Gläsernes Labor: Peering at proteins

10.11.2025 / During project week “Expedition Proteins” at the Gläsernes Labor, students immerse themselves in protein research – isolating samples, loading gels and visiting a real structural biology lab. The week-long workshop gives them a hands-on glimpse into how scientists explore life’s molecular machinery.

Three students in team “yellow” leisurely approach the workbench. Lotte, a twelfth grader, has an Eppendorf tube in one hand and is gripping a pipette in the other. She then carefully inserts the pipette into the tube, sucks up the first protein sample and then deposits it gingerly into a pocket in a transparent gel. Next up is Olivia and then Johanna – all three take turns until all pockets are filled.

It's day three of project week “Expedition Proteins” at the Gläsernes Labor – the Life Science Learning Lab, a joint project of Campus Berlin-Buch, the Max Delbrück Center and the FMP. The eleven students taking part in this week’s workshop, which is being sponsored by Der Fonds der Chemischen Industrie, are getting a peek into the day-to-day work of scientists who study proteins – how they isolate them and crystallize them to study their structure.

Earlier this year, the lab offered workshops on cloning bacterial plasmids and the Crispr/Cas 9 gene editing tool. Through hands on experiments with the very same equipment used by scientists, the goal is to give students a contemporary view of scientific research and career prospects. The majority here today have chosen biology as a concentration in school and are considering their next steps.

Lotte is keen on a career in research, she says. Johanna is interested in inherited diseases, but isn’t sure she wants to do research. Olivia is thinking about becoming a pharmacist. In group “green,” Alexander is also interested in a career in research, but he isn’t sure about the field of protein science. And Felix is all over the map. “I find wild bees fascinating, but I also might want to teach,” says the eleventh grader.

Gels, molecules and a lab visit

Inside the lab, golden sunlight pours through the wall of windows as the students learn a bit of theory: what proteins are made of, how to detect and examine them, and why their structure is so crucial to their function. “The aim is to show the students the diversity of proteins that exist in a single substance,” says Dr. Franziska Rother, scientist, lecturer and primary organizer of this week’s workshop.

The students have already extracted protein samples from tofu, chickpeas, mouse liver and chicken breast. After they load the samples into the gel, an applied current creates an electrical field. The proteins then migrate through the gel based on their molecular weight, which can be visualized as bands in the gel after it is stained.

In the afternoon, Professor Oliver Daumke, who studies and characterizes the structure of proteins of interest, gives the students a tour of his lab. He explains how he extracts proteins and demonstrates the painstaking process of growing them into crystals. Students then try their hand at isolating a protein crystal – a delicate task that involves maneuvering a tool resembling a small needle outfitted with a nylon lasso smaller than a pin head under a microscope.

Back in the laboratory, the students discuss the day’s highlights:

“The inside look at research,” says Frederick.

“Extraction of the protein crystal under the microscope, that was fun,” says Lotte.

“It’s crazy how much patience is required for all the lab work,” Felix adds.

At the end of the day, it isn’t clear whether the gel experiment has worked. But, says Rother, failure is an integral part of the process. “Experiments fail all the time. During the week, some of the students developed a real scientific approach, trying to change experimental settings to explore a result they did not expect or understand. That was amazing to see.”

Text: Gunjan Sinha

 

Source: Max Delbrück Center
Gläsernes Labor: Peering at proteins