5th Doc´s day – first time in Borstel

The 5th Doc´s Day on May 12, 2023, was the third one that we have in person but also the first one that we had the opportunity to visit one of the centres that are part of the miTarget research unit. Welcome to Research Center Borstel. Juliana Schramm, a doctoral researcher working at the institute, welcomed us there.
The first part of our Doc’s Days is always focused on internal projects and discussions between doctoral researcher and their supervisors. It is the perfect opportunity to improve presentation skills and to have direct input. Arianna Ferrari, a doctoral researcher from the Department of Radiology and Neuroradiology at the University Medical Center Schleswig-Holstein (UKSH), gave the first talk. She showed us what her lab routine is like and talked about the techniques she is carrying out in her project. Her presentation was entitled: “Real-time metabolism of 13C hyperpolarized tracers in living bacteria detected with NMR”.
Saskia Weber-Stiehl was the second doctoral researcher to give a talk. The title was “Functional Analysis of HKDC1 and HK2 in intestinal inflammation and Carcinogenesis”. She works at the Institute of Clinical Molecular Biology (IKMB) at Kiel University (CAU). During her presentation, we were able to understand the role of HKDC1 to HK2 a little better.
After these two magnificent presentations, we had a short break where we continued with some discussion regarding the talks. Furthermore, we were able to add a discussion round with Prof. Jan-Bernd Hövener to the agenda. He provided us with interesting insights into new and non-invasive imaging methods which could help to improve laboratory work.
During the second part of the day, we heard talks from people who work in the research centre in Borstel. Prof. Dr. Holger Heine introduced us to chronic lung diseases with his talk title: “Archaea and bacteria are not the same – but don’t ask TLR8: Lessons from cow sheds and Trained immunity”
Then, Celina Prosch, who is a doctoral researcher in Borstel from the program area of Infections and cellular microbiology, gave us insights into her doctoral work at the institute: “Microbiota alterations in mice treated with different regimens of antibiotics, antifungals, and experimental probiotics”. After that, Dr. Draginja Kovacevic closed the session with her presentation “Susceptible window of microbial colonization for shaping innate immunity”. She is a postdoctoral researcher at the Borstel Institute and belongs to the program area DZL laboratory for experimental microbiome research. As most of us focused on the gut microbiome, it was interesting to learn about the lung microbiome and other parts of the microbiome besides bacteria, such as archaea and fungi. This helped us to broaden our knowledge and to understand a little better the never-ending story of the microbiome and its relationship to human health.
During the lunch break, we were able to network and discuss interesting topics with some of the speakers from the institute and the present miTarget members. In the afternoon, we walked the so-called “Borstel walk” to get to know the research institute better. This included the facilities and their surroundings as well as the history surrounding the research centre. Besides, it was also possible to enjoy the gardens surrounding the institute thanks to the good weather we had. And that was the end of the 5th Doc´s Day.

Authors: Irene Bermúdez-Pérez & Juliana Schramm