Inspiration Stage: New Ways of Looking

To unlock new understanding, research finds new ways of looking: tracking change internally and in our environment and using new lenses to see old challenges.

Using radioactive tracers, scientists follow cancer drugs in the body, revealing which treatments work for individual tumours. Using satellite images, researchers map how dust from the Sahara Desert ends up shaping glaciers in the Alps. Studying animals that carry deadly viruses without becoming ill offers new lessons for pandemic preparedness. And closer attention to sex and gender challenges simple categories, revealing mental health as something shaped by many overlapping factors.

Across nuclear medicine, remote sensing, infection biology, and neuroscience, four researchers show how new methods and perspectives enable more detailed tracking, uncover new connections, and offer a more nuanced understanding of our health and our world.

TALKS INCLUDED:

Please note: events are displayed in the language in which they will take place. / Bitte beachten: Die Veranstaltungen werden in der Sprache angezeigt, in der sie stattfinden.

14:00 - 14:15 | Freba Grawe,  German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ)

Wie Radioaktivität Krebsmedikamente sichtbar macht

Wie findet ein Krebsmedikament zum Tumor? Entdecke, wie kleinste Mengen Radioaktivität Therapien sichtbar machen und helfen könnten, sie gezielter einzusetzen.

Was, wenn man einem Medikament dabei zusehen könnte, wie es den Tumor findet – oder verfehlt? Denn Krebs ist selbst in ein und demselben Menschen nicht überall gleich: ein Medikament kann einen Tumorherd erreichen, einen anderen jedoch kaum. Die Nuklearmedizinerin und Wissenschaftlerin PD Dr. Freba Grawe zeigt, wie ihr Team ein neues zielgerichtetes Krebsmedikament mit einer geringen Menge Radioaktivität markiert und seinen Weg anschließend mit der Positronen-Emissions-Tomografie (PET) durch den gesamten Körper verfolgt. Erste Ganzkörperaufnahmen aus ihrer klinischen Forschung machen sichtbar, was bislang verborgen blieb: verschiedene Tumorherde nehmen dasselbe Medikament unterschiedlich stark auf. Was bedeutet das für Menschen mit Krebs? Der Ganzkörperblick könnte schon vor Beginn und im Verlauf einer Behandlung zeigen, ob das Medikament seine Zielorte tatsächlich erreicht. Wenig aussichtsreiche Therapien ließen sich so früher erkennen, bevor wertvolle Zeit verloren geht. Ein Vortrag für alle, die wissen möchten, wie aus Radioaktivität ein Werkzeug moderner Präzisionsmedizin wird. Medizinisches Vorwissen ist nicht nötig – nur Neugier auf einen neuen Blick auf die moderne Krebstherapie.

14:15 - 14:30 | Gunjan Joshi, Helmholtz Zentrum Dresden Rossendorf 

When the Sahara meets the Alps: Seeing a Changing Glacier Through Remote Sensing and AI

What does Saharan dust have to do with a glacier in Switzerland? By looking at the Great Aletsch Glacier from space, we can uncover surprising connections across our planet

When we picture an Alpine glacier, we imagine endless white snow and ice, far away from the heat and dust of the Sahara. But these two worlds are more connected than we might think. Dust can travel thousands of kilometres from North Africa, cross the Mediterranean, and eventually settle on snow in the Alps. In this talk, I follow the Great Aletsch Glacier in Switzerland through nearly a decade of satellite images. With the help of AI, my colleagues and I looked at how the glacier’s surface changed over time; where there was snow, where there was exposed ice, and where the snow had been darkened by dust. But this is not really a story about satellites or algorithms. It is a story about seeing connections that are almost impossible to notice from the ground. A glacier in Switzerland can carry traces of a desert far away, and changes on its surface can tell us something about a much bigger, changing planet. Sometimes, the story written in Alpine snow begins in the Sahara.

14:30 - 14:45  | Max Kellner,  Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI)

Infected but Not Sick: What We Can Learn from the Animal Kingdom

What if infection didn’t always mean disease? Discover how some animals live with viruses without becoming sick—and what this could teach us about resilience and future pandemics.

Some animals can carry viruses that cause disease in humans without becoming seriously ill themselves. How do they do it? This talk explores the unique biology behind this resilience and how scientists can study it using organoids—miniature organs grown in the lab from bats and other disease-resilient animals. These models help us uncover how different species respond to infection and what this could teach us about disease, viral spillover, and future pandemics.

14:45 - 15:00 | Hanna Hörnberg, Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine

Sex, gender, and individual differences in mental health

Sex and gender influence the risk, presentation, and treatment of most mental health conditions. But do differences between men and women reflect fundamentally different brains, or are binary models too simplistic?

Sex and gender influence the risk, presentation, and treatment of most mental health conditions. But do differences between men and women reflect fundamentally different brains, or are binary models too simplistic? In this talk, I discuss why we (still) know less about women's health, why sex should be considered as an important biological variable, and why sex is best viewed as one of many factors that shape mental health rather than a strict biological dichotomy.

15:00 - 15:20 | Meet the Helmholtz Scientists

Meet the Helmholtz Scientists-Session

Stay around for an informal networking session: ask your own questions, start a conversation, and connect directly with the speakers.