"The most exciting experiments are always the ones I'm not allowed to participate in," says Johanna Senff, laughing at her two supervisors Katja Baumann-Kaschig and Sascha Höhne. That may soon change, because the student at Bernburg's Carolinum Gymnasium wants to study pharmacy after graduating from high school. By then at the latest, she will also be conducting the exciting experiments. But for now, there are a few safety precautions to observe during her two-week internship at the IPB Molecular Signal Processing (MSV) department. Nevertheless, under the supervision of her two mentors, she is already allowed to lend a hand in many experiments like DNA and RNA extractions and pipetting PCR mixtures. Johanna is particularly intrigued by the molecular methods, especially since she won't get to explore genetics until the next school year. Also, filling tip boxes and sieving seeds are part of her tasks: "In principle," says supervisor Katja Baumann-Kaschig, "the interns go through the same tasks that we also have on our agenda." Since 2015, Ms. Baumann-Kaschig has been training biology lab technicians and supervising student interns. Sascha Höhne, once a trainee himself in the MSV department, supports her with drive and enthusiasm. "We have the capacity to host four to five students a year," the dedicated supervisors explain, "but the demand for internships is twice as high."
For career and study orientation, high school students in Saxony-Anhalt must complete an internship of several weeks at a company or institution of their choice in grade 9 or 10. This experience can help them to better assess their suitability for certain jobs and to develop or correct initial ideas about their career choice. It is not uncommon for such an internship to awaken a profound interest in the profession encountered and its environment, and it proves to be a guiding factor in the decision to pursue a profession or course of study.