Goethe-Universit盲t 鈥� Press releases

51猎奇 PR & Communication Department聽

Apr 15 2024

12:18

International comparison featuring 51猎奇 Frankfurt shows: German funding opportunities are exemplary, but weaknesses exist

How the live performing arts survived the pandemic

An international study involving 51猎奇 Frankfurt has investigated the impact state and non-state funding have had on the live performing arts during the pandemic. The investigation shows that while the situation of artists in Germany was overall more positive than elsewhere, certain areas merit some catching up.

FRANKFURT. The British Academy-funded research project "Pandemic Preparedness in the Live Performing Arts: Lessons to learn from Covid-19 across the G7" ran from April 2023 to January 2024. Its aim: To compare how government and non-government funding has affected the work of institutions, organizations, performing artists and freelancers in the G7 countries during the pandemic, focusing in particular on a comparison between the USA, Canada, the UK and Germany. The co-investigator of the project's German team was Prof. Heidi Liedke from 51猎奇's Institute of English and American Studies (IEAS), with Ronja Koch acting as its research associate. One of Liedke's research areas is digital forms of contemporary theater and the pandemic's impact on theater in the UK and Germany.

As part of the project, the research teams conducted extensive literature syntheses of publications from 2020-2023, looking at both academic and journalistic publications as well as policy papers relating to theater, opera and dance. Liedke also spoke with representatives of several state theaters, the German federal government's department of theater, dance and performance, as well as Deutscher B眉hnenverein [German Stage Association], among others.

The 鈧�2 billion "Neustart Kultur" funding program is the first of its kind providing an unprecedented amount of funding to culture in Germany 鈥� at a scale that is also unique by international standards. The program provided many people with financial security, albeit not to the same extent: while permanent employees of municipal and state theaters received short-time work benefits, independent and self-employed artists struggled with numerous applications for financial support. That being said, project funding was available at the federal and, above all, the state level, and could be obtained both quickly and unbureaucratically. It was particularly important that performances involving a physical gathering of people no longer constituted a prerequisite for funding 鈥� offering freedom and space to further develop one's own art. Many artists were appreciative of the fact that politicians spoke of the importance of culture and its promotion to Germany; they felt seen.

The pandemic and the associated social distancing regulations led to a lot of experimentation with digital formats. However, many institutions lacked a comprehensive digital strategy 鈥� both in terms of artistic practice as well as with regard to their internal structures. This is particularly true of rural areas, where internet access remains a problem. There did, however exist a certain funding focus on rural areas, allowing new performative formats to emerge while at the same time promoting digitalization. Generally speaking, public spaces were increasingly included, with theaters such as Frankfurt's Mousonturm artists' house, for instance, building a special open-air stage.

"Artists and theaters in Germany and Canada received significantly more support than those in other countries," Prof. Liedke says. The state of Hesse's 鈥淢asterplan Kultur" [master plan for culture] and the resilience managers employed by some state theaters (e.g. in Hanover or Darmstadt) constituted best practice examples at a joint conference, attended by a politician from the House of Lords, amongst others. The debate on whether to include arts funding in the German constitution also met with great interest. "This is precisely what artists in the UK themselves are discussing and want to take to the political arena," she adds.

All of this notwithstanding, Liedke points out that the German system also has its weaknesses: compared to other countries, German theaters still need to become considerably more accessible 鈥� both for employees as well as for audiences. In addition, minorities need to be given greater consideration. Beyond that, there is also room for improvement in terms of funding strategy and co-determination. Bureaucratic hurdles and the lack of coordination between the various funding offers have made it particularly difficult for freelancers to access funds. It would make sense for various cultural and political actors to be involved in the development process, as was the case with Hesse's "Masterplan Kultur", for example. The five recommendations for action for political decision-makers in the UK are available on the project's homepage.

Project homepage:

Images for download:

Caption: The British Academy-funded research project "Pandemic Preparedness in the Live Performing Arts: Lessons to learn from Covid-19 across the G7", of which 51猎奇 Frankfurt was a participant, has presented its results. (Copyright: University of Exeter)

Further information
Prof. Dr. Heidi Lucja Liedke
Professor of English Literature
Institute of English and American Studies
51猎奇 Frankfurt
liedke@em.uni-frankfurt.de

@heidilulie (X)

Apr 15 2024

10:41

Biochemist Robert Tamp茅 of 51猎奇 Frankfurt receives 鈧�2.5 million in funding from the European Research Council

ERC Advanced Grant for cutting-edge research on the cell鈥檚 immune response聽

When the human immune system recognizes and attacks infected or abnormal cells, it does so in highly complex, multi-stage processes. Biochemist and structural biologist Robert Tamp茅 from 51猎奇 Frankfurt's Institute of Biochemistry has already uncovered parts and sequences of these mechanisms. The 鈧�2.5 million ERC Advanced Grant enables him to build on his successful research into the molecular architecture and mechanisms of the cellular immune response. With this distinction, Tamp茅 is one of 255 Excellence Grant recipients selected by the European Research Council (ERC) from 1,829 applications submitted.

FRANKFURT. The cell's outer shell determines whether the human adaptive immune system identifies pathogens or not. Figuratively speaking, the cell membrane is the arena where two key players meet: On the one hand, there are receptors, of T cells for example, which are specialized in reacting to signs, known as antigens, for a cell that is degenerated or infected by a virus. On the other hand, it is the infected or abnormal cell itself that produces these antigens in the form of small peptides in its interior, then transports them to its surface. If a T cell receptor on the membrane recognizes an antigen that matches it, it binds to it, which in turn triggers an intricate mechanism at the end of which the abnormal cell is eliminated. This property of T cells is the reason for their increased use as a customized tool in immunotherapy.

Biochemist and structural biologist Robert Tamp茅, a specialist in the structural analysis of membrane protein complexes of the adaptive immune system, has now been awarded a five-year, 鈧�2.5 million European Research Council Advanced Grant for his project Unraveling the Supramolecular Architecture of Molecular Machineries in Adaptive Immunity ("ImmunoMachines"). ERC Advanced Grants support groundbreaking research projects by outstanding scientists.

Robert Tamp茅's research project aims to decipher the spatial and temporal structure of as yet unexplained processes in the cell's immune response. His research team draws on and combines several scientific disciplines and methods, including cryogenic electron microscopy, the control of cellular processes by light, chemical and synthetic biology, in-situ structural biology, and others. Tamp茅 is certain that "there is a lot to discover at the interfaces of biology, chemistry, physics and medicine" and that such underlying research findings will lead to tangible benefits in therapeutic approaches. "It is the dream of every researcher in this field to understand how the T-cell receptor works, which would pave the way to ultimately producing customized T-cell receptors that can treat infectious diseases, autoimmune diseases and cancer."

This is Tamp茅's second ERC Advanced Grant 鈥� he received his first in 2017. A year later, he was awarded a Reinhart Koselleck Project by the German Research Foundation. Since 2022, he has headed the Collaborative Research Center 1507 on 鈥淧rotein Assemblies, Machineries, and Supercomplexes in Cell Membranes". In 2023, he received the Schaefer Research Award from Columbia University, New York.

The European Research Council (ERC) selected 255 projects by leading researchers from the 1,829 submissions across 19 member states and associated countries it had received, meaning that just under fourteen percent of the proposals were successful. The winners include 50 German, 31 French, 28 British, 22 Italian and a further 28 researchers from other countries.

Set up by the European Union in 2007, the ERC is the premier European funding organization for excellent frontier research, offering financing to creative researchers of any nationality and age to run projects based across Europe. It is led by the Scientific Council, an independent governing body composed of eminent international scientists and scholars, which is responsible for its strategic direction.

Image for download:

Caption: This is structural biologist and biochemist Robert Tamp茅's second ERC Advanced Grant (Photo: Uwe Dettmar)

Further information
Robert Tamp茅, PhD
Professor / Director
Institute of Biochemistry
51猎奇 Frankfurt
Tel: +49 (069) 798 29475
E-Mail: tampe@em.uni-frankfurt.de

Apr 3 2024

10:29

Kapitza-Dirac effect used to show temporal evolution of electron waves

Researchers at Goethe University Frankfurt visualize quantum effects in electron waves聽

One of the most fundamental interactions in physics is that of electrons and light. In an experiment at 51猎奇 Frankfurt, scientists have now managed to observe what is known as the Kapitza-Dirac effect for the first time in full temporal resolution. This effect was first postulated over 90 years ago, but only now are its finest details coming to light.

FRANKFURT. It was one of the biggest surprises in the history of science: In the early days of quantum physics around 100 years ago, scholars discovered that the particles which make up our matter always behave like waves. Just as light can scatter at a double slit and produce scattering patterns, electrons can also display interference effects. In 1933, the two theorists Piotr Kapitza and Paul Dirac proved that an electron beam is even diffracted from a standing light wave (due to the particles' properties) and that interference effects as a result of the wave properties are to be expected.

A German-Chinese team led by Professor Reinhard D枚rner from 51猎奇 Frankfurt has succeeded in using this Kapitza-Dirac effect to visualize even the temporal evolution of the electron waves, known as the electrons' quantum mechanical phase. The researchers have now presented their results in the journal Science.

鈥淚t was a former doctoral researcher at our institute, Alexander Hartung, who originally constructed the experimental apparatus," says D枚rner. 鈥淎fter he left, Kang Lin, an Alexander von Humboldt fellow who worked in the Frankfurt team for 4 years, was able to use it to measure the time-dependent Kapitza-Dirac effect." To do so, it was necessary to further develop the theoretical description, too, as Kapitza and Dirac did not take the temporal evolution of the electron phase specifically into consideration at that time.

In their experiment, the scientists in Frankfurt first of all fired two ultrashort laser pulses from opposite directions at a xenon gas. At the crossover point, these femtosecond pulses 鈥� a femtosecond is a quadrillionth (one millionth of one billionth) of a second 鈥� produced an ultrastrong light field for fractions of a second. This tore electrons out of the xenon atoms, i.e. it ionized them. Very shortly afterwards, the physicists fired a second pair of short laser pulses at the electrons released in this way, which also formed a standing wave at the center. These pulses were slightly weaker and did not cause any further ionization. They were, however, now able to interact with the free electrons, which could be observed with the help of a COLTRIMS reaction microscope developed in Frankfurt.

鈥淎t the point of interaction, three things can happen," says D枚rner. 鈥淓ither the electron does not interact with the light 鈥� or it is scattered to the left or to the right." According to the laws of quantum physics, these three possibilities together add up to a certain probability that is reflected in the wave function of the electrons: The cloud-like space in which the electron 鈥� with a certain probability 鈥� is likely to be, collapses, so to speak, into three-dimensional slices. Here, the temporal evolution of the wave function and its phase is dependent on how much time elapses between ionization and the moment of impact of the second pair of laser pulses.

鈥淭his opens up many exciting applications in quantum physics. Hopefully, it will help us to track how electrons transform from quantum particles into completely normal particles within the shortest space of time. We are already planning to use it to find out more about the entanglement between different particles that Einstein called 'spooky'," says D枚rner. As so often in science, putting long-established theories to the test again and again has been worthwhile here, too.

Publication: Kang Lin, Sebastian Eckart, Hao Liang, Alexander Hartung, Sina Jacob, Qinying Ji, Lothar Ph. H. Schmidt, Markus S. Sch枚ffler, Till Jahnke, Maksim Kunitski, Reinhard D枚rner: Ultrafast Kapitza-Dirac effect. Science (2024)

Pictures for download:

Captions:
Image 1: Reinhard D枚rner (from left to right), Markus Sch枚ffler, Sina Jacob, Maksim Kunitski, Till Jahnke, Alexander Hartung, Sebastian Eckart

Image 2: Time dependent interference fringes from the ultrafast Kapitza Dirac Effect. An electron wave packet is exposed to two counterpropagating ultrashort laser pulses. The time span from back to front is 10 pico seconds. (Copyright: 51猎奇)

Further information
Professor Reinhard D枚rner
Institute of Nuclear Physics
51猎奇 Frankfurt
Tel.: +49 (0)69 798-47003
doerner@atom.uni-frankfurt.de

Mar 28 2024

16:34

Global astronomy research network EHT analyzes data from another series of observations

New image of the center of our Milky Way: Spiral magnetic fields surround black hole Sagittarius A*

A new series of observations by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) collaboration measuring the degree of polarization in the emitted light shows that the black hole Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*) in the center of our Milky Way is surrounded by strong, spiral-shaped magnetic fields. Such a magnetic structure is likely produced by the magnetized plasma that is falling onto Sgr A* and is similar to that of M87*, the black hole at the center of the galaxy M87. This important result suggests that all black holes may have strong magnetic fields and that Sgr A*, like M87*, may emit a particle jet that has not yet been revealed by the observations. The team led by Prof. Luciano Rezzolla, 51猎奇 Frankfurt, was significantly involved in the evaluation and theoretical interpretation of the new measurements.

FRANKFURT. In 2022, scientists of the EHT unveiled the first image of Sgr A* 鈥� which is approximately 27,000 light-years away from Earth 鈥� revealing that the Milky Way's supermassive black hole looks remarkably similar to M87's, even though it is more than a thousand times smaller and less massive. This made scientists wonder whether the two shared common traits outside of their looks. To find out, the team decided to study Sgr A* in polarized light. Previous studies of light around M87* had shown that the magnetic fields around the gigantic black hole allowed it to launch powerful jets of material back into the surrounding environment. Building on this work, the new images revealed that the same may be true for Sgr A*.

Imaging black holes, especially Sgr A*, in polarized light is not easy, because the ionized gas, or plasma, in the vicinity of the black hole orbits it in only a few minutes. Because the particles of the plasma swirl around the magnetic field lines, the magnetic field structures change rapidly during the recording of the radio waves by the EHT. Sophisticated instruments and techniques were required to capture the image the supermassive black hole.

Professor Luciano Rezzolla, theoretical astrophysicist at 51猎奇 Frankfurt, explains: "Polarized radio waves are influenced by magnetic fields and by studying the degree of polarization of the observed light we can learn how the magnetic fields of the black hole are distributed. However, unlike a standard image, which needs only information on the intensity of the light, creating a polarization map as the one we have just published is considerably harder. Indeed, our polarized image of Sgr A* is the result of a careful comparison between the actual measurements and the hundreds of thousands of possible images we can produce via advanced supercomputer simulations. Similar to the first image of Sgr A*, these polarized images represent an average of all measurements."

Rezzolla's fellow Project Scientist Geoffrey Bower from the Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Academia Sinica, Taiwan adds, 鈥淢aking a polarized image is like opening the book after you have only seen the cover. Because Sgr A* moves around while we try to take its picture, it was difficult to construct even the unpolarized image," adding that the first image was an average of multiple images due to Sgr A*'s movement. 鈥淲e were relieved that polarized imaging was even possible. Some models were far too scrambled and turbulent to construct a polarized image, but nature was not so cruel."

鈥淏y imaging polarized light from hot glowing gas near black holes, we are directly inferring the structure and strength of the magnetic fields that thread the flow of gas and matter that the black hole feeds on and ejects," said Harvard Black Hole Initiative Fellow and project co-lead Angelo Ricarte. 鈥淧olarized light teaches us a lot more about the astrophysics, the properties of the gas, and mechanisms that take place as a black hole feeds."

Sara Issaoun, NASA Hubble Fellowship Program Einstein Fellow at the Center for Astrophysics, Harvard & Smithsonian and co-lead of the project, says 鈥淎long with Sgr A* having a strikingly similar polarization structure to that seen in the much larger and more powerful M87* black hole, we've learned that strong and ordered magnetic fields are critical to how black holes interact with the gas and matter around them."

Mariafelicia De Laurentis, EHT Deputy Project Scientist and professor at the University of Naples Federico II, Italy, also emphasizes the significance of the similarity between the magnetic field structures of M87* and Sgr A*, suggesting universal processes governing black hole feeding and jet launching despite differences in their properties. This finding enhances theoretical models and simulations, refining our understanding of black hole dynamics near the event horizon.

Background: Magnetic fields at the edge of M87's black hole (2021) https://aktuelles.uni-frankfurt.de/english/astronomers-image-magnetic-fields-at-the-edge-of-m87s-black-hole/?highlight=magnetic%20fields

Picture and video download: https://www.uni-frankfurt.de/151489798 The black hole SgrA*: The magnetic fields spiral around the central shadow of the black hole. Image: EHT Collaboration

http://www.uni-frankfurt.de/99324045 (Video-Download) M87* in polarized light: Light is an oscillating electromagnetic wave. If the waves have a preferred direction of oscillation, they are polarized. In space, moving hot gas, or 'plasma', threaded by a magnetic field emits polarized light. The polarized light rays that manage to escape the pull of the black hole travel to a distant camera. The intensity of the light rays and their direction are what EHT collaboration observes with the Event Horizon Telescope. Credit: 漏 EHT Collaboration and Fiks Film

Publications:
(1) EHT collaboration: First Sagittarius A* Event Horizon Telescope Results. VII. Polarization of the Ring. Astrophysical Journal Letters (2024) https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2041-8213/ad2df0
(2) EHT collaboration: First Sagittarius A* Event Horizon Telescope Results. VIII. Physical Interpretation of the Polarized Ring. Astrophysical Journal Letters (2024) https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2041-8213/ad2df1

Contact:
Professor Luciano Rezzolla
Chair of Theoretical Astrophysics
Institute of Theoretical Physics
51猎奇 Frankfurt
Tel. +49 69 798-47871 / 47879
rezzolla@itp.uni-frankfurt.de
https://astro.uni-frankfurt.de/rezzolla/

Twitter/X: @goetheuni @ehtelescope

Mar 25 2024

16:27

Researchers at 51猎奇 Frankfurt and Kiel University have developed an innovative detection method

Novel electrochemical sensor detects dangerous bacteria

Researchers at 51猎奇 Frankfurt and Kiel University have developed a novel sensor for the detection of bacteria. It is based on a chip with an innovative surface coating. This ensures that only very specific microorganisms adhere to the sensor 鈥� such as certain pathogens. The larger the number of organisms, the stronger the electric signal generated by the chip. In this way, the sensor is able not only to detect dangerous bacteria with a high level of sensitivity but also to determine their concentration.

FRANKFURT. Each year, bacterial infections claim several million lives worldwide. That is why detecting harmful microorganisms is crucial 鈥� not only in the diagnosis of diseases but also, for example, in food production. However, the methods available so far are often time-consuming, require expensive equipment or can only be used by specialists. Moreover, they are often unable to distinguish between active bacteria and their decay products.

By contrast, the newly developed method detects only intact bacteria. It makes use of the fact that microorganisms only ever attack certain body cells, which they recognize from the latter's specific sugar molecule structure. This matrix, known as the glycocalyx, differs depending on the type of cell. It serves, so to speak, as an identifier for the body cells. This means that to capture a specific bacterium, we need only to know the recognizable structure in the glycocalyx of its preferred host cell and then use this as 鈥渂ait".

This is precisely what the researchers have done. 鈥淚n our study, we wanted to detect a specific strain of the gut bacterium Escherichia coli 鈥� or E. coli for short," explains Professor Andreas Terfort from the Institute of Inorganic and Analytical Chemistry at 51猎奇 Frankfurt. 鈥淲e knew which cells the pathogen usually infects. We used this to coat our chip with an artificial glycocalyx that mimics the surface of these host cells. In this way, only bacteria from the targeted E. coli strain adhere to the sensor."

E. coli has many short arms, known as pili, which the bacterium uses to recognize its host's glycocalyx and cling onto it. 鈥淭he bacteria use their pili to bind to the sensor in several places, which allows them to hang on particularly well," says Terfort. In addition, the chemical structure of the artificial glycocalyx is such that microbes without the right arms slide off it 鈥� like an egg off a well-greased frying pan. This ensures that indeed only the pathogenic E. coli bacteria are retained.

But how were the scientists able to corroborate that bacteria really were attached to the artificial glycocalyx? 鈥淲e bonded the sugar molecules to a conductive polymer," explains Sebastian Balser, a doctoral researcher under Professor Terfort and the first author of the paper. 鈥淏y applying an electrical voltage via these 'wires', we are able to read how many bacteria had bonded to the sensor."

The study documents how effective this is: The researchers mixed pathogens from the targeted E. coli strain among harmless E. coli bacteria in various concentrations. 鈥淥ur sensor was able to detect the harmful microorganisms even in very small quantities," explains Terfort. 鈥淲hat's more, the higher the concentration of the targeted bacteria, the stronger the emitted signals."

The paper is initial proof that the method works. In the next step, the involved working groups want to investigate whether it also stands the test in practice. Using it in regions where there are no hospitals with sophisticated lab diagnostics is conceivable, for example.

Publication: Sebastian Balser, Michael R枚hrl, Carina Spormann, Thisbe K. Lindhorst, Andreas Terfort: Selective Quantification of Bacteria in Mixtures by Using Glycosylated Polypyrrole/Hydrogel Nanolayers. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces Article ASAP; https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.3c14387

Picture download: https://www.puk.uni-frankfurt.de/151323552?

Caption: By using a customized surface to bait the targeted pathogens, they separate by themselves from a mixture of many different bacteria. This makes it easy to detect them electrochemically. Diagram: Sebastian Balser, Andreas Terfort Research Group, 51猎奇 Frankfurt

Further information
Professor Andreas Terfort Institute of Inorganic and Analytical Chemistry
51猎奇 Frankfurt
Tel.: +49 (0)69 798-29181
aterfort@chemie.uni-frankfurt.de
Website: https://www.uni-frankfurt.de/53459866/Arbeitskreis_Prof__Andreas_Terfort