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!

Every year, the children’s university takes place with the aim of introducing children to the university. This year, BEAM (AG Hinderberger) participated for the first time.

Our student talents Annika Blum and Vanessa Jerschabek as well as our PhD students Sebastian Michler and Florian Lehmann took part.

Photos: Franziska Roth

On Wednesday, July 12 2023, our Ph.D. student Anna Luisa Upterworth won the 3MT (three minute thesis) regional competition in Halle. In three minutes, she had to present her Ph.D. thesis topic “what is mixture?” with only one slide. Congratulations on the first place!