UQ hosts bright young German scientists

The joint winner of a major German youth science competition is considering studying at The University of Queensland (UQ), after spending two-weeks as an intern at The Queensland Brain Institute (QBI).

Volker Karle (20) was awarded the internship after winning the Jugend Forscht national science research competition.

His project, which involved successfully modelling and simulating cell behaviour in a human colon, was chosen from a record 11,000 entrants.

Mr Karle said he was awe-struck by the facilities at QBI and was excited to be able to participate in projects on computational neuroscience using these facilities.

“QBI is a very impressive building with amazing laboratories. I think I will apply for a scholarship to UQ or another internship at QBI when I have completed my undergraduate degree at my German university.”

Jugend Forscht is a foundation that stages a national scientific research competition targeting talented high school students.

Severin Kaemmerer (17) was also awarded the prize for his research into copper fluoride.

Mr Kaemmerer will undertake an internship at UQ’s School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences during August. He will be supervised by ARC Research Fellow and Senior Lecturer in Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, Dr Ulrike Kappler.