Teaching and research at the Chair for Database Systems, led by Torsten Grust, is primarily based on relational database systems. We explore innovative uses and modifications of relational database technology to turn these systems into something new — super-scalable XML processors or efficient backing stores and runtime environments for modern scripting languages, for example.  

More often than not, we build upon methods and insights found outside the core database systems domain, like the semantics and compilation of programming languages or modern CPU architecture. Our implementations of the resulting ideas (Pathfinder and Ferry) are tangible evidence that established database technology can have fascinating and offbeat aspects.