Final participation on 24 June in Bielefeld

Scientific topics often sound very complicated. But often hidden behind technical terms and graphics are things that everyone knows from everyday life. Formats such as science slams enable researchers to present their topics to a non-specialist audience in an understandable way. At this year's FameLab in Bremerhaven, Hanna Eisenberg from Bremerhaven University of Applied Sciences gave a short presentation about her research and took second place. She will take part in the German final in Bielefeld on 24 June.

Anyone who associates algae only with green-coloured terraces or dead fish is doing them an injustice. Algae are little superheroes and can be used in many different ways - and not just in the cosmetics industry. In the ‘SerAZel’ project, PhD student Hanna Eisenberg is investigating whether they are also suitable as culture media for animal cells. To this end, she is cultivating red algae in the laboratory and extracting various classes of substances from them, such as proteins. Animal cells are later tested to see whether they grow in this medium or not. "The non-plus-ultra in cell research is blood serum, especially foetal calf serum. However, this is obtained in a brutal way from unborn calves. That's why we are investigating whether algae could be an alternative to animal serum," explains the doctoral student. She explained this research topic at FameLab Bremerhaven in three minutes using props such as Erlmeyer flasks, culture bottles and diagrams. 

Hanna Eisenberg doesn't really like giving talks. ‘I'm always terribly nervous beforehand,’ she says. That's why her supervisor and project manager Prof Dr Imke Lang drew her attention to the FameLab so that she could gain a little more experience. "I thought about a concept at night. You can't use a PowerPoint presentation in this format. You have to bring all the utensils to the stage yourself and it shouldn't take long to set up. I wrote down what I wanted to say and then picked out photos and utensils for individual points." Time was a particular challenge. "The first time I practised, I only had two minutes. It shouldn't be that short. Later it was much longer. That's why I practised a lot and went over the presentation again and again until it was really good," says the doctoral student. 

The work paid off in the end. Hanna Eisenberg impressed the jury and took second place. "The event was a great experience. The other participants were very nice and the atmosphere was good. And as I was allowed to present third, I was able to listen to a few other talks," she says. On 24 June, the doctoral student will take part in the German final of the FameLab. For this, she will need a new talk with new anecdotes and new utensils. She already has an idea: ‘This time I'm focussing on the topic of cell culture.’ In addition to her place in the final, she has also won professional presentation coaching, which can also be useful for presentations at specialist conferences. 

Hanna Eisenberg's presentation is available on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCzxRQlVB2o.

(Translated by deepL.com)