What links the probiotic microorganisms in yogurt and the flavors used in chewing gum? The answer is that they all require a certain type of “packaging”, known as a micro-capsule, which protects the ingredients and releases them precisely where their effects are required. Professor Dr. Stephan Drusch and his team focus on the “packaging materials” required.

Perched commandingly on the roof of the engineering building at TU Berlin is a unique piece of equipment in the form of a six-meter by four-meter aluminum construction. It houses a sky scanner, pyrheliometer, and a daylight measurement head. Professor Dr.-Ing. Stephan Volker and his team designed this “open air lab” to research the exact characteristics of daylight.

“They are the most diverse and variable building blocks of life. Nothing happens without proteins – they are key molecules in all living cells,” says Professor Dr. Juri Rappsilber. He and his team aim to understand how proteins fold in their natural environment, what they interact with, and how they arrange themselves into larger structures.

One of the most remarkable labs TU Berlin researchers can use is the LakeLab at Lake Stechlin. Just getting there is an experience in itself: The directions provided by Professor Dr. Mark Gessner, head of the Chair of Applied Aquatic Ecology at Technische Universität Berlin and the Department of Experimental Limnology at the Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB) go something like this: “Whatever you do, don’t turn on your GPS, otherwise you’ll never find us.”