3.12.19, Contributing to science outreach at the “Wiener Vorlesungen”

Jürgen Knoblich, scientific director of IMBA, gave an intriguing talk yesterday in the frame of the “Wiener Vorlesungen” about recent innovations in biotechnology and their potential to revolutionize basic biomedical research. Our CRISPR/Cas interactive station was also part of the event and could be visited by participants before and after the lecture.

The “Wiener Vorlesungen” is an established format of lecture series offered by the city of Vienna with the aim of conveying knowledge of different fields to the public.

The lecture was followed by a panel discussion, moderated by science journalist Marlene Nowotny, about the social implications of novel technologies such as the gene scissor CRISPR/Cas. Co-panelists beside Jürgen Knoblich were Marc Elsberg, international best-selling science-fiction author, and Christiane Druml, chairperson of the Austrian Bioethics Commission.

In the context of this large-scale public event with more than 1200 registrations, our CRISPR/Cas station co-organized with the Vienna Open Lab and Open Science welcomed visitors interested in this new genome editing technique which is celebrated as a revolution in molecular biology.

Full story in the IMBA news here.

Some impressions of the evening: