Press releases – 2018

The geoscientist Frank Brenker and his team will be among the first scientists to examine material from the asteroid Ryugu. It is currently being orbited by the Japanese aerospace agency JAXA’s space probe Hayabusa 2. The Japanese had originally intended to carry out the preliminary investigations themselves. 

Ryugu (English: dragon palace) is a class C asteroid, among the most ancient objects in our solar system. Scientists believe it has not changed significantly over the past 4.56 billion years and can therefore offer a glimpse into our solar system’s childhood. Scientists around the world are therefore awaiting these unique samples with anticipation. When they are brought to earth by the space probe in 2020, Frank Brenker from the Institute of Geoscience at the Goethe University will be among the first non-Japanese scientists to examine the unique material first-hand. He and two of his Belgian colleagues have been appointed to the mission’s preliminary investigative team. 

Investigating the solar system’s formation with super microscopes
The Frankfurt geoscientist and his team have developed a new measuring procedure with super microscopes that allows a three-dimensional and non-contact inspection of material. These super microscopes work with synchrotron radiation (high energy X-rays) and make it possible to inspect the chemical composition and structure of matter without destroying it. “We are world-wide leaders in measuring the contents of rare earth elements, which are of great significance for geoscientific and cosmochemical interpretation,” Brenker explains. The precise, high resolution technology was developed over the past several years by his team at the DESY in Hamburg. 

Picture material may be downloaded under:

www.uni-frankfurt.de/73604264

Caption: The asteroid Ryugu from an altitude of 6 km photographed by the “Optical Navigation Camera - Telescopic (ONC-T)”. Image from 20 July 2018.

Image credit: JAXA, University of Tokyo and collaborators.

Further information: Professor Frank Brenker, Institute for Geosciences, Mineralogy, Riedberg Campus, Tel.: +49 69-798 40134, f.brenker@em.uni-frankfurt.de.

Systemic inflammatory diseases, such as lupus, often cause cardiac damage that goes undetected. An international research team headed by the Institute for Experimental and Translational Cardiovascular Imaging at the University Hospital Frankfurt was now able to show that cardiac damage can be diagnosed in a patient-friendly way by heart imaging– ahead of the clinical symptoms.

The number of diagnoses of systemic lupus erythematodes (SLE) has tripled over the past 45 years – due in part to improved diagnostic methods. Lupus is a systemic inflammatory disease which can affect several organs; most frequently the kidneys, skin, brain and the heart. Involvement of the heart is important as it determines these patients’ outcome, yet as it carries on silently for a long time, it may go undetected and untreated for a long time.

Heart involvement in lupus: disguised symptoms

This problematic situation has several causes. First, the natural course of lupus-caused heart disease often has few or no symptoms - this ‘subclinical course’ represents a major challenge for doctors to recognize it. It also affects mostly young, and predominantly female patients, for whom heart disease is not usual in the first place. Moreover, if symptoms occur, they are not classical symptoms of heart disease, such as angina.  More commonly, symptoms are ‘atypical’: in other words, they do not explicitly indicate heart disease. Examples of symptoms are tiredness, dyspnoea, or sharp pain of the chest wall. Lupus patients are also frequently overwhelmed by symptoms in other organ systems, especially the kidneys, which are significantly more pronounced. This results in focus unintentionally being taken away from the heart during diagnosis and treatment. Ultimately, a small percentage of patients develops heart failure, which is often resistant to therapy.

Study allows non-invasive diagnosis

A study by the University Hospital Frankfurt in collaboration with partners from London and Tübingen has shown that imaging with cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) can improve detection of subclinical cardiac injury in lupus patients. The study was published in the Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases, the top journal in the field of rheumatology, whose specialists most frequently look after patients with lupus. In the present study, the authors demonstrated that inflammation of heart muscle and the vessels is the defining underlying pathophysiological mechanism of heart injury and impairment in lupus patients, and not, as previously assumed, as a result of the accelerated atherosclerotic blockage of the coronary blood vessels. The research team developed and validated an imaging signature of disease presence and activity of involvement. Thus, they have shown that heart inflammation can be detected and monitored in a non-invasive way without radiation using CMR imaging. Furthermore, CMR imaging can help to adjust the anti-inflammatory treatment to treat the heart involvement directly.

Potential for paradigm change

The study has significant potential for a real change in the clinical care of heart involvement in patients with lupus: away from the less sensitive, highly invasive and radiation-intensive methods toward patient-friendly and secure diagnostic approaches, which are non-invasive, radiation-free, and aside from the baseline investigation,  also largely free from contrast agents. The new diagnostic method informs the treating physicians accurately about the disease presence, stage and severity, and gauges the treatment response.

Course of the study

Ninety-two patients with lupus were examined using the CMR imaging; 78 healthy individuals served as a control group. This multicentre and multidisciplinary study was headed by Dr Valentina Puntmann from the Institute for Experimental and Translational Cardiovascular Imagery (Goethe CVI) at the University Hospital Frankfurt and builds on a decade-long record of investigation into cardiac inflammation by non-invasive imaging in systemic inflammatory diseases. In addition to the Goethe CVI, University Hospital Frankfurt’s Rheumatology, Cardiology and Radiology were also involved.

Successful Imaging

The heart muscle, its volume, and function were examined in all participants using CMR imaging. Various other blood values, such as troponin and NT-proBNP, which serve as biomarkers for heart impairment, were also examined. These markers were raised in 81 percent of lupus patients, but only in eight percent to a degree we usually see in the course of a heart attack. However, CMR imaging was able to point towards the presence of relevant inflammation of heart muscle much more frequently, making it more suited to detect inflammation, even if the blood tests remain only mildly raised. In addition, changes to the clinical activity can be more quickly detected using the imaging than with blood values, as these may remain raised for weeks on end. There are no disadvantages to CMR, as no invasive procedures or radiation are involved.

Publication: Winau, Lea et al. (2018): High-sensitive troponin is associated with subclinical imaging biosignature of inflammatory cardiovascular involvement in systemic lupus erythematosus. In: Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases. DOI: 10.1136/annrheumdis-2018-213661. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30077990"

Further information: Dr. Valentina Puntmann, Institute for Experimental and Translational Cardiovascular Imaging (Goethe CVI), University Hospital Frankfurt, Tel   + 49 69 63 01 – 86 76 0,E-Mail: valentina.puntmann@kgu.de, www.cardiac-imaging.org/valentina-puntmann.html

FRANKFURT. In Germany, the risk of poverty has increased since the 1990s while in Great Britain it has decreased. Frankfurt sociologist Jan Brülle has explored the potential reasons for this in his thesis – the results are revealing.

What is poverty in the first place? Poverty researchers speak of “relative income poverty”: People who have at their disposal less than 60 percent of the average income in a country are threatened by poverty. They are more often unable to afford regular hot meals and their children might not be able to go to all their friends’ birthday parties because there is no money for presents: Poverty is a heavy burden on the individual and his or her situation in life. But how poverty develops in a society says a great deal about its structure and the transformation taking place in that society. A state that wants to allow all its citizens a minimum of economic, social and cultural participation must keep a close eye on this development.

Why has the risk of poverty risen continuously in Germany since 1992 and how is poverty structured? These questions formed the starting point for Jan Brülle’s thesis. A hypothesis viewed by many as obvious: It is due to the dismantling of the welfare state above all through the Hartz reforms. “My research showed, however, that especially the labour market and changes in family structures play a role. Changes in the welfare state only come third,” explains Brülle.

For his study, Brülle, now 33, analysed datasets released for scientific research by the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW) in Berlin – what is known as the Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP). This enabled him to include the data of about 12,000 German households in his research. For the part of his study on Great Britain he used the British Household Panel (BHPS) as a basis. The two datasets made it possible to track the situation in British and German households over several years.

Do the same people stay poor from year to year or are they able to free themselves from poverty? How does poverty develop in relation to different educational backgrounds and professions? Brülle examined these questions against the backdrop of both the data from Germany and those from the British panel. The outcome was that in Germany poverty became more widespread, lasted longer and became more unequal over the period examined. The lower the level of education, the greater the risk of poverty has increased. In addition, workers are more at risk of poverty than employees in higher positions. In Brülle’s opinion, knowing the causes for these developments is preconditional for implementing the right political measures to combat poverty.

In Great Britain, where more people were affected by poverty than in Germany, the opposite development could be seen: The targeted use of social transfers was also able to mitigate even high inequalities in income. Low-income earners in Germany also receive a little help from the state to make up the difference. However, with its Working Tax Credits, which according to Jan Brülle really improve people’s situation, Great Britain is more generous in topping up low earnings. Especially households with children receive additional allowances. In Germany, on the other hand, it is clear to see that the already precarious situation for some people is becoming entrenched, while social security safeguards higher incomes even in the case of unemployment better than in Great Britain.

According to Jan Brülle’s findings, the cause for the growing risk of poverty lies above all in the polarization of the employment market: More and more people are no longer able to live off their earned income. In addition, there are more and more single households, meaning that less and less people on a low income can rely on the resources of other household members. And the reforms in the welfare state (i.e. Hartz IV) have not helped to mitigate this situation. The example of Great Britain shows, however, that the state certainly has means at its disposal to change things for the better.

Jan Brülle compiled a detailed summary of his work for the Körber Foundation’s German Thesis Award. His paper was awarded the second prize worth € 5,000 and can be found online on the Foundation’s website from 27 August 2018 onwards. The prize is awarded every year for the nine most pertinent theses.

Publication: https://www.koerber-stiftung.de/deutscher-studienpreis/preistraeger/2018

A photograph can be downloaded from: www.uni-frankfurt.de/73491583

Caption: Sociologist Jan Brülle has received the German Thesis Award of the Körber Foundation. (Photo: Körber Foundation / David Ausserhofer)

Further information: Dr. Jan Brülle, Faculty of Social Sciences, Institute of Sociology, Theodor-W.-Adorno-Platz 6, Westend Campus, Tel.: +49(0)69-798-36629, Email bruelle@soz.uni-frankfurt.de

A Frankfurt master programme serves as an international prototype: With support from the DAAD, the master programme “Film Culture: Archiving, Programming, Presentation”, which has been offered jointly by Goethe University and the Deutsches Filminstitut (German Film Institute) since 2013, will have a counterpart in Nigeria in 2019. The programme trains professionals for film archives and work in institutions of film culture. 

What are the career prospects for graduates of small humanities programs such as film studies? The master programme “Film Culture: Archiving, Programming, Presentation” delivers a clear answer. For five years, the programme has trained up to 20 experts for film and media archives and film culture institutions per year with a placement record of nearly 100%. The success of the programme, which at the Goethe University is headed by Assistant Professor Sonia Campanini and Professor Vinzenz Hediger, now serves as an inspiration for universities and institutions of film culture in other countries. 

Starting in the fall of 2019, the National Film Corporation of Nigeria, which includes the nation’s film school, the National Film Institute, and the National Archive for Film, Video and Sound, will join up with the University of Jos to offer the first master programme for film archival studies in Africa, which will be modelled on the Frankfurt programme. According to UNESCO statistics, Nigeria is now the second most important film producing nation in the world after India, with an annual output of around 1000 feature films in English as well as in the three main languages Igbo, Hausa and Yoruba. Through digital distribution networks, Nigerian films reach audiences across the continent and in the African diaspora worldwide. 

According to Sonia Campanini, training scientific personnel for film archives in Nigeria serves a twin purpose: “The first goal is to establish a policy and practice for the preservation of the national film heritage, and the second goal is to ensure the future visibility and accessibility of this heritage in Nigeria and beyond.” In its current form, the Nigerian film industry is geared toward novelty, with an output of dozens of new films each week. In the foreseeable future, the industry will move to a copyright strategy modelled on Hollywood’s business model, based on the long-term exploitation of popular older films. 

The Jos master programme will provide the technical and cultural know-how for this transition. For Ellen Harrington, the director of the Deutsches Filminstitut, the cooperation with Nigeria is an ideal fit for the international profile of her institution. “The professional exchange with partners all over the world is a core element of who we are as an institution. Africa is an impressively diverse and productive hub for film production, which we experience every year at our Africa Alive film festival here in Frankfurt. We are very much looking forward to the collaboration with our counterparts in Nigeria and are excited about the valuable impulses and new insights which we will gain from it.” 

Goethe University and Deutsches Filminstitut will closely cooperate with the NFC and the University of Jos for a four year period. At the heart of the cooperation is a multi-faceted training programme, which includes fellowships for Nigerian faculty and staff who will be able to study work methods in the current programme at Goethe University and Deutsches Filminstitut, as well as at Arsenal – Institute for Film and Video Art (Berlin). Faculty from Goethe University and experts from Deutsches Filminstitut will furthermore develop and implement the various modules of the degree programme by co-teaching with faculty in Jos. The funding for the cooperation is provided by the Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD) in the framework of the TNB transnational education programme.

The cooperation strengthens Goethe University’s international profile in Africa research which is also exemplified by the Centre for Interdisciplinary African Studies in Frankfurt. The cooperation with the University of Jos and the Nigerian Film Corporation further expands Goethe University’s focus on Western and Sub Saharan Africa, which is also a particular focus of the German government’s current foreign policy.

According to Dr. Chidia Maduekwe, managing director of the Nigerian Film Corporation, the DAAD’s support “is predicated on the impressive bilateral relations between Nigeria and Germany.” Through TNB Archival Studies Master programme, Dr. Maduekwe says, “we are determined and committed to building a robust post graduate programme that will be characterized by high level professional manpower turnout to address present and future challenges in archival management, studies, and research in Nigeria and Africa.“  

The groundwork for the project was laid when Arsenal – Institute for Film and Video Art, Berlin, with the support of the German foreign office created a digitization facility in the National Archive for Film, Video and Sound in Jos and restored SHAIHU UMAR (Adamu Halilu, 1976), showing it at the 2018 Berlinale festival. “We are looking forward to building on our close cooperation with the Nigerian Film Corporation and the Frankfurt master programme in film culture, and we are happy to see that this cooperation now has a long-term perspective with the Jos archival studies programme”, says Arsenal Co-director Stefanie Schule Strathaus. “The cooperation with Nigerian partners, which was initiated through the founder of Lagos Film Society, Didid Cheeka, in 2015 has had an important impact on Arsenal, and we are convinced that the Frankfurt film studies programme will find great inspiration in their continuing cooperation with Jos.”

The cooperation between the German and Nigerian partners comes out of the ongoing “Archive außer sich” project, which focuses on various aspects of the global audio-visual heritage and which Arsenal jointly organizes with Haus der Kulturen der Welt. The Frankurt film studies programme is one of the partners in this project, and participated in a conference on questions of national audio-visual heritage at the National Film Institute in Jos in October 2017.

Picture material may be downloaded at: www.uni-frankfurt.de/73510532

Caption: A frame from the 1976 film “Shaihu Umar”, which tells the story of the life of the cleric Shaihu Umar. The film was long thought to be lost. In 2016, negatives and copies were discovered in the archives of the Nigerian Film Corporation and restored by Arsenal – Institute for Film, Video and Sound with the support of the German Embassy in Abuja. This project led to the cooperation between the two universities. ©Nigerian Film Corporation

Further information: Institute for Drama, Film and Media Studies, Faculty 10, Westend Campus, Dr. Sonia Campanini, Tel. +49 (0)69 798-33278 Campanini@tfm.uni-frankfurt.de , Dr. Vinzenz Hediger, Tel. +49 (0)69 798-32079: +49 (0) 151 644 188 35, hediger@tfm.uni-frankfurt.de

Dr. Ines Bayer, Delegierte für Universitätsprojekte, Deutsches Filminstitut,  bayer@deutsches-filminstitut.de , Stefanie Schulte Strathaus, Ko-Direktorin, Arsenal Institut für Film und Videokunst Berlin, stss@arsenal-berlin.de , Dr. Chidia Maduekwe, Managing Director, Nigerian Film Corporation, mdnigerianfilms@gmail.com

FRANKFURT. Function and homeostasis of the brain relies on communication between the complex network of cells, which compose this organ. Consequently, development of the different groups of cells in the brain needs to be coordinated in time and space. The group of Amparo Acker-Palmer (Buchmann Institute of Molecular Life Sciences and the Institute of Cell Biology and Neuroscience, Goethe University) reported in a Research Article in the last issue of the journal Science a novel function of blood vessels in orchestrating the proper development of neuronal cellular networks in the brain. 

It is known that vascularization of the brain is necessary to provide neurons and glial cells with oxygen and nutrients important for the metabolic support of neuronal networks. “For several years, we knew that the vascular and nervous systems used very similar vocabulary to develop and function and therefore we postulated that such a common vocabulary could be used to ensure that both systems co-developed in synchroneity and communicated with each other for proper brain function,” explained Acker-Palmer.

To study the communication of the blood vessels and neuronal cells the Acker-Palmer group focused on different aspects of neurovascular development. First, they used the vascularization of the mouse retina as a well-established method to investigate molecules important for vascular growth. Using this method, they discovered that a molecule, Reelin, that had been previously shown to influence neuronal migration was also able to independently influence the growth of vessels using a very similar signaling mechanism by activating the ApoER2 receptor and the Dab1 protein expressed in endothelial cells.

A very important structure in the brain is the cerebral cortex, which plays a key role in all basic functions such as memory, attention, perception, language and consciousness. Neuronal cells in the cerebral cortex are organized in layers and this organization is established during embryonic development. “We decided to eliminate exclusively the Reelin signaling cascade from the endothelial cells and see how this influenced the arrangement of neurons and glial cells in the cerebral cortex,” said Acker-Palmer. Using this system, the scientists revealed the astonishing finding that endothelial cells instruct neurons as to their correct positioning in the cerebral cortex. Mechanistically, they could show that endothelial cells secrete laminins that are deposited in the extracellular matrix surrounding the vessels to anchor properly the glial cell fibers that are necessary for proper neuronal migration and for the proper development of the cerebral cortex.

In the mature brain, glial cells also wrap around the blood capillaries and prevent harmful substances from the blood stream from entering the brain. This is known as the “blood brain barrier” and it is an essential structure that develops in the brain to keep homeostasis. Importantly, Acker-Palmer and her team also showed that the same signaling cascades used by endothelial cells in the cerebral cortex to orchestrate neuronal migration are used to establish communication at the blood brain barrier. “Several neuropsychiatric and neurodegenerative disorders have been associated with abnormal neurovascular communication. Therefore, understanding the signaling pathways and mechanisms involved in such communication is fundamental to finding new approaches for treating dementia and mental illness.”

Publication: Endothelial Dab1 signaling orchestrates neuro-glia-vessel communication in the central nervous system, DOI: 10.1126/science.aao2861, (Segarra et al., Science 361, eaao2861 (2018).

Image for download:  www.uni-frankfurt.de/73456362

Caption: Blood vessels in red in close communication with proliferating neuronal cells in the mouse cortex at embryonic day 10 (Photo: Cecilia Llao-Cid).

Information:  Prof. Amparo Acker-Palmer, Institute of Cellular Biology and Neuroscience, Buchmann Institute of Molecular Life Sciences, Campus Riedberg, Tel.: (069) 798-42563, Acker-Palmer@bio.uni-frankfurt.de.