MTZ®foundation arranged an internship at the Max Planck Institute for an excellent high school student

Participant of the International Biology Olympiad obtains exclusive insight in biological research

From October 15-19th 2012, Anna Wittek from Herford visited the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Biomedicine for an internship. This special internship was initiated by the MTZ®foundation, which identifies excellent high school students with the aim to stimulate their interest in Natural Sciences. The MTZ®foundation awards a prize for excellent young scientists at the MPI in Münster since 2009. Anna Wittek is in her 12th school year, at the Friedrichs-Gymnasium-Herford. She qualified with only three other school students among more than 1000 applicants for the International Biology Olympiad, which was held in Singapore from 8 – 15th July 2012. Wittek won a silver medal. PD Dr. Gabriele Bixel planned and organized the internship and supervised the high school student together with other colleagues from the institute during her one-week stay. The 17-year-old school student was introduced to the various research projects and experimental procedures of the three departments and visited, among others, the zebrafish breeding colony, the electron microscopy laboratory and the institute’s own building service and workshop. In one-on-one conversations with scientists she obtained deeper insights into the scientific themes of the institute. The internship has reinforced Anna Wittek in her desire to study Biology. “There are so many exciting things here at the institute. I am really happy about the unique opportunity to have an internship in a research institute with this reputation”, says Wittek. “I truly thank Dr. Bixel and the MTZ®foundation”.