Young scientist from the University of Koblenz very successful at Jugend forscht

Lina Ruhfus-Hartmann has received several awards. Image: University of Koblenz / Lorena Kröner
Lina Ruhfus-Hartmann has received several awards. Image: University of Koblenz / Lorena Kröner
Lina Ruhfus-Hartmann, a trainee in the Bioorganic Chemistry working group at the University of Koblenz, came second in the biology category of the regional Jugend forscht competition in Koblenz with her project "Bufo bufo at JuFo: Investigating the biological activity of peptides in the common toad". This was the 10th time she had taken part in the competition.

Ruhfus-Hartmann successfully took part in the competition for the first time back in 2016 as a primary school pupil. After further annual participations in Jugend forscht at regional, state and national level, she recently completed her Abitur. Initially with the aim of learning new methodologies, Ruhfus-Hartmann decided to do a research internship in biochemistry in the working group of JProf. Marie-T. Hopp at the University of Koblenz.

Fascinated by the versatility of amphibians and their ability to produce peptides with interesting functions, she decided to focus her last and thus 10th Jugend forscht project on peptides from the common toad (Bufo bufo) and their bioactivity in order to derive a biomedical potential. To this end, she synthesised peptides known from the literature and tested them independently in various physiologically relevant systems. In addition to classical biochemical methods, she learnt bioanalytical and clinical-chemical techniques. The jury honoured this work with second place in the subject area of biology. Ruhfus-Hartmann also received a scholarship from the German Museum Munich Travel Foundation and the Association for the Promotion of STEM Education (MNU) for a one-week scientific stay in Munich. She was also awarded the special prize from the ZONTA Club Koblenz for outstanding achievements in Natural Sciences.

The project was supervised by JProf. Dr Marie-T. Hopp, head of the Bioorganic Chemistry working group, and Lorena Kröner, PhD student in the Bioorganic Chemistry working group and mentor of the Ada Lovelace project. This research internship was also made possible by the University of Koblenz and the Ada Lovelace project.

Date of publication
Specialist contact personJProf. Dr. Marie-T. Hopp
University of Koblenz Universitätsstraße 1 56070 Koblenz
mhopp@uni-koblenz.de0261 287 2259
Press contactDr. Birgit Förg
University of Koblenz Universitätsstraße 1 56070 Koblenz
birgitfoerg@uni-koblenz.de0261 287 1766
Contact Ada Lovelace ProjectStephanie Justrie
University of Koblenz Universitätsstraße 1 56070 Koblenz
justrie@uni-koblenz.de0261 287 1938