The two young researchers Johann Liebeton and Leon Werner of the German Cancer Research Centre (DKFZ) Life Science Lab in Heidelberg started their project “biological phosphate recycling by means of algae” in the summer of last year. The aim was to find a way of retrieving phosphate from local bodies of water with the help of algae. The algae could afterwards be used as fertilizer to support environmental sustainability of existing phosphate resources.
With this project work Johann Liebeton and Leon Werner participated in the regional competition “Jugend forscht” in Hesse. Their engagement was honored and they won the regional competition Hesse/Bergstrasse in the category of biology on February 14th, 2015. - Congratulations!
Thanks to this success the two young men were entitled to participate in the State of Hesse competition which encouraged them to continue their research work. There is progress, yet there are also still obstacles to overcome. But Johann Liebeton and Leon Werner remain undeterred and rise to the challenge. Their goal is to successfully complete their research work and to participate in further competitions in the future.
We, Edmund Bühler GmbH, provided Johann Liebeton and Leon Werner with a laboratory shaker for their project work on the analysis of algae and, in the end, donated it to them. Now the compact shaker is also available to other groups in the student lab and we hope it will be put to good future use.