On both days of the event, Friday and Saturday, staff from the communication departments of BIH and GSCN as well as scientists were present to inform about their research and answer questions. Dr. Michael Schmück-Henneresse gave a lecture on "Using immune cells against diseases", Dr. Med. Verena Schöwel and Christian Stadelmann (M.Sc.) spoke about "Muscle stem cells for therapy", Dr. Daniel Besser provided information on the topic of "Unproven stem cell therapies entice with hasty solutions" and Prof. Christian Conrad reported on "Organoids from cancer stem cells".
Everyone was pleased with the lively participation and the great interest of the visitors. Many children eagerly joined their parents, grandparents or older siblings in searching for the correct quiz answers on the roll-ups at the stand and excitedly waited for the hourly prize-giving. Even the expert public and patients found their way to the stand and had some very lively conversations with the experts. Even some pupils and students used their free Saturday to learn more about current cell research and test their acquired knowledge directly in the quiz.
Christian Conrad, head of the Department of Intelligent Imaging at BIH, was impressed by how much prior knowledge some visitors and even children sometimes brought with them: "I didn't have to explain to anyone what a cell is, some even recognised the organoids on the poster or correctly assigned cell types to the different organs. That was really fun."
In addition, a Belgian delegation of scientists from the Prime Minister of the Wallonia-Bruxelles region visited the stand. The international exchange of experts enriched the discussions and triggered ideas for possible collaborations.
Stefanie Seltmann, who organised the stand together with her colleague from the GSCN, Stefanie Mahler, was pleased with the new target groups for public relations work: "You could talk to patients and doctors, schoolchildren, teachers and parents, you met international audiences from European and non-European countries, and everyone was interested in the exciting translational medical research at BIH."
A journalistic view of the joint offer of BIH and GSCN was taken by a staff member of Deutschlandfunk Kultur. His six-minute report, in which scientists, participants and organisers had their say, was broadcast in the programme "Zeitfragen Forschung und Gesellschaft" on Thursday, 11 November, and can be listened to here.
With the many interested visitors, around 200 completed quiz sheets and a lot of positive feedback on the stand, the participation in this year's Berlin Science Campus remains a fond memory for those involved - and already gives rise to anticipation for 2022!