Traditional summer colloquium of the Institute of Technical Chemistry (TCI) marks the scientific opening of the annual summer festival
Two lectures on current developments in bioprocess engineering formed the academic highlight of the Summer Colloquium on 26 June 2026, offering students, doctoral researchers, alumni and staff from the Department of Chemistry at Leibniz University Hannover an opportunity for scientific exchange and discussion.
The first lecture was given by Prof. Dr. Anna-Lena Heins from the Institute of Bioprocess and Biosystems Engineering at Hamburg University of Technology (TUHH). In her presentation, Knowledge-Based Scaling of Bioprocesses, she explained which experimental data and process-related information are essential for successfully transferring biotechnological processes from laboratory to industrial scale. She showed how knowledge-based approaches can support robust and efficient process development.
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Katrin Rosenthal from the Bioprocess Technology Group at Bielefeld University gave the second lecture. With From Empirical Workflows to Data-Driven Design in Biocatalysis she illustrated how traditional experimental methods can be combined with bioinformatics tools and data-driven approaches to enable more targeted development of biocatalytic processes while reducing experimental effort.
The Institute of Technical Chemistry sincerely thanked both speakers for their participation and for the valuable scientific insights they contributed to this year’s Summer Colloquium. In particular, the integration of scaled-up bioprocesses and bioinformatics is an important research area at the Institute itself.
Summer Festival as a meeting point for students, doctoral researchers, staff and alumni
Following the colloquium, the Institute’s traditional Summer Festival brought together around 200 guests. After the welcome address, the ceremonial tapping of the first keg was performed by the current Head of the Institute, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Selin Kara, together with her predecessor, Prof. Dr. Thomas Scheper. In a relaxed midsummer atmosphere, guests had ample opportunity for personal conversation. Over the years, the Summer Festival has become an important occasion for maintaining established professional relationships, making new connections, and strengthening exchange between chemists at different stages of their careers at Leibniz University Hannover. Many of the Institute’s long-standing collaborations with companies and research institutions have grown out of this active alumni network.
The charity raffle was a highlight of the event. Numerous regional and national companies supported the raffle by donating prizes. Many of the sponsors are from the chemical and pharmaceutical industries and have maintained close ties with the Institute for many years. These partnerships are often rooted in contacts made through the Institute’s alumni network. The raffle raised around €2,000, which will be donated to the Löwenherz Children’s Hospice in Syke.
The Summer Colloquium and the subsequent Summer Festival underlined the close links between scientific exchange, alumni engagement and cooperation with industry partners. Together, the events provided an excellent setting for dialogue between academia and industry, while also encouraging interaction among chemists at different stages of their careers.
