Press releases

What happens when film leaves the cinema and becomes available everywhere – out and about on mobile devices, or in the living room at home? The Graduiertenkolleg (Research Training Group) “Configurations of Film" at Goethe University has been researching the current transformation of film and cinema culture since 2017. The German Research Foundation has now given the project the green light to continue.

FRANKFURT. “We are happy that the German Research Foundation's has kept their trust in us so that we can continue to our work in the Kolleg," says Vinzenz Hediger, professor for film studies and speaker of the Kolleg. In individual studies that include the participation of the disciplines of philosophy, literary studies and theatre studies, the Kolleg examines a fundamental problem in film studies: the transformation of its objects through the progressive digitalisation of the production, distribution and perception of moving images. "The medium of the moving image, which was standardised for global distribution in an international agreement as early as 1905, has always been a medium in motion," says Hediger. "With digitalisation, however, cinema itself as the privileged place of film is now being called into question, with far-reaching consequences for the aesthetics, as well as for the social impact and significance of films and other moving image formats."

The Graduiertenkolleg at the Institute for Theatre, Film and Media Studies started in 2017 with twelve doctoral candidates and two post-docs. Currently, the second group with a another twelve young sceintists from Germany, India and Nigeria is already at work. In close collaboration with the two postdocs of the Kolleg, they deal with topics as diverse as the interpenetration of film and video and computer games, the afterlife of Rainer Werner Fassbinder's work and reputation, the role of textiles in Nigerian historical films or the digital rediscovery of popular Bengali cinema of the 1950s and 1960s.

The Graduiertenkolleg is run in cooperation with the Universities of Mainz and Marburg and the University for Art and Design in Offenbach. The Kolleg builds on three Master's programmes at Goethe University as well as collaborations among the applicant researchers. It utilises the potential of Frankfurt as a location, where the university library and the German National Library have literature holdings of European standing and important non-university partners are available in the form of the German Film Institute, the Murnau Foundation and the Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics. The Kolleg is developing an international reputation through its cooperation with Yale University and Concordia University.

The Kolleg attracted attention among experts in autumn 2020 with the publication "Pandemic Media. Preliminary Notes towards an Inventory", in which 37 authors from the Kolleg and its international network reflect on global media culture under pandemic conditions. The book is available in open access at the academic publisher meson press (https://meson.press/books/pandemic-media/).

Further information:
Professor Vinzenz Hediger

Graduiertenkolleg „Configurations of Film“

Institute for Theatre, Film and Media Studies
hediger@tfm.uni-frankfurt.de

Editor: Dr. Anke Sauter, Science and Humanities Editor, International Communication, PR & Communication Department, Phone: +49 69 798-13066, Fax  +49(0)69 798-761 12531, sauter@pvw.uni-frankfurt.de.

For the development of drugs or vaccines against COVID-19, research needs virus proteins of high purity. For most of the SARS-CoV-2 proteins, scientists at Goethe University Frankfurt and a total of 36 partner laboratories have now developed protocols that enable the production of several milligrams of each of these proteins with high purity, and allow the determination of the three-dimensional protein structures. The laboratory protocols and the required genetic tools are freely accessible to researchers all over the world.

FRANKFURT. When the SARS-CoV-2 virus mutates, this initially only means that there is a change in its genetic blueprint. The mutation may lead, for example, to an amino acid being exchanged at a particular site in a viral protein. In order to quickly assess the effect of this change, a three-dimensional image of the viral protein is extremely helpful. This is because it shows whether the switch in amino acid has consequences for the function of the protein - or for the interaction with a potential drug or antibody.

Researchers at Goethe University Frankfurt and TU Darmstadt began networking internationally from the very start of the pandemic. Their goal: to describe the three-dimensional structures of SARS-CoV-2 molecules using nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR). In NMR spectroscopy, molecules are first labelled with special types of atoms (isotopes) and then exposed to a strong magnetic field. NMR can then be used to look in detail and with high throughput at how potentially active compounds bind to viral proteins. This is done at the Centre for Biomolecular Magnetic Resonance (BMRZ) at Goethe University and other locations. However, the basic prerequisite is to produce large quantities of the proteins in high purity and stability, and with their correct folding, for the large amount of tests.

The network, coordinated by Professor Harald Schwalbe from the Institute of Organic Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Goethe University, spans the globe. The elaboration of laboratory protocols for the production of proteins is already the second milestone. In addition to proteins, the virus consists of RNA, and the consortium already made all important RNA fragments of SARS-CoV-2 accessible last year. With the expertise of 129 colleagues, it has now been possible to produce and purify 23 of the total of almost 30 proteins of SARS-CoV-2 completely or as relevant fragments "in the test tube", and in large amounts.

For this purpose, the genetic information for these proteins was incorporated into small, ring-shaped pieces of DNA (plasmids). These plasmids were then introduced into bacteria for protein production. Some special proteins were also produced in cell-free systems. Whether these proteins were still correctly folded after their isolation and enrichment was confirmed, among other things, by NMR spectroscopy.

Dr Martin Hengesbach from the Institute of Organic Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Goethe University explains: "We have isolated functional units of the SARS-CoV-2 proteins in such a way that their structure, function and interactions can now be characterised by ourselves and others. In doing so, our large consortium provides working protocols that will allow laboratories around the world to work quickly and reproducibly on SARS-CoV-2 proteins and also the mutants to come. Distributing this work from the beginning was one of our most important priorities. In addition to the protocols, we are also making the plasmids freely available."

Dr Andreas Schlundt from the Institute for Molecular Biosciences at Goethe University says: "With our work, we are speeding up the global search for active agents: Scientific laboratories equipped for this work do not have to first spend several months establishing and optimising systems for the production and investigation of SARS-CoV-2 proteins, but can now start their research work within two weeks thanks to our elaborated protocols. Given the numerous mutations of SARS-CoV-2 to come, it is particularly important to have access to reliable, rapid and well-established methods for studying the virus in the laboratory. This will, for example, also facilitate research on the so-called helper proteins of SARS-CoV-2, which have remained under-investigated, but which also play a role in the occurrence of mutations."

In the meantime, the work in the NMR consortium continues: Currently, the researchers are working hard to find out whether viral proteins can bind to potential drugs.

The research work was funded by the German Research Foundation and the Goethe Coronavirus Fund. The high logistical effort and constant communication of research results was supported by Signals, a spin-off company of Goethe University.

Publication: Nadide Altincekic, Sophie Marianne Korn, Nusrat Shahin Qureshi, Marie Dujardin, Martí Ninot-Pedrosa et. al. Large-scale recombinant production of the SARS-CoV-2 proteome for high-throughput and structural biology applications. Frontiers in Molecular Biosciences. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmolb.2021.653148

Additional information: Folding of SARS-CoV2 genome reveals drug targets – and preparation for “SARS-CoV3" https://tinygu.de/IcOo2

Images may be downloaded here: www.uni-frankfurt.de/100668377

Caption: Scientists Martin Hengesbach (left) und Andreas Schlundt at the nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectrometre at Goethe-University Frankfurt, Germany. Photo: Uwe Dettmar for Goethe-University Frankfurt, Germany

The COVID-19 NMR Consortium:
https://covid19-nmr.de/

Scientific contacts at Goethe University Frankfurt:
Dr Andreas Schlundt
Emmy Noether Junior Group Leader
Institute for Molecular Biosciences
Goethe University Frankfurt
Tel.: +49 69 798-29699
schlundt@bio.uni-frankfurt.de

Dr Martin Hengesbach
Junior Group Leader
Goethe University Frankfurt
Institute for Organic Chemistry and Chemical Biology
SFB 902 “Molecular Principles of RNA-based Regulation“
Tel.: +49 69 798-29130
hengesbach@nmr.uni-frankfurt.de

Partners:

Brazil

• National Center of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (CNRMN, CENABIO), Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
• Institute of Medical Biochemistry, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
• Multidisciplinary Center for Research in Biology (NUMPEX), Campus Duque de Caxias, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Duque de Caxias, Brazil
• Institute of Chemistry, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
• Multiuser Center for Biomolecular Innovation (CMIB), Department of Physics, São Paulo State University (UNESP), São José do Rio Preto, Brazil
• Laboratory of Toxicology, Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (FIOCRUZ), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

France

• Molecular Microbiology and Structural Biochemistry (MMSB), UMR 5086, CNRS/Lyon University, France
• Université Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, CEA, IBS, Grenoble, France

Germany

• Institute for Organic Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany
• Center of Biomolecular Magnetic Resonance (BMRZ), Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany
• Institute for Molecular Biosciences, Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany
• Institute for Biochemistry, Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany
• Institute of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany
• Institute of Biophysical Chemistry, Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany
• BMWZ and Institute of Organic Chemistry, Leibniz University Hannover, Germany
• Group of NMR-based Structural Chemistry, Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research, Braunschweig, Germany
• Structural Genomics Consortium, Buchmann Institute for Molecular Life Sciences (BMLS), Germany
• Signals GmbH & Co. KG, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
• Leibniz Institute on Aging – Fritz Lipmann Institute (FLI), Jena, Germany
• IBG-4, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Karlsruhe, Germany
• Department of Biology, Technical University of Darmstadt, Darmstadt, Germany
• Institute of Biochemistry and Biotechnology, Charles Tanford Protein Centre, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle/Saale, Germany.

Greece

• Department of Pharmacy, University of Patras, Greece

Italy

• Structural Biology and Biophysics Unit, Fondazione Ri.MED, Palermo, Italy
• Magnetic Resonance Centre (CERM), University of Florence, Sesto Fiorentino, Italy
• Department of Chemistry “Ugo Schiff", University of Florence, Sesto Fiorentino, Italy

Latvia

• Latvian Biomedical Research and Study Centre, Riga, Latvia
• Latvian Institute of Organic Synthesis, Riga, Latvia

Switzerland

• Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Laboratory of Physical Chemistry, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland

Spain

• "Rocasolano" Institute for Physical Chemistry (IQFR), Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), Serrano, Spain

USA

• Institute for Molecular Virology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, WI, United States
• Department of Chemistry, University of California, Irvine, United States
• Laboratory of Chemical Physics, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive Kidney Diseases, National Institute of Health, United States
• Department of Molecular, Cellular and Biomedical Sciences, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH, United States
• Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, University of California, Irvine, California, United States
• Department of Molecular Biology and Biophysics, UC 72 onn Health, Farmington, CT, United States

Editor: Dr. Markus Bernards, Science Editor, PR & Communication Department, Tel: -49 (0) 69 798-12498, Fax: +49 (0) 69 798-763 12531, E-Mail: bernards@em.uni-frankfurt.de

Oxygen radicals in the body are generally considered dangerous because they can trigger something called oxidative stress, which is associated with the development of many chronic diseases such as cancer and cardiovascular disease. In studies on mice, scientists at Goethe University Frankfurt have now discovered how oxygen radicals, conversely, can also reduce the risk of cancer and mitigate damage to the hereditary molecule DNA. (PNAS, DOI 10.1073/pnas.2020152118).

FRANKFURT. Originally, oxygen radicals - reactive oxygen species, or ROS for short - were considered to be exclusively harmful in the body. They are produced, for example, by smoking or UV radiation. Because of their high reactivity, they can damage many important molecules in cells, including the hereditary molecule DNA. As a result, there is a risk of inflammatory reactions and the degeneration of affected cells into cancer cells.

Because of their damaging effect, however, ROS are also deliberately produced by the body, for example by immune or lung epithelial cells, which destroy invading bacteria and viruses with ROS. This requires relatively high ROS concentrations. In low concentrations, on the other hand, ROS play an important role as signalling molecules. For these tasks, ROS are specifically produced by a whole group of enzymes. One representative of this group of enzymes is Nox4, which continuously produces small amounts of H2O2. Nox4 is found in almost all body cells, where its product H2O2 maintains a large number of specialised signaling functions, contributing, for example, to the inhibition of inflammatory reactions.

Researchers at Goethe University Frankfurt, led by Professor Katrin Schröder, have now discovered that by producing H2O2, Nox4 can even prevent the development of cancer. They examined mice that were unable to produce Nox4 due to a genetic modification. When these mice were exposed to a carcinogenic environmental toxin (cancerogen), the probability that they would develop a tumour doubled. Since the mice suffered from very different types of tumours such as skin sarcomas and colon carcinomas, the researchers suspected that Nox4 has a fundamental influence on cellular health.

Molecular investigations showed that the H2O2 formed by Nox4 keeps a cascade going that prevents certain important signalling proteins (phosphatases) from entering the cell nucleus. If Nox4 and consequently H2O2 are absent, those signalling proteins migrate into the cell nucleus and as a consequence, severe DNA damage is hardly recognised.

Severe DNA damage - e.g. double strand breaks - occurs somewhere in the body every day. Cells react very sensitively to such DNA damage, setting a whole repertoire of repair enzymes in motion. If this does not help, the cell activates its cell death programme - a precautionary measure of the body against cancer. When such damage goes unrecognised, as occurs in the absence of Nox4, it spurs cancer formation.

Prof. Katrin Schröder explains the research results: "If Nox4 is missing and there is therefore no H2O2, the cells no longer recognise DNA damage. Mutations accumulate and damaged cells continue to multiply. If an environmental toxin is added that massively damages the DNA, the damage is no longer recognised and repaired. The affected cells are not eliminated either, but multiply, sometimes very quickly and uncontrollably, which eventually leads to the development of tumours. A small amount of H2O2 thus maintains an internal balance in the cell that protects the cells from degeneration."

Publication: Valeska Helfinger, Florian Freiherr von Gall, Nina Henke, Michael M. Kunze, Tobias Schmid, Flavia Rezende, Juliana Heidler, Ilka Wittig, Heinfried H. Radeke, Viola Marschall, Karen Anderson, Ajay M. Shah, Simone Fulda, Bernhard Brüne, Ralf P. Brandes, Katrin Schröder: Genetic deletion of Nox4 enhances cancerogen-induced formation of solid tumors. PNAS, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2020152118

Further information
Professor Katrin Schröder
Institute for Cardiovascular Physiology
Faculty of Medicine
Goethe University Frankfurt
Phone +49(0)69-6301-83660
schroeder@vrc.uni-frankfurt.de
http://www.vrc.uni-frankfurt.de

Editor: Dr. Markus Bernards, Science Editor, PR & Communication Department, Tel: -49 (0) 69 798-12498, Fax: +49 (0) 69 798-763 12531, E-Mail: bernards@em.uni-frankfurt.de

Before sugar cane and sugar beets conquered the world, honey was the worldwide most important natural product for sweetening. Archaeologists at Goethe University in cooperation with chemists at the University of Bristol have now produced the oldest direct evidence of honey collecting of in Africa. They used chemical food residues in potsherds found in Nigeria. (Nature Communications, DOI 10.1038/s41467-021-22425-4)

FRANKFURT. Honey is humankind's oldest sweetener – and for thousands of years it was also the only one. Indirect clues about the significance of bees and bee products are provided by prehistoric petroglyphs on various continents, created between 8,000 and 40,000 years ago. Ancient Egyptian reliefs indicate the practice of beekeeping as early as 2600 year BCE. But for sub-Saharan Africa, direct archaeological evidence has been lacking until now. The analysis of the chemical residues of food in potsherds has fundamentally altered the picture. Archaeologists at Goethe University in cooperation with chemists at the University of Bristol were able to identify beeswax residues in 3500 year-old potsherds of the Nok culture.

The Nok culture in central Nigeria dates between 1500 BCE and the beginning of the Common Era and is known particularly for its elaborate terracotta sculptures. These sculptures represent the oldest figurative art in Africa. Until a few years ago, the social context in which these sculptures had been created was completely unknown. In a project funded by the German Research Foundation, Goethe University scientists have been studying the Nok culture in all its archaeological facets for over twelve years. In addition to settlement pattern, chronology and meaning of the terracotta sculptures, the research also focussed on environment, subsistence and diet.

Did the people of the Nok Culture have domesticated animals or were they hunters? Archaeologists typically use animal bones from excavations to answer these questions. But what to do if the soil is so acidic that bones are not preserved, as is the case in the Nok region?

The analysis of molecular food residues in pottery opens up new possibilities. This is because the processing of plant and animal products in clay pots releases stable chemical compounds, especially fatty acids (lipids). These can be preserved in the pores of the vessel walls for thousands of years, and can be detected with the assistance of gas chromatography.

To the researchers' great surprise, they found numerous other components besides the remains of wild animals, significantly expanding the previously known spectrum of animals and plants used. There is one creature in particular that they had not expected: the honeybee. A third of the examined shards contained high-molecular lipids, typical for beeswax.

It is not possible to reconstruct from the lipids which bee products were used by the people of the Nok culture. Most probably they separated the honey from the waxy combs by heating them in the pots. But it is also conceivable that honey was processed together with other raw materials from animals or plants, or that they made mead. The wax itself could have served technical or medical purposes. Another possibility is the use of clay pots as beehives, as is practised to this day in traditional African societies.

“We began this study with our colleagues in Bristol because we wanted to know if the Nok people had domesticated animals," explains Professor Peter Breunig from Goethe University, who is the director of the archaeological Nok project. “That honey was part of their daily menu was completely unexpected, and unique in the early history of Africa until now."

Dr Julie Dunne from the University of Bristol, first author of the study says: “This is a remarkable example for how biomolecular information from prehistoric pottery in combination with ethnographic data provides insight into the use of honey 3500 years ago."

Professor Richard Evershed, Head of the Institute for Organic Chemistry at the University of Bristol and co-author of the study points out that the special relationship between humans and honeybees was already known in antiquity. “But the discovery of beeswax residues in Nok pottery allows a very unique insight into this relationship, when all other sources of evidence are lacking."

Professor Katharina Neumann, who is in charge of archaeobotany in the Nok project at Goethe University says: “Plant and animal residues from archaeological excavations reflect only a small section of what prehistoric people ate. The chemical residues make previously invisible components of the prehistoric diet visible." The first direct evidence of beeswax opens up fascinating perspectives for the archaeology of Africa. Neumann: “We assume that the use of honey in Africa has a very long tradition. The oldest pottery on the continent is about 11,000 years old. Does it perhaps also contain beeswax residues? Archives around the world store thousands of ceramic shards from archaeological excavations that are just waiting to reveal their secrets through gas chromatography and paint a picture of the daily life and diet of prehistoric people."

Publication: Julie Dunne, Alexa Höhn, Gabriele Franke, Katharina Neumann, Peter Breunig, Toby Gillard, Caitlin Walton-Doyle, Richard P. Evershed. Honey-collecting in prehistoric West Africa from 3500 years ago. Nature Communications https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-22425-4

Images for download:

http://www.uni-frankfurt.de/100070440

Traces of beeswax were detected in 3500 year-old clay pots like this (photo: Peter Breunig, Goethe University Frankfurt)

http://www.uni-frankfurt.de/100070081

Dr Gabriele Franke, Goethe University archaeologist during the documentation of excavated clay pots at the Nok research station in Janjala, Nigeria in August 2016. Traces of beeswax were detected in clay pots like these (photo: Peter Breunig, Goethe University Frankfurt)

http://www.uni-frankfurt.de/100070175

Still popular today: excavation workers enjoy freshly collected wild honey (photo: Peter Breunig, Goethe University Frankfurt)

http://www.uni-frankfurt.de/100070146The Nok culture is known in Nigeria today for its terracotta figurines  (photo: Peter Breunig, Goethe University Frankfurt)

Further information:
Professor Katharina Neumann
Institute for Archaeological Sciences
Goethe University Frankfurt
Phone: 069 798-32292
k.neumann@em.uni-frankfurt.de
http://araf.studiumdigitale.uni-frankfurt.de

Editor: Dr. Markus Bernards, Science Editor, PR & Communication Department, Tel: -49 (0) 69 798-12498, Fax: +49 (0) 69 798-763 12531, bernards@em.uni-frankfurt.de

FRANKFURT. Various German and international stock exchanges use it and numerous top European universities also use it: we are talking about the LiveX stock market simulation, unique in Europe, which was developed by business informatics experts at Goethe University Frankfurt and which can now also claim Deutsche Börse as  user. At the Capital Markets Academy, Deutsche Börse's training provider, participants in the certificate course "Exchange Trader Cash Market" can now apply their acquired knowledge directly in the very realistic stock exchange simulation LiveX.

Unlike simple stock investing simulation programmes, which allow private clients to test investing in the stock market with basic features, LiveX simulates professional trading on European stock exchanges in all their complexity. This includes all market models on Xetra, the Deutsche Börse's fully electronic trading venue, such as continuous trading with auctions. Furthermore, other trading systems such as Multilateral Trading Facilities (MTF) or trading in dark pools, in which the participants' securities orders are not visible, are also simulated in LiveX. This makes the simulation programme developed by Professor Peter Gomber and his team unique in Europe – and is the reason why LiveX is used for continuing education by top German and international universities as well as by international stock exchange organizations.

During the pandemic, the team further developed a cloud-based version of the market and trading simulation software. Previously dependent on a laboratory environment, the use of LiveX is now possible 24/7, independent of participants' locations.

Professor Peter Gomber is proud to have won the Academy as a new licensee: "For many years, the Capital Markets Academy of Deutsche Börse AG has been offering innovative qualification programmes with a high level of practical relevance and digital learning formats. The current LiveX Cloud version offers significantly increased flexibility and innovative application possibilities in professional education in the field of modern securities trading."

"Our attendees give us very positive feedback on the LiveX simulations. LiveX is a very realistic representation of stock exchange trading and is perfectly applicable for purely digital training in order to understand market structures and trading processes," emphasizes Ulf Mayer, Head of Capital Markets Academy at Deutsche Börse AG.

More information on: 
Capital Markets Academy: academy.deutsche-boerse.com
LiveX at the University of Frankfurt: livex.uni-frankfurt.de

Further information:
Prof. Dr. Peter Gomber
Business Informatics
Professor for e-Finance
Goethe University Frankfurt
gomber@wiwi.uni-frankfurt.de