Visit from German federal politics at Fraunhofer IME in Giessen

Today we had the pleasure of welcoming special guests at the Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology IME in Giessen. As part of her visit to the local science hub, Dorothee Bär learned about current developments in insect biotechnology and research at Fraunhofer IME.

I had the opportunity to present our research to Frederik Bouffier (Member of the German Bundestag, CDU) and Prof. Dr. Constantin Häfner (Member of the Executive Board for Research and Transfer of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft). A highlight was exploring the anatomy of the tobacco hornworm Manduca sexta together in virtual reality.

In our research, we use insects as alternative model organisms to reduce the use of mice in experiments while developing new approaches for biomedical research.

A big thank you to the entire Fraunhofer IME team and to my junior research group — this visit and the presentation of our work would not have been possible without your support.