Universal Building Blocks

Adenine, Thymine, Guanine, and Cytosine… we know them as the bases or “letters” forming DNA’s “alphabet”. Indeed these four bases form the vast majority of our DNA, though not all of it. DNA’s alphabet also contains other “letters” that are far less abundant but have crucial functions. These rare “letters” are generated by the chemical modification of other bases and, in my talk, we will dive into the world of these DNA modifications. You will be introduced to how they are generated and what roles they play in our DNA.

For more than half a century, astronomical evidence pointing at a new, invisible, type of matter has been growing. This so-called Dark Matter is currently one of the biggest mysteries in physics. In this talk, I will discuss some of the hypothetical particles that could make up the Dark Matter and how we try to detect these particles in the laboratory. Fitting to the enigmatic nature of Dark Matter, a diverse and vibrant community is working on a wide array of experiments, some of which are operated at the Helmholtz Institute Mainz.