MMS ScienceCon – Ease yourself into scientific research

Roxana Maximeasa read through the first four major papers for her research project while sitting beside the sea. She had printed them out to take with her before going away on vacation. Relaxing on the beach, she immersed herself in the world of calcium-binding proteins and signal transduction cascades. “That was when, for the first time, I felt like a little researcher,” the medical student recalls. Back in Munich, she spent many hours in the laboratory as part of a research module. She learned how to keep cells in culture, conducted experiments in molecular biology and used pipettes to extract fluids from reaction vessels till all that was left was the sediment. She then presented her findings at ScienceCon, the Faculty of Medicine’s student research conference.

The research module and ScienceCon have both been in existence since 2017. The conference has grown bigger and bigger in the meantime and now hosts presentations by international researchers. When it first started, Dean of Studies Professor Michael Meyer wanted to make it possible for students of medicine to experience the world of research from an early stage. He wanted to give them a feel for research and let them find out whether this might be something for them. “Having the chance to try everything out gives you such a safe space,” Maximeasa says. Ten years ago, she would never have dreamed of spending hours in the laboratory. Today, though, she quotes Peter Vajkoczy, one of the most highly regarded neurosurgeons in the world, who affirms that research is the most creative source of momentum in the life of a medical professional.

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At ScienceCon 2024, 26 students from last year’s intake presented their findings at the BioMedical Center in Planegg. The first paper was presented by Tobias Siegmund, who is currently in his fourth semester. His research project landed him in the pharmaceutical laboratory of Professor Olivia Merkel, where he investigated whether a model of the metastasis of breast cancer cells can also be applied for lung cancer. During the vacation period, Siegmund grew the cells, dissolved them and analyzed the proteins. The research module assumes that 160 hours will be spent in the laboratory. At around 200 hours, however, he and his supervisor, a PhD candidate from Rome, stopped counting. Yet Siegmund is adamant that he would not have missed a single hour. In his schooldays, he used to ask questions that the teachers could not answer. His PhD supervisor in the laboratory told him: “I can’t answer your questions either, but I can show you how you might be able to answer them yourself.” The student now wants to do an experimental doctoral thesis and may later work in orthopedics. He is keen to see how the practical, hands-on work can be combined with research. “Curiosity is my main source of motivation,” he says.

The students do all this work on a voluntary basis. Although neither the two-semester research module nor ScienceCon are compulsory, every year sees around 70 students applying for places – and discovering that they can do everything they need to do. Jihee Kim, the student coordinator, helps the students with workshops and took part in ScienceCon herself a few years ago. She was a little afraid of the research module: She had not held a pipette in her hand since her schooldays and had never spent time in a laboratory. Nor did she have a clue about abstracts. But everything worked out fine. “It’s a very gentle way to ease yourself into scientific research,” she says. “Afterwards, you have a much better idea of whether or not you want to go into research.”

According to Dr. Romana Ruiss and Dr. Johanna Canady, many of the students do. The two doctors coordinate the research module and the ScienceCon event, and are proud of what the students achieve each year. “Seeing how the medical students present their findings in front of so many people after a month’s internship – and that in English – is really exciting," Ruiss says. “For the first time in their life, they get to present a research project. And afterwards, they answer questions from the audience so well that you might think they were already doctoral candidates.” Sometimes, their work leads to follow-on projects. Two former participants in the research module set up the Student Medical Journal, for example, to provide the student research community with an official platform. Maximeasa will showcase the journal at this year’s ScienceCon. Students of all disciplines can use the platform to submit their research on biomedical subjects, connect with each other, try things out and ask questions – which is ultimately what it is all about. The questions never end: The students simply need a space where they can pursue them. “The module and ScienceCon light a fire in the students,” Canady says.

In the future, Maximeasa wants to work at a university hospital where research is part of the routine. She is especially interested in neurosurgery. We still know so little about this field, she admits, but we have to go on treating the patients. “At the end of the day, I will still have unanswered questions," she shrugs, "so I'll just pop into the laboratory for a while." She now knows how that works.