51

Press releases – March 2025

Whether it is new and groundbreaking research results, university topics or events – in our press releases you can find everything you need to know about the happenings at 51. To subscribe, just send an email to ott@pvw.uni-frankfurt.de

51 PR & Communication Department 

Theodor-W.-Adorno Platz 1
60323 Frankfurt 
presse@uni-frankfurt.de


 

Mar 11 2025
11:39

Researchers from 51 and its partners investigate the influence ozone and water vapor have on the troposphere and stratosphere

Tracking climate change: research flights over the Arctic

The Arctic is one of the regions most affected by climate change; temperatures in this region have risen by about four times the global average in recent decades. The ASCCI measurement campaign coordinated by 51 Frankfurt and Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) is researching why the Arctic is warming up so much more than the rest of the Earth's surface, and what effects this has. The researchers hope that ongoing measurement flights in the region – scheduled to run until the beginning of April – will help them better understand the causes and effects of Arctic climate change. 

FRANKFURT. The main question the ASCCI (Arctic Springtime Chemistry-Climate Investigations) measurement campaign seeks to answer is how ozone and water vapor in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere – i.e. at altitudes between around five and 15 kilometers – themselves influence and are in turn influenced by Arctic climate change. To this end, the campaign specifically investigates the processes taking place in spring, including the depletion of stratospheric ozone. The density of the ozone layer above the Arctic fluctuates over the course of the year and can thin out in spring when chemical and meteorological conditions coincide.

“There are warmer and colder winters in the stratosphere; the variability from one year to another is quite normal. What we are also witnessing is that the stratosphere is getting increasingly colder due to the rise in greenhouse gases, while temperatures on the ground and in the troposphere continue to increase," says Professor Björn-Martin Sinnhuber from KIT's Institute of Meteorology and Climate Research, who is coordinating the campaign together with 51 Frankfurt's Professor Andreas Engel. In years with a cold stratosphere especially, processes occur that resemble those of the Antarctic ozone hole, and a significant part of the Arctic ozone layer can be destroyed.  

“This winter has so far been characterized by unusually cold conditions in the Arctic stratosphere, i.e. the layer of air above about 10 kilometers. Although the concentrations of many chlorofluorocarbons and other ozone-depleting substances in the atmosphere are declining as a result of international regulations, since these gases are very long-lived in the atmosphere, this process takes a very long time," says Engel. “The measurements we conduct at 51 quantify how much ozone-depleting chlorine and bromine is present in the stratosphere – and the data show that this amount suffices to trigger chemical processes in these cold conditions, which in turn can lead to ozone depletion." At the same time, following the eruption of the Hunga-Tonga underwater volcano three years ago, there is still significantly more water in the stratosphere than normal, says Engel. As part of the ASCCI measurement campaign, the researchers also want to investigate how this affects the ozone layer.  

In spring, air pollutants in particular are transported into the Arctic, where they can act as short-lived greenhouse gases. The campaign seeks to better understand these processes using targeted measurements. The measurement flights will be carried out with the HALO research aircraft, which is stationed in Kiruna in northern Sweden until April.

Better understanding ozone depletion in the Arctic and its influence on the mid-latitudes

On board HALO, 51 operates a proprietary device that measures a variety of halogenated gases, which in turn are the source of the ozone-depleting chlorine and bromine in the stratosphere. “We want to understand how the chlorine and bromine released from the halogenated gases affect the ozone in the Arctic stratosphere, and whether this also has an impact on the mid-latitudes in which we live," Engel explains. “If air from the Arctic with a low ozone content is mixed with that prevailing in our mid-latitudes, this can also impact the ozone shield above us, which protects us from the sun's dangerous UV radiation." 

In addition to 51 Frankfurt and KIT, Forschungszentrum Jülich, German Aerospace Center (DLR) and the universities of Heidelberg, Mainz and Wuppertal are also part of the ASCCI campaign.

About HALO

The research aircraft HALO (High Altitude and Long Range Research Aircraft) is a joint initiative of German environmental and climate research institutions. HALO is funded by grants from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, the German Research Foundation (DFG), Helmholtz Association, Max Planck Society, Leibniz Association, the free state of Bavaria, KIT, Forschungszentrum Jülich and German Aerospace Center (DLR), which acts as both the aircraft's owner and operator.

Background information
ASCCI measuring campaign:  
HALO research aircraft:  

Picture download:

Caption: The HALO research aircraft lands in Kiruna, Sweden. The research flights over the Arctic take off from there. The photo is from an earlier mission. Photo: DLR (CC BY-ND 3.0)

Further information
Professor Andreas Engel
Institute for Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences
51 Frankfurt
Tel: + 49 (0)69 798-40259
an.engel@iau.uni-frankfurt.de
Web: http://www.geo.uni-frankfurt.de/iau


Editor: Dr. Markus Bernards, Science Editor, PR & Communications Office, Theodor-W.-Adorno-Platz 1, 60323 Frankfurt, Tel: +49 (0) 69 798-12498, bernards@em.uni-frankfurt.de

 

Mar 10 2025
13:39

Study shows how a 2-thiouracil molecule becomes reactive within a fraction of a second when exposed to UV radiation

X-ray snapshot: How light bends an active substance

With the help of the world's most powerful X-ray laser, European XFEL, a research team led by 51 Frankfurt and the research centre DESY has achieved an important breakthrough: Using the example of the pharmaceutically active substance 2-thiouracil, they applied a long-established imaging technique to complex molecules for the first time. Although 2-thiouracil is no longer applied therapeutically, it is part of a group of chemically similar active substances that are used today as immunosuppressants or cytostatics. The study shows how UV radiation deforms 2-thiouracil, making it dangerously reactive.

FRANKFURT. Many biologically important molecules change shape when stimulated by UV radiation. Although this property can also be found in some drugs, it is not yet well understood. Using an innovative technique, an international team involving researchers from 51 Frankfurt, the European XFEL in Schenefeld and the Deutschen Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY in Hamburg has elucidated this ultra-fast process, and made it visible in slow motion, with the help of X-ray light. The method opens up exciting new ways of analyzing many other molecules.

“We investigated the molecule 2-thiouracil, which belongs to a group of pharmaceutically active substances based on certain DNA building blocks, the nucleobases,” says the study’s last author Markus Gühr, the head of DESY’s free-electron laser FLASH and Professor of Chemistry at University of Hamburg. 2-thiouracil and its chemically related active substances have a sulfur atom, which gives the molecules its unusual, medically relevant properties. “Another special feature is that these molecules become dangerously reactive when exposed to UV radiation.” Studies indicate an increased risk of skin cancer due to this effect.

To better understand what happens during such processes, the research team used an already well-established method, bringing it to a new level by applying the technical possibilities available today. “Coulomb explosion imaging involves irradiating a molecule with intense X-ray pulses, which knock out electrons,” explains Till Jahnke, Professor of Experimental Atomic and Molecular Physics at 51 and the study’s first author. “Thereby, the molecule charges up positively and thus becomes unstable, so that it is torn apart within fractions of a second.” By tracking the direction in which the various fragments of the molecule – the atoms – fly apart, it is possible to derive information about the molecule’s structure.

To date, Coulomb explosion imaging had only yielded useful results for very simple molecules. Using an experimental setup specially developed at 51, the research team now combined this technique with the world's most powerful X-ray laser, European XFEL using the SQS (“Small Quantum Systems”) scientific instrument of EuXFEL. “This experiment is a technical innovation in many ways and it constitutes an important expansion of the experimental possibilities available at the SQS instrument. For the first time ever, it is now possible to use these imaging techniques on a biologically and medically relevant molecule, and not just for fundamental physics research,” says Michael Meyer, head of the SQS instrument, about the successful experiment.

European XFEL’s enormously powerful X-ray pulses made it possible to fragment this molecule, and thereby to conduct an analysis of its structure. The researchers sent the molecules into the X-ray laser beam using a fine gas nozzle, which means that only single, isolated molecules are irradiated at a time. An additional UV pulse, irradiated shortly before the X-ray pulse, was used to excite the molecules.

“By varying the time interval between the two pulses, it becomes possible to obtain something like a slow motion movie of these processes, which take place at an amazing speed within 100-1000 femtoseconds, that is less than a millionth of a millionth of a second” explains Jahnke. At the end of the process, a sophisticated detector registered the impact points and times of the various atoms of 2-thiouracil.

The experiment revealed two important findings, the first of which concerns 2-thiouracil: UV radiation causes this otherwise flat molecule to bend, which in turn results in the protrusion of the sulfur atom. This state is stable for a relatively long time; it ensures that the molecule becomes very reactive and might cause skin cancer, for instance. “This is also a significant difference to ordinary nucleobases, which are structurally very similar but do not have a sulfur atom,” says Gühr. “Instead, they have a mechanism for dealing with UV radiation and ultimately converting it into harmless heat via various excitation and oscillation states.” In the case of 2-thiouracil, the sulfur atom prevents such a conversion.

“The second finding is related to the experimental technique itself,” says Jahnke. “As we have seen, we don't need to track down all the atoms by the detector to reconstruct the molecule and its structural changes. All we needed in this case was to measure the sulfur and oxygen atoms as well as the four hydrogen nuclei, and we could ignore the six carbon atoms.” This finding will significantly simplify measurements in future investigations on even more complex molecules, and clearly illustrates the vast possibilities of this innovative method.

Publication: Till Jahnke, Sebastian Mai, Surjendu Bhattacharyya, Keyu Chen, Rebecca Boll, Maria Elena Castellani, Simon Dold, Ulrike Frühling, Alice E. Green, Markus Ilchen, Rebecca Ingle, Gregor Kastirke, Huynh Van Sa Lam, Fabiano Lever, Dennis Mayer, Tommaso Mazza, Terence Mullins, Yevheniy Ovcharenko, Björn Senfftleben, Florian Trinter, Atia Tul Noor, Sergey Usenko, Anbu Selvam Venkatachalam, Artem Rudenko, Daniel Rolles, Michael Meyer, Heide Ibrahim, Markus Gühr. Direct observation of ultrafast symmetry reduction during internal conversion of 2-thiouracil using Coulomb explosion imaging. Nature Communications (2025)

Picture download:

Caption: The SQS instrument’s COLTRIMS reaction microscope was used to analyze the structural changes of the 2-thiouracil molecule at the European XFEL. Photo: European XFEL 

Further information: 
Professor Till Jahnke
MPI for Nuclear Physics, Heidelberg
and
Institute for Nuclear Physics
51 Frankfurt
Tel.: + 49 (0)69 798 47023 (secretary)
till.jahnke@xfel.eu


Editor: Dr. Markus Bernards, Science Editor, PR & Communications Office, Theodor-W.-Adorno-Platz 1, 60323 Frankfurt, Tel: +49 (0) 69 798-12498, bernards@em.uni-frankfurt.de

 

Mar 4 2025
15:11

Inclusion research at 51 receives first-class evaluation 

How to establish a successful “school of diversity”

Internationally renowned inclusion expert Professor Vera Moser has held 51 Frankfurt’s “Kathrin and Stefan Quandt Endowed Professorship for Inclusion Research” since 2020. Funded by the Quandt family of entrepreneurs, this top professorship focuses exclusively on the topic. The continuation of the ten-year funding was tied to the professorship receiving a positive evaluation after five years. An external body has now evaluated the endowed professorship for inclusion research, giving it an extremely positive assessment.

FRANKFURT. Unanimously and firmly very positive – this is the verdict of the international expert report on the continuation of funding for the “Kathrin and Stefan Quandt Endowed Professorship for Inclusion Research”, which Prof. Vera Moser has held since 2020. In their evaluation, the three experts from the universities of Zurich, Graz and Stockholm attest to the professorship's outstanding achievements – both in the areas of research, teaching and the promotion of young talent, as well as with regard to cooperation within the university and the subject’s external impact on the international expert community. 

How can more children with disabilities be taught in mainstream schools? Set up in 2020, the endowed professorship for inclusion research and its team have been tasked with scientifically supporting the transformation of school education towards a “school of diversity” and contributing to the corresponding training of teachers. Vera Moser tackled these tasks in an extraordinary manner, the experts say, pointing out that her research is exceptionally productive compared to other professorships in inclusion and educational science – as shown by four approved third-party funded projects to date with a total volume of more than €500,000.

The evaluation also highlights that Vera Moser initiated new research findings in school inclusion research, thereby ensuring national and international visibility in her field. She is part of an interdisciplinary and participatory team researching the removal of barriers that exist in schools from the perspective of autistic pupils; one of her colleagues, Dr. Anne Piezunka, is researching the topic of “psychological violence” as exercised by teachers. On behalf of Frankfurt Municipality, Vera Moser is also investigating the reasons for the continuously rising demand for school places for pupils with a special educational focus on “intellectual development”. Together with her colleague Prof. Merle Hummrich, Vera Moser initiated 51’s [in:just] research initiative, which deals with questions of inclusion, justice and experiences of recognition in the education system. 

With respect to teaching, the reviewers emphasized Vera Moser's special ability to combine theoretical approaches with practical applications – an ability that contributes to her students’ high level of learning success and qualifies young academics in a special way. The inclusion researcher is also extremely active in communicating scientific findings to a broader audience as well as in the context of policy communication; for example, she was invited to serve as an advisory member of Germany’s Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs (SWK) on various topics.

The experts expressly recommend continuing the endowed professorship for the next five years. The donor couple, entrepreneur Stefan Quandt and his wife Kathrin, were “happy to make the decision to continue funding the professorship for the second half of the contract term (another five years)”, said the letter of commitment, dated early February 2025. 

The initiative for the professorship came from the Quandt entrepreneurial family five years ago. The couple had seen for themselves that the status quo of inclusion in schools was not prepared for the political demands placed upon it by the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which came into force in 2009. 51 Frankfurt was able to recruit internationally renowned inclusion expert Prof. Vera Moser from Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin to the new professorship. The endowed professorship was funded for ten years – provided that its work would be assessed positively at the halfway point. 


Editor: Pia Barth, Science Editor, PR & Communications Office, Theodor-W.-Adorno-Platz 1, 60323 Frankfurt, Tel. +49 (0)69 798-12481, E-Mail p.barth@em.uni-frankfurt.de

 

Mar 4 2025
14:44

Professorship to work closely together with Sigmund Freud Institute, building on the tradition of combining psychoanalysis and social perspectives

51 establishes professorship for clinical psychoanalysis using endowment funds

51 Frankfurt is investing €4 million raised from several funds to set up a new professorship for clinical psychoanalysis, which is to work together closely with Frankfurt-based Sigmund Freud Institute. The required funds come from Dr. Elmar und Ellis Reiss Stiftung, Franz Adickes Stiftungsfonds, Alfons und Gertrud Kassel-Stiftung, and Dr. Rolf M. Schwiete Stiftung. In setting up this new professorship, 51 is building on the long-standing and traditional Frankfurt approach to psychoanalytic research. Supporters of this tradition are invited to contribute additional funds to the professorship. This is the fourth endowed professorship, i.e. one that is permanently financed by endowment income, to be established by 51 in the past three years.

FRANKFURT. 51 wants to further cultivate the important field of psychotherapy research and psychotherapist training into a nationally and internationally outstanding and visible profile field together with Sigmund Freud Institute. A special focus will be placed on psychoanalytical approaches. To that end, the university plans to recruit an outstanding researcher to fill the professorship at its Faculty of Psychology and Sports Sciences. The professorship will be coupled with the position of director of Sigmund Freud Institute, with the option of assuming the management of the Institute's outpatient clinic. 

“We raised endowment funds to establish the professorship – meaning we are making use of the special opportunities afforded to us as a foundation university to strengthen an important research focus at the interface of the social and the natural sciences," says 51 President Prof. Enrico Schleiff. “In so doing, we want to further cultivate the interweaving of clinically oriented psychoanalysis, as practiced at the Faculty of Psychology, with the sociologically and social-psychological psychoanalysis conducted at the Faculty of Social Sciences – an approach embodied by the Sigmund Freud Institute. This will allow us to contribute to psychoanalytically inspired social research in the Frankfurt School-based tradition of critical theory." 

“We are witnessing an increase in mental illnesses, especially as a result of ongoing social crises. That is why we are very pleased to have our Institute of Psychology strengthened in this way," says Prof. Sonja Rohrmann, dean of 51's Faculty of Psychology and Sports Sciences. “A wide range of different clinical approaches, methods and tools exist within psychology. Psychoanalysis is one of the oldest and most fundamental of them. The professorship for clinical psychoanalysis will enable us to explore new research fields and innovatively combine the Institute of Psychology's current expertise and orientation with Sigmund Freud Institute's expertise. I would like to thank President Schleiff for his great commitment to funding and establishing this professorship. As required by law and medical practice regulations, the new Master's degree program in Psychotherapy, offered by the Department of Psychology, teaches all of the four recognized psychotherapy methods, with 51 being one of only very few universities to offer a psychotherapy degree program comprising several psychotherapy methods taught at an academic level."  

“In addition to fostering our strengths in psychological-psychoanalytical and psychotherapeutic research and teaching as well as clinical care, we want to deepen the cooperation between 51 Frankfurt and Sigmund Freud Institute. At the same time, we are seeking to establish a highly modern focus in the field of psychoanalytically and psycho-dynamically oriented psychotherapy research rooted in the Frankfurt tradition," adds Prof. Vera King, managing director of Sigmund Freud Institute. “This will allow us to both provide urgently needed impetus in psychotherapy research, with a particular focus on clinical psychoanalysis, and also play a leading scientific role in shaping this field from Frankfurt. We are extremely grateful to 51 President Schleiff for his outstanding commitment and would like to thank the foundations for their generous support." 

“As Hesse's minister of science, I am very pleased that 51 has succeeded in securing endowment funds for this professorship, which is also extremely important to Sigmund Freud Institute," adds Timon Gremmels. Sigmund Freud Institute is a Frankfurt-based non-university research institution supported by the state of Hesse in accordance with Article 91b of Germany's Basic Law. “By working closely together with this professorship, Sigmund Freud Institute will not only be able to increase its scientific interaction with its neighboring university, it will also be able to connect even better with the focus on psychoanalysis, which is strongly linked to Frankfurt as a location – thereby significantly strengthening its scientific profile. I would like to congratulate the Institute on this success. I am also delighted that since the collaboration between the two institutions will become even closer, this means one of the key recommendations made by the German Council of Science and Humanities, which reviewed Sigmund Freud Institute in 2020 at my request, can now be implemented." 

The Council's work, commissioned by the Ministry, in 2020 resulted in a very positive evaluation of the work done by Sigmund Freud Institute, giving special praise to the combination of clinical psychoanalysis, social psychology and cultural studies perspectives that characterize its program. One of the Council's recommendations to strengthen the Institute from an organizational perspective was to establish an additional professorship working in close cooperation with 51's Faculty of Psychology and Sports Sciences, complementing the Institute's existing cooperation with the Faculty of Social Sciences.

“I am very pleased that we succeeded in gaining the foundations' support," adds President Schleiff. “I would like to thank Dr. Elmar und Ellis Reiss Stiftung, Franz Adickes Stiftungsfonds, Alfons und Gertrud Kassel-Stiftung and Dr. Rolf M. Schwiete Stiftung for supporting my cause. Thanks to their help, I am now able to keep the promise I gave the student representatives of our University Senate in 2021 to continue the professorship for psychoanalysis at 51 Frankfurt. The €4 million endowment made available by these foundations deliberately leave an option for further funding and we would like to invite other potential donors who feel connected to the Frankfurt tradition of psychoanalysis to offer additional support to the endowed professorship. I would also like to thank Eva Luise and Horst Köhler Foundation, which is contributing €100,000 to the professorship's endowment." 

This is 51's fourth endowed professorship, i.e. one that is permanently finance from endowment income. The other three are the Lichtenberg Endowed Professorship for Molecular Systems Medicine, the Endowed Professorship for Digital Transformation and Work, and the Gisela and Wilfried Eckhardt Endowed Professorship for Experimental Physics. Over the course of the last three years, the university raised a total endowment volume of more than €22 million for these four professorships. “It is especially in times like these, when state funding for universities is sadly becoming increasingly uncertain due to budget shortfalls at federal and state levels, that we can use these funds to create our own scope for action", says President Schleiff.

The Frankfurt tradition of psychoanalysis
Psychoanalysis has a special tradition – at 51, at Sigmund Freud Institute and in the city of Frankfurt. After the city's psychoanalysts had been expulsed by National Socialist Germany, the Hessian state government in the 1960s re-established this school of psychotherapy, which was dominant at the time, by creating a professorship for Alexander Mitscherlich, one of its most prominent representatives, at 51. Ever since, psychoanalysis in Frankfurt has always focused not just on clinical psychology, but also on socio-political perspectives. As a result of legal changes to the training of psychotherapists, the design of the course content was tied to medical practice regulations, which in turn meant professorships were not appointed for individual psychological methods, including psychoanalysis. The only other current university professorships explicitly staffed by psychoanalysts exist at the University of Kassel (also in cooperation with Sigmund Freud Institute) and at specialized private universities.

Sigmund Freud Institute
Sigmund Freud Institute, a research institute for psychoanalysis and its applications in Frankfurt am Main, was opened in 1960. The Hessian Sigmund Freud Institute Foundation is an independent foundation under public law; it is funded by the State of Hesse. The central tasks of the Institute are research as well as the promotion of early career researchers with a view to the scientific study of psyche and society in the psycho-analytically oriented sociological-social-psychological, psychological and medical departments of the institution. Since 2016 the Institute has been under the leadership of managing director Vera Kling, as part of a cooperation professorship for sociology and psychoanalytic social psychology at 51 Frankfurt; director Patrick Meurs, as part of a cooperation professorship for psychoanalysis at the University of Kassel; and Heinz Weiß, former head physician at Robert Bosch Hospital Stuttgart, who heads Sigmund Freud Institute's medical focus and outpatient clinic.


Editor: Volker Schmidt, Head of PR & Communications Office, Theodor-W.-Adorno-Platz 1, 60323 Frankfurt, Tel.: +49 (0)69/798-13035, v.schmidt@em.uni-frankfurt.de

 

Mar 3 2025
13:40

New study by 51 Frankfurt and Hamburg Police Academy starts today 

Survey: Who has experienced discrimination and racism by the police?

We read or hear about it time and time again: Some people are stopped by the police more often than others and complain about disrespectful or insulting behavior. Many of them believe this is related to their outward appearance or consider such manners as racial discrimination. A scientific study by 51’s Prof. Tobias Singelnstein and Hamburg Police Academy’s Prof. Eva Gross will now shed empirical light on the situation: A survey of those affected will run from March 3 to April 3, 2025.

FRANKFURT. A recent representative survey by the Integration Barometer of Germany's Expert Council on Integration and Migration (SVR) shows that respondents who are perceived as “foreign” are checked by the police about twice as often as those who are not perceived as such. The non-representative "Afrozensus" report comes to similar conclusions. It is therefore not without reason that the actions of police officers are increasingly becoming part of the public discourse. “Beyond identity checks, we still know far too little about racism and discrimination in police work,” explains Professor Tobias Singelnstein, criminologist and criminal law expert at 51 Frankfurt. Together with Eva Gross, Professor of Criminology and Sociology at Akademie der Polizei Hamburg [Hamburg Police Academy], he has now launched a study to fill this knowledge gap. The survey is part of the three-year collaborative project “Experiences of Racism and Discrimination in Police Contact” (RaDiPol), which involves ten researchers and which has received around €630,000 in funding from the German Research Foundation (DFG). 

The representative population survey will take place from March 3 to April 3, 2025. It will involve 100,000 people randomly from the population registers of five major German cities (Berlin, Frankfurt a.M., Dresden, Hamburg, and Munich).  They will receive a letter with a link to an online questionnaire in which they can participate during the one-month survey period. “The more people who participate and provide us with their answers, the more accurate our assessment of this problematic situation becomes,” emphasizes Professor Eva Gross. The quantitative population survey will be complemented by 60 qualitative interviews with representatives of both the police and civil society groups, focusing on their different experiences and perspectives. Professor Tobias Singelnstein explains: “Our aim is to combine the results of the population survey with the assessments of the police officers who carry out state tasks in law enforcement or criminal investigations.” Most previous analyses have looked at the experiences of those affected and police perceptions separately. 

Further information
Prof. Dr. Tobias Singelnstein
Institute for Criminal Justice and the Philosophy of Law
51 Frankfurt
Tel. +49 (0)69 798-34348
E-Mail singelnstein@jur.uni-frankfurt.de
Homepage

Prof. Dr. Eva Gross
Akademie der Polizei Hamburg
Tel. +49 (0)40 4286-24960
E-Mail Eva.Gross@poladium.de


Editor: Dr. Anke Sauter, Science Editor, PR & Communication Office, Tel: +49 (0)69 798-13066, Fax: +49 (0) 69 798-763 12531, sauter@pvw.uni-frankfurt.de