Munich: Research on prehistoric tooth enamel – Munich

Rani Bakkour, 40, is an environmental chemist at the Technical University of Munich. Recently, together with Tina Lüdecke from the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in Mainz and Cajetan Neubauer from the University of Colorado Boulder, he received a one million dollar commitment from the Human Frontier Science Program, an internationally renowned funding program for basic research. The three teams in Germany and the USA will work together to examine the tooth enamel of early humans – and thereby perhaps gain new insights into human evolution.

How did you come to study the enamel of early humans?

Our colleagues from paleoanthropology in Mainz discovered that amino acids can be preserved in tooth enamel for millions of years. And from the isotope ratios in it, conclusions can be drawn about the food and living conditions of our ancestors. They approached me because I had developed a special method for isotope analysis for compounds similar to amino acids at TUM.

What is special about your process?

With our technology we can build macromolecules that recognize a single, very specific molecule from samples with thousands of different compounds. We call this technique molecular imprinting. We normally use it to isolate tiny amounts of pollutants, such as glyphosate, from complex water samples. But this method is of course also interesting for paleoanthropology.

And if you analyze the amino acids from tooth enamel, can you deduce what the favorite food of early humans was?

Yes. You will see whether our ancestors ate primarily meat or plants, whether they ate fish or mushrooms, and even the role of breastfeeding. You can then compare the findings with archaeological finds that provide information about the tools people used or what their physique was like. “We are what we eat” – that’s not just a saying, it has a scientific background, because the whole evolution is closely related to the food supply.

In what way?

Whether our ancestors walked upright, whether they were hunters and had to travel long distances, or whether they ate carrion, all of these influenced their physical and mental development. Another important aspect is whether they used fire and whether they ate their food raw or cooked. Because cooked food provides much more energy than raw food, and it is believed that this has a positive influence on brain development.

Where are the teeth from? How old are you?

They are around a million years old and are native to Africa. Where exactly and who collected them, I cannot tell you. The Max Planck Institute in Mainz receives finds from all over the world for analysis. I only get the enamel in tiny samples.

Have you always been interested in history or archaeology?

I always found it extremely exciting to know where we come from. However, more out of personal curiosity. I never thought that as a chemist I would deal with such questions.

The research grant runs for three years?

Yes, and I am very excited about this international collaboration with paleoanthropologists and biochemists. Of course, I’m curious to see what we find out.

When did you come to Munich?

I had done my bachelor’s degree in chemistry in Syria and was going to the University of Duisburg-Essen for a master’s degree before the war broke out. Then I did my doctorate at ETH Zurich. In 2018 I received the offer of the chair for analytical chemistry and water chemistry at the TUM, with the opportunity to set up my own research group in environmental analysis. Of course that was great. I feel good in Munich because it is an international city, TUM is an excellent university – and the Alps are close by. In my free time I like to go to the mountains, my hobby is photography.

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