Berlin, MDC: A holiday for Ukrainian children

During the Easter holidays, high school children from Ukraine were offered free experimentation courses and experience guided tours of research laboratories at the Berlin-Buch Campus at the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association (MDC).

The “Glass laboratory” (Gläsernes Labor) was bustling on the morning of 20 April: Twelve children and adolescents aged 13-17 extracted DNA from fruits, their own mouthes and from bacteria. After lunch in the cafeteria, the children were able to relax a bit, play table tennis, enjoy a walk through the green Buch Berlin campus and then experience guided tours of research labs at the MDC. They learned about a technology platform for animal phenotyping, visited the working group “Anchor Proteins and Signal Transduction” of PD Dr. Enno Klußmann and the working group of Professor Thomas Willnow, which, among other things, researches what causes and how one can treat Alzheimer’s disease. The activity was initiated by Dr. Luiza Bengtsson, MDC public engagement and knowledge transfer manager and many number of Ukrainian-speaking volunteer researchers and other MDC staff enthusiastically supported this joint effort.