Monthly Archives: February 2017

PhD Life

Welcome to the jungle – a short bureaucracy guide for new international PhD students in Bonn

Bureaucracy – sounds painful? Bureaucracy in Germany – even more painful? Bureaucracy in Germany when you don’t know German – aw, that really hurts! Almost three years ago when I came to Germany, the amount of documents written in a mysterious code made of weird clumps of letters stuck together in an endless row made me learn the word Enttäuschung (German for disappointment and frustration). … Continue reading Welcome to the jungle – a short bureaucracy guide for new international PhD students in Bonn »

PhD Life

Travelling in the name of science

When I was asked to write a little report about the experiences I had made at the International Congress of Immunology I didn’t just want to write one of these travel reports containing the typical pictures of museums and skyscrapers. Instead, I want to tell you about the scientific way of travelling. During my bachelor studies at the University of Applied Sciences Bonn-Rhein-Sieg I already … Continue reading Travelling in the name of science »

PhD Life

How to maximally piss off a PhD student in five words

It’s hilarious how a little innocent question is able to make PhD students all around the globe[1] feel miserable, feel hate for the inquirer, for his or her supervisor and/or for the world in general. I would assume that, by now, everyone is aware of the reflexes that it is causing, no matter if it is being asked by acquaintances, colleagues, friends or family. Obviously … Continue reading How to maximally piss off a PhD student in five words »

Going Interdisciplinary

How chemistry opened the door to a molecular level for Sebastian Schmitt

Not many biologists will keep their first semester practical course in chemistry in especially good memory. Slowly titrating 0.1 M HCl against NaOH while observing the pH is usually a little less thrilling than cooking some methamphetamine with Walter White in the desert of New Mexico (sorry here to all non-Breaking Bad viewers). Nonetheless, chemistry can prove extremely useful when working on a biological question. … Continue reading How chemistry opened the door to a molecular level for Sebastian Schmitt »

PhD Life

Stressed like a PhD student

In 2016 best ranking job, which takes into consideration also stress, careercast.com rated both biologist and university professor at place 38 out of 200. Not bad. Stress score was 16 for the biologists and 8 for the professors. That’s really low compared to the highest score (73) assigned to firefighters and surprisingly close to the lowest score (6) calculated for compliance officers. I agree – … Continue reading Stressed like a PhD student »

Hard Science

Immunotherapy: Highly priced cure for a Lucky Few…

“It´s revolutionary, prohibitively expensive, and in frustratingly short supply, but for a Lucky Few, an immunotherapy drug is their miracle CURE “ – This is how the August 20, 2016 GoodWeekend journal´s (1) cover looked like in Melbourne, Australia, exactly the week when the International Conference of Immunology (ICI) took place in the same city and gathered more than 4000 clinicians, scientist, students to discuss … Continue reading Immunotherapy: Highly priced cure for a Lucky Few… »

Short Profile

Anastasia Solomatina – A Boomerang between Bonn and Melbourne

Anastasia Solomatina started her PhD project in April 2016 in the group of Prof. Kolanus at the LIMES institute. She is part of the Bo&MeRanG program , which is a joint graduate school of the universities of Bonn and Melbourne. This gives the participants the opportunity to do part of their PhD work at their partner laboratory in Australia and receive a PhD from both … Continue reading Anastasia Solomatina – A Boomerang between Bonn and Melbourne »