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What's UniSysCat all about?

Revolutionizing Catalysis

UniSysCat stands for Unifying Systems in Catalysis. We are a Cluster of Excellence - more than 300 researchers from four universities and four research institutes in the Berlin and Potsdam area - working jointly together on current challenges in the highly relevant field of catalysis.

UniSysCat unites biologists, chemists, engineers and physicists with the aim to revolutionize catalysis research.

News

Award-winning coatings make electrolysis more sustainable

Great success for catalysis innovations from TU Berlin: The Nano Cats GmbH wins one of the 2025 Validation Awards in the VIP+ program of the BMFTR. With nanotechnology, they develop coatings for electrodes that save energy.

Peter Seeberger re-elected as Vice President of the DFG

On July 2, the Vice Presidents of the German Research Foundation (DFG) have been elected. UniSysCat member Prof. Dr. Peter Seeberger, director at the MPICI and the CTC, has been re-elected for his second term in office.

Héctor D. Abruña

The 2025 Gerhard Ertl Lecture Award goes to Prof. Dr. Héctor D. Abruña

Every year, the Gerhard Ertl Lecture Award honors an outstanding scientist in the field of electrocatalysis. This year, Prof. Dr. Héctor D. Abruña receives the prestigious award named after UniSysCat's spiritus rector.

Group photo at the EC2/BIG-NSE retreat 2025 in Döllnsee.

2025 EC²/BIG-NSE Retreat

The EC²/BIG-NSE doctoral program, which is closely linked to UniSysCat, held its annual retreat on 12 and 13 June 2025. PhD students and supervisors shared their research progress and discussed the future of the program.

episode 59: Interlinked paths to energy. How biohydride fuels are produced.

New episodes of the podcast "exzellent erklärt"

Six episodes of the German podcast "exzellent erlärt" have been published since February. Listen in as a warm-up for an episode by UniSysCat coming very soon!

Das exzellente Pub Quiz zur LNDW 2025.

UniSysCat at the Long Night of Science

On June 28, the Long Night of Science took place in Berlin. UniSysCat contributed to the "Exzcellent Pub Quiz" by Berlin's 7 Clusters of Excellence at TU Berlin. It was a great evening!

Snapshots of a moving molecular light sensor

An international team including several UniSysCat researchers is using the powerful method of serial-femtosecond crystallography to visualize precisely how a bacterial light receptor reacts to illumination.

UniSysCat expires at the end of 2025, but not our research

On May 22, the German Research Foundation announced the funding decisions for the Clusters of Excellence. UniSysCat will not be funded beyond 2025. Yet, Berlin's catalysis research remains.

"Netzwerk Grüne Chemie Ost": Letter of Intent signed

Six leading institutions launched an initiative for sustainable chemistry to create an innovation ecosystem that combines chemical industry transformation with the challenges of structural change in eastern Germany.

Breakthrough in Methane Research: Activation Mechanism of the Methane-Producing Enzyme Deciphered

UniSysCat researcher Christian Lorent utilizes spectroscopy to provide the missing proof in the activation mechanism: The evolutionary link between two fundamental biological processes.

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Video: About UniSysCat

Video: Hydrogenase in action

Video: A hydrogenase in action
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Energie-Zeitenwende: Video with Youtuber Tom Bötticher

"Energie-Zeitenwende: mehr Effizienz durch bessere Katalysatoren" - Video with Youtuber Tom Bötticher
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The Synthesizer Podcast about the transformation of chemistry

Synthesizer Podcast

Consortium

Unifying Systems in Catalysis (UniSysCat) is funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) under Germany´s Excellence Strategy – EXC 2008– 390540038