BEAM Symposium
From 06. to 08. September 2023 our first BEAM Symposium took place in Halle (Saale)!
News from the RTG
Congratulations to Annika Blum
Our student talent Annika Blum took part in the 23rd Joint meeting of Biophysical Chemists and Electrochemists(https://www.biophys-electrochem.cz/) in Prague. The event is an annual event continuing a long tradition where scientists from the fields of biophysics and electrochemistry meet.
Under the supervision of Maria Hörnke, Annika won one of the three prizes for her poster flashtalk. Congratulations for this great achievement!
Our first scientific mini story
Go watch our first scientific mini story with and about Til. As it is primarily intended to appeal to and reach school pupils and young people interested in STEM subjects, the video is in German.
1. BEAM symposium
BEAM held its first symposium at the beginning of September and it was a success in every way. Speakers from Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and the UK and gave presentations on, for example, function and ordering of liquid crystals, solvation of molecules, diffusive motion of complex molecules, mathematical description of symmetry, protein engineering & directed evolution, covalent organic frameworks, supramolecular self-assembly of polymers & complex materials and polyphillic protein-membrane interactions. All of these topics were connected through the intrinsic complexity of intermolecular interactions going beyond amphiphilicity
Talks were held by Thisbe Lindhorst (CAU Kiel), Sandro Keller (KFU Graz), Bettina Keller (FU Berlin), Carla Schmidt (JGU Mainz), Michael Vogel (TU Darmstadt), Oren A. Scherman (University of Cambridge), Beate Paulus (FU Berlin), Nina Morgner (Universität Frankfurt), Yoko Yamakoshi (ETH Zürich), Christian Schwieger (MLU Halle), Maria Hoernke (MLU Halle), [D1] Martin Weissenborn (MLU Halle), PD Dr. Annette Meister (MLU Halle) and PD Dr. Mohamed Alaasar (MLU Halle).
Our PhD students were of course also part of the event. They had the opportunity to present their research in a poster session combined with a short and concise introduction to their research in the form of flash talks of two minutes. We even had three contributed scientific talks by our students and some were chairs of scientific sessions, all part of a complete scientific training!
One great benefit of a meeting with eminent scientists and doctoral researchers  was that the guests were given the opportunity to talk and exchange ideas in between scientific sessions – and we allocated ample time for this in the meeting.
One of the highlights was a joint dinner followed by an after dinner talk on the topic molecules as astrophysical tools, held by Dr. Silvia Spezzano (MPI for extraterr. Physics, Garching) . After the presentation, the other guests were able to ask questions and interesting, lively, and insightful conversations ensued.
After three long days full of exciting topics, nice people and interesting conversations, our symposium came to an end. We would like to thank all participants and look forward to the next conferences planned in spring 2025. Wait for more to come!