Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) is a German public research university that provides teaching, scientific research, and industrial collaboration in food chemistry, biotechnology, engineering, natural sciences, and allied subjects. The university conducts food chemistry and engineering research to investigate food composition, safety, quality, and processing technologies. Its research has broad implications for the food sector, including analytical methodologies and technologies applicable to potato-based meals, processed potato products, and food additives.
Margrave Friedrich of Brandenburg-Bayreuth founded the university at Erlangen, Bavaria, in 1743, and it was later enlarged in 1769 by Margrave Alexander. In 1961, the institution merged with the Nuremberg College of Business and Social Sciences to become the Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg that exists today. FAU has five faculties in Erlangen, Nuremberg, and the neighbouring areas, spanning sciences, engineering, medicine, humanities, and business.
In 2019, biochemists at FAU have discovered the reason why at high temperature potato plants form less or no tubers. If the temperature rises, a so-called small RNA blocks the formation of tubers. The researchers have successfully deactivated this RNA to create potato plants that are resistant to high temperatures.
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May 15, 2022
On the path to stress-tolerant potatoes
How do different potatoes respond to heat, drought, and waterlogging stresses? EU-backed scientists are investigating the changes that make potatoes resilient or susceptible.
May 15, 2019
Breakthrough research: potatoes can grow at high temperatures
If there’s one thing potato plants don’t like, it’s heat. If the temperature is too high, potato plants form significantly lower numbers of tubers or sometimes none at all. Biochemists at FAU have now discovered the reason why.
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This content was last updated on October 31, 2026
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