Teachers' Training: audience content

At first it sounded like a challenging task, but in the end it produced much praise: During the recent teacher’s training course in mid-November three leading scientists of the DPZ informed 60 biology teachers from five Federal States about current developments in infection research and found keen listeners. Senior professor Walter Bodemer provided an overview of infection biology with regards to methods and research fields, Stefan Pöhlmann, head of the DPZ’s Infection Biology Unit, described various findings about the entry of the HI-virus into human host cells in detail and Christiane Stahl-Hennig, head of the Unit of Infection Models, contributed a lecture about the current state of research for a vaccine against HIV.  A guided tour through the DPZ’s primate husbandry completed the day for the teachers. Their many detailed questions throughout the course documented their engagement in the topic.

The speakers earned a lot of praise for their demanding job of teaching teachers. „The lecture „role of host cell receptors“ was super“, noted a participant on his anonymous feedback form, „concrete, new aspects, comprehensively structured – more of this kind!“ The one or other participant found the contents a bit demanding or the connections to the school’s curriculum not strong enough, but most of the feedback was very positive. The teachers also identified a lot of potential topics for next year’s training course in the research fields of the DPZ: neuroscience, genetics, stem cell biology – the suggestions were quite manifold.