INTERNSHIP:Excursion into the world of the brain

One week with the scientists of the SFB 874

When Emelie entered the campus shortly before the summer holidays and made her way to the GAFO building, she was a little excited.

One week of school internship was ahead of her – in the laboratories of the SFB 874. “It has been my wish to do an internship in the lab for a long time. But until now I was too young for it,” explains Emelie, who took biology as an advanced course at school. “Now I’m very excited to see what’s waiting for me.”

For five days, the pupil from Sprockhövel was offered a varied programme at the Ruhr University in Bochum: Neuronal fundamentals of learning in the research group of Prof. Dr. Jonas Rose, the stress lab in the area of Prof. Dr. Oliver Wolf and biopsychology at the department of Prof. Onur Güntürkün.

The timetable included microscopy, Skinner box training, immunohistochemistry and participation in stress tests and behavioural experiments. “While I really enjoyed everything, I found the neurophysiological studies with the pigeons the most exciting,” sums up the 18-year-old, who will graduate from high school next year.

I will continue on this path and could well imagine starting out in neuroscience after my A-levels.

Emelie, A-level student and school intern for one week at SFB 874

Supervising interns is a win-win situation for both sides.

“The SFB 874 is always happy to give seriously interested pupils an insight into everyday research life as part of a work experience internship. After all, today’s pupils are tomorrow’s neuroscientists and an important multiplier,” says Ursula Heiler, manager of the outreach project at SFB 874.