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Every year, top researchers apply for funds from the European Research Council (ERC), and the highly endowed ERC Advanced Grants are sought after in particular. Göttingen Max Planck Director Patrick Cramer has now been successful for the third time – an exceptional achievement. The biochemist investigates how cells use the information stored in their genome. His work on the regulation of this fundamental process is now funded with about two million euros.

How does a fertilized egg cell become a living being? How are nerve, muscle, or skin cells formed? “Our genes show different states of activity in different cells,” states Cramer, who heads the Department of Molecular Biology at the Max Planck Institute (MPI) for Biophysical Chemistry. Depending on their needs, cells selectively activate genes to retrieve the stored information. Only the DNA of active genes is copied in the form of long RNA…

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…

News from the Göttingen Campus

ERC Advanced Grant for Patrick Cramer

Mourning for former DPZ managing director Reinhard Grunwald

Respiratory masks and parts for respirators

Neanderthals ate mussels, fish and seals too

Preventing spread of SARS coronavirus-2 in humans

Take “social distancing” seriously!

A pigment from ancient Egypt to modern microscopy

Delayed arrival: water, carbon and nitrogen came to Earth later

Command and control in the cellular fatty acid factory

Turbulent convection at the heart of stellar activity

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