The newly funded Cluster of Excellence NaviSense for the Sensory Basis, Mechanisms, and Impacts of Animal Navigation is a highly collaborative, interdisciplinary research project hosted at the University of Oldenburg and involving national and international partner institutions. As a diverse and international team of scientists from biology, physics, chemistry, computer sciences and social sciences we 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.
NaviSense performs research in the areas of (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, and (4) links biological and technical systems through models, algorithms, and devices. The acquired knowledge can help to solve major societal questions related e.g. to the biodiversity crisis, GPS independent navigation, and quantum sensing at ambient temperature. For more information see https://navisense.org/.
The research group Neurosensorics/Animal Navigation is dedicated to understand the intricate mechanisms underlying animal navigation. A specific emphasis is on the role of Cryptochrome 4 in avian magnetoreception. By employing cutting-edge techniques and an interdisciplinary approach, we aim to understand magnetoreception from the biophysics of electron spins via biochemistry, molecular biology and neuroscience to the behaviour of the animal.
