“It’s crucial for our students to expand their networks. At the Life Science Meeting we practically serve up top-quality contacts on a silver platter, if you like,” commented Prof. Harald Hundsberger, director of the Medical and Pharmaceutical Biotechnology degree programme. Students also gain a broad range of insights into life science professions and pick up valuable career tips.
Export hit: Life Science Meeting in Sweden
The Life Science Meeting has become one of the highlights of the academic year at IMC Krems, and Linköping University in Sweden now hosting its own Life Science Meeting based on the Krems model – a successful ‘export’ which IMC Krems’ Department of Life Sciences can be proud of. It is also very proud to have attracted more than 330 international representatives of science, industry and governmental institutions to the annual Life Science Meeting in Krems over the past 16 years.
First Life Science Meeting for Applied Chemistry
This year’s event was the first Life Science Meeting attended by students of IMC Krems’ new Applied Chemistry programme, which was launched in autumn 2018. It was the students’ first opportunity to experience an international conference atmosphere. The programme director Dr. Uwe Rinner was very upbeat: “I’m very pleased with the start we’ve had to the degree programme. There’s been a huge response from industry, and we’ve already found internship places for all the students.” Dr. Rinner is currently thinking about organising a conference for chemists as a junior counterpart to the Life Science Meeting.
3D-printed heart tissue
The winner of first place in the Practical Training Semester (PTS) Awards, Florian Richter, received a thunderous round of applause. During his placement at the University of Sydney, Florian carried out research into the most effective method of 3D printing of heart tissue. “The heart is a complex organ. It will be some time before we can use heart tissue from a printer in humans. But we’ve taken the first step.” The other two winning papers at the PTS Awards also addressed medical topics. Klavdija Bastl investigated gastric cancer cells: “Medical research is definitely a direction I’d like to head in. The idea of being able to help people with the work I do is fantastic.” Mathias Binder picked up third place for his research on how liver cancer can be detected at an earlier stage and therefore treated more effectively.
Network for young researchers
One of the speakers at the event was IMC Krems student Viktor Denev, who is the vice president of Young European Biologists (YEB),a network which brings together young researchers from all over Europe. Opportunities for study, career prospects and international conferences – YEB is all about sharing information and ideas, on social media and face to face at various get-togethers.
