syringe pump is the standard procedure for total intravenous anesthesia. However, this is not entirely sustainable: propofol produces about 45 percent of the drug waste in the operating room, and a quarter of the agent remains unused. Researchers at the University Hospital Bonn (UKB) and the University of Bonn have now shown that an alternative method reduces the amount of waste. Instead of a separate syringe for the induction and maintenance of anesthesia, the researchers were able to show that the use of a single syringe pump for the induction and maintenance of anesthesia is more sustainable: propofol waste could be reduced by between 30 and 50 percent. The study has now been published in the British Journal of Anaesthesia.

The University of Bonn has further advanced in the latest Times Higher Education (THE) World University Ranking 2025, now ranking 89th worldwide—up two slots since last year. In Germany it improved as well, climbing one slot to fifth place, in the company of the country’s other leading institutions like Technical University of Munich, the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, the University of Heidelberg and Humboldt University of Berlin.

We often only realize how important our sense of smell is when it is no longer there: food hardly tastes good, or we no longer react to dangers such as the smell of smoke. Researchers at the University Hospital Bonn (UKB), the University of Bonn and the University of Aachen have investigated the neuronal mechanisms of human odor perception for the first time. Individual nerve cells in the brain recognize odors and react specifically to the smell, the image and the written word of an object, for example a banana. The results of this study close a long-standing knowledge gap between animal and human odor research and have now been published in the renowned journal "Nature".

The genetic confirmation of a suspected diagnosis of "hereditary colorectal cancer" is of great importance for the medical care of affected families. However, many of the variants identified in the known genes cannot yet be reliably classified in terms of their causal role in tumor formation. Under the leadership of the University Hospital Bonn (UKB) and the University of Bonn, an international team of researchers has reassessed the medical relevance of a significant number of unclear variants and thus significantly reduced their number. The results of the study have now been published in the renowned journal "American Journal of Human Genetics".

The formation of pores by a particular protein, gasdermin D, plays a key role in inflammatory reactions. During its activation, an inhibitory part is split off. More than 30 of the remaining protein fragments then combine to form large pores in the cell membrane, which allow the release of inflammatory messengers. As methods for studying these processes in living cells have so far been inadequate, the sequence of oligomerization, pore formation and membrane incorporation has remained unclear. An international research team led by the University Hospital Bonn (UKB) and the University of Bonn has succeeded in answering this question with the help of antibody fragments, so-called nanobodies, which they have identified. They hope that this will lead to potential therapeutic applications. Their results have now been published in the journal "Nature Communications".