Welcome to the Long Night of Sciences at ZIK Septomics

ABC of sepsis – Tracking down microorganisms

A wide variety of microorganisms such as fungi and bacteria colonize our body. In most cases this is a good thing; however, sometimes they cause disease. Come visit us to learn more and become active in the lab.

Although they are invisible in everyday life, every human being is colonized by billions of microorganisms that live in and on the human body. This colonization begins during the birth process and is essential for a normal life. But these microorgansims are not always harmless: From time to time, germs of the normal flora also cause life-threatening infections and sepsis. At ZIK Septomics we investigate how a harmless colonizer turns into a pathogen.

During your visit, we would like to introduce you to our contribution towards sepsis research. Get to know our research topics and see how we investigate the clinical picture of sepsis. You also have the opportunity to become active yourself:

• Looking through the microscope, you can see what the most common sepsis pathogens look like and learn a bit more about them

• Take the pipette into your hand and make yeast cells glow under fluorescence light (16 years and older)

• Make a blood smear and take a look at the human immune cells under the microscope (16 years and older)

• Make-a-bacteria: be creative and craft your own bacteria in large scale - not only for kids

If you would like to learn more about sepsis research in Jena, please also visit the Center for Sepsis Control & Care (CSCC) at the University Hospital in Lobeda.