Each year, the Master's prizes are awarded in the School of Biology/Chemistry. Lecturers can nominate excellent Master's theses for the award, and a jury selects the best theses from these nominations. Until now, there have been two prizes in the field of biology: one prize was donated by the Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (GBM) and another by the Dean's Office. This year, for the first time, a prize donated by the Dean's Office was also awarded in the field of chemistry. In the following, we would like to introduce the three prize winners and their theses in more detail.
Lukas Kruckemeyer: Structure determination using cryo-electron microscopy
Lukas Kruckemeyer was awarded the GBM prize for his thesis entitled ‘Cryo-EM structure determination of cyanobacterial ChlH, the catalytic subunit of Mg chelatase’. He completed this work in the Structural Biology of Photosynthetic Microorganisms research group, under the supervision of Dr. Dmitry Shvarev and Prof. Dr. Arne Möller.
In his Master's thesis, Kruckemeyer focused on magnesium chelatase subunits. These are protein complexes that initiate the synthesis of chlorophyll, which plays a crucial role in photosynthesis. ‘I particularly enjoyed the combination of laboratory work, microscopy and data analysis on the computer,’ says Kruckemeyer, who is staying in the Biology department even after completing his studies: he is now a doctoral student in Dmitry Shvarev's research group.
Kira Brümmer: Characterisation of a yeast protein
Kira Brümmer received the prize of the Dean's Office in Biology for her thesis entitled: ‘Lateral organisation and dynamics of the vacuolar tethering machinery on model membranes’. The topic was assigned by Prof. Dr. Florian Fröhlich (Bioanalytical Chemistry division), the main supervisor was Verena Wolf, and further support was provided by Dr. Carolin Körner and Dr. Bianca Esch.
In her Master's thesis, Brümmer characterised the yeast protein Tsc10, which is important for the synthesis of so-called sphingolipids. Sphingolipids play a central role in the skin barrier – an aspect that Brümmer found particularly exciting. ‘I studied cosmetology and biology during my bachelor's degree with the aim of becoming a teacher. However, I quickly realised that I didn't want to go into teaching, but rather work in research in the long term,’ she explains. ‘I have always been particularly interested in the subject of skin. So it was all the more wonderful for me to write my master's thesis on a project that was directly related to skin.’
While working on her project, many new questions arose, which Kira Brümmer will investigate starting next year as a doctoral student in the Bioanalytical Chemistry division.
Daniel Kodde: Producing polymer films with tiny pores
Daniel Kodde received the prize of the Dean's Office in Chemistry for his thesis entitled: „Breath figure arrays with submicron pores“. The topic was assigned by Prof. Dr. Martin Steinhart (Physical Chemistry division), the second examiner was Prof. Dr. Katia Cosentino.
In his Master's thesis, Kodde investigated how so-called ‘breath figure arrays’ with tiny pores can be produced using standard laboratory methods. These can later be used, among other things, to examine protein complexes using high-resolution microscopy.
‘I was particularly fascinated by how “easy” it is to produce porous polymer films with pores less than a micrometre in diameter using this method,’ explains Kodde. ‘I was also fascinated by the process itself; the fact that water droplets condense on a polymer solution under certain environmental conditions and arrange themselves in an approximately hexagonal pattern in a self-organising process.’
Kodde left Osnabrück University after completing his master's degree and now works as a research consultant at Albaad Deutschland GmbH.
We warmly congratulate the three award winners and wish them every success in their future endeavours!
