{"id":7024,"date":"2026-04-28T14:28:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-28T13:28:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.microplanet.at\/?p=7024"},"modified":"2026-05-19T09:36:48","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T08:36:48","slug":"coe-microplanet-at-lange-nacht-der-forschung-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.microplanet.at\/index.php\/news\/coe-microplanet-at-lange-nacht-der-forschung-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"CoE Microplanet at Lange Nacht der Forschung 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

On April 24, members of the Cluster of Excellence (CoE) Microplanet<\/strong> stepped out of the labs and into the spotlight for Austria\u2019s largest biennial celebration of science, research, and innovation: the Lange Nacht der Forschung (LNF)<\/strong>. Since 2005, the LNF has opened doors across all nine federal states, offering people of all ages free glimpses into the world of science. This year, CoE Microplanet showcased the groundbreaking research across 11 interactive stations at 6 different locations<\/strong>. From walk-through organs to glowing microbes, here is a recap of how our researchers brought the invisible world of microbes to life!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the AIT \u2013 Austrian Institute of Technology (Tulln)<\/strong>, CoE members Angela Sessitsch, Caro Bilz, <\/strong>and Saee Joshi<\/strong> gave a hands-on look at the tiny helpers living inside and around plant roots, featuring real roots, living plants, and active microorganisms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At JKU Linz<\/strong>, organized by CoE members Alexander Moschen<\/strong> and Alex Ralser<\/strong>, visitors of all ages got to walk through Europe\u2019s largest model of a human colon spanning 20 metres (developed by the Felix Burda Stiftung GmbH).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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CoE PhD student Saee Joshi at the LNF booth \u00a9Pogner\/AIT<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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CoE PhD student Caro Bilz at the LNF booth \u00a9Pogner\/AIT<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Walk-in human colon model at JKU Linz \u00a9Ralser<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Inside view of the human colon model at JKU Linz \u00a9Ralser<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

CoE members Helena Thumfart<\/strong> and Alexandra Lorenz<\/strong> from TU Wien<\/strong> introduced the “Organ-on-a-Chip” technology, highlighting advanced alternatives to animal testing. Visitors learned how these tiny, laboratory-replicated human organ parts are designed, manufactured, and analyzed under the microscope.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the Faculty of Chemistry (University of Vienna)<\/strong>, CoE member Thomas B\u00f6ttcher<\/strong> gave a highly entertaining lecture on why spaceships don’t explode the way they do on screen, how the machines in The Matrix<\/em> miscalculated their thermodynamics, and where Jurassic World<\/em> bent the rules of biochemistry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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CoE Key Researcher Thomas B\u00f6ttcher during his lecture \u00a9derknopfdruecker<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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CoE PhD students Helena Thumfart and Alexandra Lorenz at their booth \u00a9Helena Thumfart<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

CoE members Dagmar Woebken<\/strong> and Michael Zumstein<\/strong>, with their groups, represented the CoE Microplanet at the main building of the University of Vienna<\/strong>. While Dagmar and her team demonstrated the incredible survival mechanisms of tiny soil microorganisms under extreme conditions, Michael and his colleagues investigated what makes certain chemicals truly biodegradable, exploring eco-friendly alternatives to replace harmful, man-made substances in our ecosystems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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CoE Postdoc Valentin Waschulin from Dagmar Woebken’s group showing biocrusts \u00a9Markus Korenjak<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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CoE Key Researcher Michael Zumstein discussing with visitors \u00a9Markus Korenjak<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Dagmar Woebken’s group members engaged with visitors of all ages \u00a9Markus Korenjak<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The team prepared several games and recorded a video about their research \u00a9Markus Korenjak<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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CoE PhD student Max Eiser explaining his research on water-soluble polymers \u00a9Markus Korenjak<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Finally, four groups presented their research at the University of Vienna Biology Building (UBB)<\/strong>. Nathalie Heldwein<\/strong> from Wolfgang Wanek\u2019s group invited visitors to become fertilizer and test whether humanity could be fed without pollution. Sarah Pati and Valentin G\u00f6ldner<\/strong> offered hands-on experiments to reveal the components of everyday color. Ruizhe Pei, Hanna Koch, and Anton Strunov<\/strong> from Holger Daims\u2019s group used fluorescent stains to make invisible microbes glow under the microscope. And, Cornelia Rottensteiner<\/strong> from Andi Richter\u2019s group let visitors discover soil microorganisms through a memory game that engages the senses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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CoE Key Researcher Holger Daims sharing his fascination for microbes (C)ZSOLT MARTON<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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CoE Key Researcher Sarah and her colleague Valentin engaging with visitors (C)ZSOLT MARTON<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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At the booth of CoE PhD student Conny Rottensteiner, visitors learned about the importance of soil microbes (C)ZSOLT MARTON<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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CoE PhD student Nathalie Heldwein developed a board game for LNF26 (C)ZSOLT MARTON<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

An event of this scale is only possible through the passion, creativity, and dedication of our researchers. Thank you to everyone who participated, volunteered, and visited our stations to make the Lange Nacht der Forschung 2026 such a success for science communication! Already looking forward to the next Long Night of Research in 2028!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

CoE researchers contributed to the largest science communication event at various locations across Austria<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":7159,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"wp-custom-template-news-post-without-featured-image","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7024","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.microplanet.at\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7024","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.microplanet.at\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.microplanet.at\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microplanet.at\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microplanet.at\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7024"}],"version-history":[{"count":22,"href":"https:\/\/www.microplanet.at\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7024\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7153,"href":"https:\/\/www.microplanet.at\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7024\/revisions\/7153"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microplanet.at\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7159"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.microplanet.at\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7024"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microplanet.at\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7024"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microplanet.at\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7024"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}