Extracting DNA of strawberries, observing your own cells under the Microscope or building “DNA strands” with gummy bears: The CeMM booths at the long night of science presented molecular medicine’s basics and methods in an interactive and playful way – especially to children.

On Friday, 22^nd of April, the seventh “long night of science” / “Lange Nacht der Forschung”, organized by the Federal Ministry of Science, Research and Economy, took place all over Austria. In Vienna, CeMM was represented in two different places: The Ministry’s tent at the Heldenplatz, and the Medical University at the AKH campus. While in the first district the focus was on CeMM, at the Medical University of Vienna, Genom Austria was presented to the public, as well as the Center for Rare and Undiagnosed Diseases (CeRUD).

In the tent of the Ministry our Scientific Director, Giulio Superti-Furga, gave a talk on the Genom Austria project in front of some hundred and fifty people, emphasizing the importance of an open discussion about genome sequencing and its impact on medicine, culture and society. Meanwhile, Principal Investigator Christoph Bock and PostDoc Matthias Farlik talked about the project at the Medical University in front of a well-filled auditorium. We were amazed by the curiosity and interest of our audience, the willingness to participate in our games and to discuss basic science, new technologies and precision medicine with us. It was a wonderful opportunity to present our daily work, the relevance of the CeMM projects and our future goals to a broad public.

The long night of science was a huge success – more visitors than ever attended this year´s event, our booths on both sites were crowded with spectators and participants, and our games and hands-on science enthused young and older visitors alike. We are very grateful to the CeMM helpers, and appreciate the interest of so many visitors who will hopefully continue to support science and stay connected with CeMM.