One of the highlights of our summer was the Alpine Meetup that we hosted in Munich. From the 30th - 31st of August, we invited teams from the Alpine area, mainly Austria, Bavaria, Switzerland and France to come together for a weekend in Munich with a variety of interesting program. We set up a great program including everything from interesting talks and exciting workshops, to fun games and our highlight: a Mini Jamboree! In the evenings we spent relaxed times together in the city of Munich, getting to know the members of other teams in Munich's best beergardens or pubs and during a city tour.
Team:Munich/alpinemeetup
Alpine Meetup
Timetable
Friday 30.08.2019
We welcomed our visitors at the Biomedical Center of the LMU, where we hosted the Meetup. Everyone was welcomed with a great goodie bag and the first contacts where made during the poster set-up. After a short welcome speech, our supervisor Prof. Gil Westmeyer gave us an insight into his research in the first talk of the weekend, followed by a second talk about Engineering Principles in Synthetic Biology by Prof. Friedrich Simmel. After exchanging ideas and getting to know the details of each others projects, we ended the day together with dinner, followed by a small pub tour through Munich.
Saturday 31.08.2019
On the second day of our Meetup we listened to a talk by Dr. Andreas Brachmann about Opiod Synthesis in Yeast. After the talk, we offered great workshops by Eppendorf and Abcam, where experts in their field gave us very helpful tips on the correct application of their products in our experiments. After a group picture and lunch, Dr. Bettina Bölter gave an interesting insight into her research approach in the field of Plant Biochemistry. Before we got very scientific at our Mini Jamboree, we relaxed and had lots of fun during our science themed games outside in the sun. At the highlight of our Meetup, we simulated the situation at the Giant Jamboree and every team presented their project and got valuable feedback from the other teams. We finished the second day with some time to bond over dinner in one of Munich's best beergardens .
Sunday 01.09.2019
For the last day of the Meetup, we had no scientific program anymore but enjoyed a city tour and some sightseeing in Munich together. Spending time in the sunny English Garden was a perfect way to end an exciting weekend with many new friends!
Workshops and Booths
Abcam
Antibodies: versatile tools for research
Janina Burkhardt and Tanja Büsgen from Abcam came all the way from Cambridge to give a workshop about antibodies, the field in which Abcam is one of the market leaders! They gave us an insight into the world of antibodies and talked about about the correct applications and what to pay attention to when using them.
Eppendorf
Liquid Handling Workshop
Gary Kusdian from Eppendorf introduced us into the world of Eppendorf pipettes. In his talk he gave a glance at dosing systems, operating principles and dosing techniques. In addition, he talked about factors influencing correct pipetting results.
Twist Bioscience
Oliver Latz and Kai Seehaus from Twist Bioscience offered us interesting insights into the iGEM supporting company Twist Bioscience at their booth.
Talks
The work of his laboratory focuses on bioengineering of next-generation molecular sensors and actuators for functional imaging and remote spatiotemporal control of cellular processes with whole organ(ism) coverage. To this end, mammalian cell engineering, nanotechnological and synthetic techniques are combined with non-invasive imaging methods such as Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and Multispectral Optoacoustic Tomography (MSOT), complemented with fast fluorescence imaging. The new molecular imaging agents and actuators are applied for dynamic analyses of organoids and neurobehavioral imaging of preclinical model organisms to dissect cellular network function and contribute to future imaging-controlled tissue engineering as well as regenerative and cell therapies. Prof. Westmeyer studied medicine and philosophy in Munich and conducted his doctoral work on the molecular basis of Alzheimer’s disease in Prof. Christian Haass’ laboratory in Munich before receiving a part of his clinical education at Harvard Medical School. Starting in 2005 he worked with Prof. Alan Jasanoff as a postdoctoral fellow at M.I.T before he was appointed to TUM School of Medicine in 2012.
The research conducted by Prof. Simmel revolves around bionanotechnology and the physics of synthetic biological systems. His particular areas of interest include artificial molecular machines and nanostructures composed of DNA molecules and the design of artificial biochemical circuits. After studying physics and completing his doctorate (1999) at Munich’s Ludwig Maximilian University (LMU), he did research work at Bell Laboratories in Murray Hill, NJ, USA. He returned to LMU in 2002 to work in a junior research group sponsored by the German Research Foundation’s Emmy Noether program. In 2005, Prof. Simmel qualified as a lecturer in experimental physics at LMU. He has been Chair of Experimental Physics (Physics of Synthetic Biological Systems) at TUM since 2007. Since 2013, Prof. Simmel has been a member of acatech - the National Academy of Science and Engineering.
Dr. Brachmann is a group leader in the Genetics
department of the LMU since 2005, where research is
focused on Microbial Functional Genomics. He is
specifically focused on Glomeromycota.
Dr. Brachmann studied Biology at the LMU Munich.
After his Diploma he did his doctoral studies in the
Gentetics Institute of LMU Munich in the laboratory of
Prof. Dr. Regine Kahmann. During his Postdoctoral
Fellow Dr. Brachmann joined the laboratory of Reed
Wickner for Biochemistry and Genetics in Bethesda,
Maryland, USA.
"What is the purpose of all this?" man asked politely.
"Everything must have a purpose?" asked God.
"Certainly," said man.
"Then I leave it to you to think of one for all this," said
God. And He went away.
(The First Book of Bokonon).
PD Dr. Bettina Bölter
Overcoming Barriers - Protein Translocation into Chloroplasts
Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich
Dr. Bölter is a group leader in the plant science department of the LMU working on the characterisation of protein transport into chloroplasts and the analysis of the composition and the regulation of translocation complexes. Dr. Bölter studied Biology at the University of Kiel and completed her doctorate in Cell Biology in Kiel in 2000. During her postdoctoral fellowship she worked with Prof. Soll in Kiel and Prof. Hartl in Martinsried at the MPI for Biochemistry. Since 2004 she is a research assistant of Prof. Soll, Chair of Biochemistry and Physiology of Plants at the LMU and since 2010 she is a private lecturer at LMU.
Mini Jamboree and Poster Session
During the Poster Session and the Mini Jamboree, our participants had the opportunity to get into Giant Jamboree mood! All teams got to practice on their poster and presentation skills, got lots of feedback from other teams, professors and company experts that were present. Every team got to choose the best poster and presentation which gave the chance to win cool prizes as a little extra motivation!
Other Activites
Science Games
During our science themed games our visitors had the chance to relax and have fun with other teams.
City Tour
We let the Meetup come to an end with a city tour through sunny Munich and exchanged last talks and discussion over lunch in a beergarden.
