61. Deutsche Pflanzenschutztagung in Stuttgart

As usual, our group was strongly represented at the German Plant Protection Congress (Deutsche Pflanzenschutztagung). This year, the University of Hohenheim provided the perfect location for the conference which celebrated its 61th anniversary. Besides Prof. Patel, his PostDocs Desiree Jakobs-Schönwandt and Pascal Humbert as well as the PhD students Annika Lemke, Katharina Hermann, Linda Muskat and Mauricio Cruz Barrera attended the conference with seven talks and five posters presenting their newest results on the formulation of biological control agents.

As a highlight of the conference, our former partner from Göttingen University Dr. Mario Schumann (now KWS Saat SE), was honored with the Julius-Kühn-Preis for his work on innovative strategies for the control of soil-borne insect pests following the attract-and-kill approach. His impressive work arose from a close cooperation with our group over several years.

ProcessNet in Aachen

Our PhD students Jnanada, Jan and Vanessa attended with two talks and five posters the ProcessNet and 33. DECHEMA annual conference in Aachen. They presented their latest results on production of antimicrobials with cell cultures and endophytes, chemo-enzymatic one-pot synthesis, biohydrogen production with green microalgae entrapped in novel silica hydrogels and microencapsulation of tumor cells as well as the future project on co-cultivation of microalgae and bacteria. They also met experts from the field of chemistry, biotechnology and engineering throughout Europe and had a great time in Aachen.

STEAM Summer School in Malta

For 10 days, Annika Lemke and Sissy-Christin Lorenz participated in a STEAM Summer School in Malta with the topic ‘science communication’. STEAM is an acronym for the fields of Sciences, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics. The combination of these fields turned out to be a guaranty for an exciting interdisciplinary  exchange of thoughts.

With 50 other participants from all over the world and with different professional backgrounds, Sissy and Annika learned a lot about engagement, communication, management, dialogue, evaluation and other fields combined with artistic forms. They also participated in science communication events in Malta, leaving the island with a headfull of new ideas how to inspire people in Bielefeld for Science.

This was the third STEAM Transcultural Science Communication Summer School organised by the University of Malta, European Union of Science Journalists’ Associations, Haaga-Helia University, Rhine-Waal University, Science View, and University of Edinburgh.

Insights in the work of a moderator

Last Thursday Sissy-Christin Lorenz who has been nurturing an interest in science communication got the chance to try out moderating a panel discussion within the event “Looking through the magnifying glass 2018: Japan”. Main topics were economics in Japan and an upcoming cooperation between the University of Applied Sciences Bielefeld and the city Yokohama for an easier exchange of interested students.

Participants of the panel discussion: Sissy-Christin Lorenz, Thomas Herold, Prof. Dr. Lothar Budde, Herbert Vogel, Takeshi Tamai with Enno Calsin Borda as translator and Uwe Kreidel (from left to right)

Even though it was not her Ph D topic, Sissy managed to perform confidently and was well prepared throughout the whole event. Anant who was invited as a “semi-Japan expert” marvelled at how effortlessly she kept the discussion running.

The complete official press release can be read on: https://www.fh-bielefeld.de/presse/pressemitteilungen/japan-denkt-weiter

 

28th Annual Meeting of the German Society for Parasitology

Every two years the German Society for Parasitology meets for exchange of new insights in the field of parasitology research. Sissy-Christin Lorenz had the great pleasure to present her recent results of the BioZec project within an oral presentation.

Dr. Kerstin Büchel won with our joint poster on “Development of a biological tick trap based on Attract-and-Kill strategy – Screening of attractants” the poster awards – Congratulations!