Saarbrücken, July 15, 2024 - An extraordinary combination: in the middle of the primeval forest just outside the city gates, visitors can experience biodiversity on a large and small scale at the end of the first week of the summer holidays. Soil samples are collected on exploratory tours with the rangers from Naturwacht Saar, which are then examined under the microscope together with researchers from the Helmholtz Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland (HIPS). For two days, the Günther von Bünau WildnisCamp, not far from the hiking car park at Forsthaus Neuhaus north of Saarbrücken, will be transformed into an outdoor research lab. There, young and old can try and discover exciting new soil bacteria in their freshly collected soil samples. On both days, the scientists will be on hand to explain how research into microbial biodiversity in the soil and the discovery of new active pharmaceutical ingredients are linked. The search for new soil bacteria in the forest environment is extremely promising - after all, hundreds of novel bacteria have already been discovered from Saarland soil samples as part of the MICROBELIX citizen science project, some of which can actually produce interesting active ingredients. This is precisely one of the aims of MICROBELIX: to find new soil bacteria with the help of citizen scientists that are capable of producing previously unknown natural products. These can then be further developed into new drugs against infections and other diseases. At the same time, HIPS researchers are working on methods to provide previously unattainable insights into the biodiversity of microorganisms in the soil. In addition to the microbiological research work, there will also be workshops on both days in which researchers will explain their studies published in specialist journals in a generally understandable way. And those who have done enough research can take a break in the games tent, for example with a round of soil bacteria quartet or microbe memory.
The MICROBELIX pop-up laboratory is a joint initiative of the HIPS and the Naturlandstiftung Saar (NLS). MICROBELIX is one of three winning projects in the Citizen Science competition "On your marks! Citizen Science in your city" 2023/24 by Wissenschaft im Dialog and the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin, funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research.
When and where: Friday 19 and Saturday 20 July 2024 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. | In the wilderness camp in the primeval forest just outside the city, not far from the hiking car park at Forsthaus Neuhaus
