Meet our Researchers: a brief Interview with ...
STEFANIE LORENZ (stefanie.lorenz@leuphana.de)
Faculty of Sustainability
Doctoral Thesis on "Sustainable drug design – generation and investigation of biodegradable, non-persistent, pharmacologically active antibiotic derivatives"
GS (Graduate School): At a family party, how would you – intergenerationally – explain your research project in two sentences?
When antibiotics are used for humans or animals, many of them enter the environment unchanged, accumulate there and contribute to the development of resistant bacteria. In order to prevent this in the future. I would like to contribute to the development of biodegradable antibiotics.
GS: How did you come up with the topic of your doctoral thesis?
After a bachelor's degree in chemistry, I came to the Leuphana University and completed a master's degree in sustainability science. Through the combination of chemistry and sustainability science, I became aware of many problems in the environment and wanted to use my scientific background to contribute to solving at least one of these problems.
GS: What do you enjoy the most about doing a doctorate and what annoys you the most?
What I like the most and, at the same time, the least, is the freedom to organise my free time and tasks on my own. On the one hand, this allows me to use the freedom to focus on what I enjoy the most or to take advantage of continuing education courses beyond the topic of my doctoral thesis. On the other hand, this freedom also requires a lot of self-discipline and intrinsic motivation.
GS: What is it like to do research amid Covid-19?
At the beginning of the restrictions, the labs also had to be closed, which changed my work somewhat at first. In our research group, however, we were able to adapt to the new conditions very quickly, we have been using the possibilities of video conferencing a lot and my time in the home office could be used very well to work on what would otherwise have been left on the desk.
GS: After the doctorate, what will you have time for again – things that come up short right now?
Thanks to my scholarship, I probably have much more time during my doctorate than other fellow students who, for example, still have to fulfil teaching obligations at their department, so I actually have little reason to complain. But since I am free to organise my holidays myself, for example, it is very difficult for me to take a long summer holiday with a clear conscience.
GS: What is the connecting factor between your research topic and (sustainable) practice(s) in your opinion?
Up to now, the risks of pharmaceuticals in the environment have mainly been monitored and evaluated, or attempts have been made to remove the substances in wastewater treatment at great expense. My research can help to go one step further, namely to avoid the problem with innovative molecular design right from the start. However, I am of course talking about a mammoth task on which many scientists from the field of green chemistry and sustainable pharmacy are and will be working.
If you are interested in presenting your research project in a brief interview in GRADSCHOOL NOTES // DOCS, please write an email to: graduate.community@leuphana.de
