News from the Göttingen Campus

Died on March 21, 2020 at the age of 77
Professor Dr. Reinhard Grunwald, former Commercial Director of the German Primate Center, died in Göttingen on March 21, 2020 at the age of 77 after a long and serious illness. Born in Göttingen, Grunwald was one of the first at the dual leadership of the DPZ. On September 1, 1978, he took over as Administrative Director of the German Primate Center - Leibniz Institute for Primate Research in Göttingen, which was founded just in 1977, and held…
DLR upgrades 3D printer for medical protective equipment (more information in German)
International research team with participation from University of Göttingen find it wasn’t just Homo sapiens who sourced food from the sea – impact on cognitive abilities suspected
Over 80,000 years ago, Neanderthals were already feeding themselves regularly on mussels, fish and other marine life. The first robust evidence of this has been found by an international research team with the participation of the University of Göttingen during an excavation in the cave of Figueira Brava in Portugal. Dr Dirk Hoffmann at the Göttingen Isotope Geology Department dated flowstone layers - calcite deposits that form like stalagmites…
Göttingen infection researchers identify potential drug
Viruses must enter cells of the human body to cause disease. For this, they attach to suitable cells and inject their genetic information into these cells. Infection biologists from the German Primate Center - Leibniz Institute for Primate Research in Göttingen, together with colleagues at Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, have investigated how the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 penetrates cells. They have identified a cellular enzyme that is…
Göttingen researchers warn of shortage of intensive care beds for coronavirus patients
In light of the rapidly increasing number of known coronavirus infections in Germany and Europe, scientists across the Göttingen Campus have expressed serious concerns. This is due to the latest estimate of the number of cases expected in the coming weeks and the number of intensive care beds available in Germany. Although the measures taken by the Federal Government and the individual states to limit the increase are restrictive, the researchers…
Göttingen research team produces new nanosheets for near infrared imaging
Egyptian blue is one of the oldest manmade colour pigments. It adorns, for instance, the crown of the world famous bust of Nefertiti. But the pigment can do even more. An international research team led by Dr Sebastian Kruss from the Institute of Physical Chemistry at the University of Göttingen has produced a new nanomaterial based on the Egyptian blue pigment, which is ideally suited for applications in imaging using near infrared spectroscopy…
Earth mantle rocks from Greenland provide clues to the origin of oceans and life
An international team of geologists has found evidence that a large proportion of the elements that are important for the formation of oceans and life - such as water, carbon and nitrogen - only arrived on the planet Earth relatively recently in its history. This goes against the common notion that these elements were already present right at the beginning of the Earth's evolution. In fact, most of the water only found its way to our planet by…
Max Planck researchers discover first protein that regulates fatty acid synthase
No other infectious disease kills more people than tuberculosis. It is caused by mycobacteria, which mainly attack the lungs but can also affect almost any other organ. To fight the pathogens, the fatty acid factory of the bacteria is an important starting point. The fatty acid synthase (FAS) is considered one of the most complex cellular machines. But how it is controlled remains a mystery to scientists even after 50 years of intensive research.…
By combining modern data analysis techniques with stellar structure modelling for main-sequence and giant stars, researchers shed new light on stellar dynamos.
Different stars can exhibit very different levels of activity. The Sun’s coronal mass ejections, flares and sunspots – all signs of solar activity – are rather feeble on an astronomical scale. Other stars are up to ten times more active, for example sporting huge starspots that cover a large portion of their disc. While researchers have long identified the magnetic fields generated in the interior of stars in a dynamo process as drivers of…
Göttingen research team investigates public acceptance of food policy measures in Germany
The increase in diet-related illness has led to a high burden of costs for society. However, German policymakers, in comparison with their international counterparts, have so far been reluctant to make political interventions that support healthy eating habits among its citizens. The concern is that serious interventions, such as imposing taxes or even bans, will be unpopular. Researchers at the University of Göttingen have now shown, in fact,…