Profile

My name is Verena Tischler and I am a PhD student at the EMBL in Heidelberg. In my PhD project I work on the computational analyses of large genomic rearrangements in genomes.

Before coming to Heidelberg, I studied Molecular Biology and Bioinformatics in Recklinghausen, Germany and London, United Kingdom.

Aside from my PhD work at the EMBL, I frequently volunteer to present my research and general biological topics to visitor groups or get involved in other science communication and education activities. Young and old people with varying prior knowledge in biology visit the EMBL. Although it is challenging to adapt to those different audiences, I really enjoy the opportunity to communicate science to the public. It also helps me as a scientist to reflect on my own with respect to ethics and the broader context of my research.

Telling people about solved and open questions in molecular biology is my way to give back to society and the biggest reward is to see when people understand biology a bit better.

Diary

One of the best aspects of a PhD at EMBL is the chance to get involved in various science communication and education-related projects. I got the opportunity to take part in a Design Thinking workshop for school kids at EMBL, jointly organized by the European Learning Laboratory for the Life Sciences (ELLS) and the software company SAP. Design Thinking (DT) – which I had never heard of before – is a creative team-based process to find new ideas or to solve a given challenge. Prior to the DT workshop at the EMBL, I took part in a trainer workshop to learn about Design Thinking and go through the creative process myself. This was the perfect preparation for the planned workshop with the school kids at the EMBL.

In October 2013 I was standing in front of a crowd of 50 biology-fascinated school kids and their teachers talking about “Big data challenges in the life sciences”, a problem I am dealing with a lot as a Bioinformatician. I was surprised about how attentive the students were following my presentation and asked interested questions but were also able to answer my questions.

The DT workshop itself was scheduled for the next day and led by a DT trainer from SAP. The 50 school kids and their teachers were split into different teams and could choose from three prepared challenges related to “Big data in the life sciences”. My task during the workshop was to assist the teams and answer general and specific science-related questions.

I was amazed about how enthusiastic and creative the teams engaged in the DT process throughout the whole day. The overall atmosphere was very productive and open for discussion. The solutions to challenges, presented by each team at the end of the day, were thoroughly well prepared and presented. I was really surprised with how much ease the school kids presented in front of an audience and how well they countered critical questions.

In summary, I was positively surprised how smooth the whole workshop went and how much everyone enjoyed the work. In the future, I would get involved again in activities of a similar format without thinking twice about it.