Dr. Gitta Heinz from the Leibniz Association visits IfADo

Today, Dr. Gitta Heinz, Scientific Officer of Senate C (Life Sciences) of the Leibniz Association, visited the Leibniz Research Centre for Working Environment in Dortmund (IfADo) and gained an insight into the interdisciplinary research at the institute.

After a welcome and general introduction by Scientific Director Prof. Edmund Wascher in the morning, the group visited the individual research departments to gain a deeper insight into their work. It started with a visit to the various ergonomics laboratories. These included the stress laboratory, where research is carried out into how stress affects our mental performance and health-related processes, and the walking laboratory, which makes it possible to analyze the phenomena of human information processing when walking.

After the ergonomics lab, Prof. Michael Nitsche accompanied the scientific speaker through the psychology and neuroscience labs. In addition to the laboratories, Dr. Gitta Heinz was also shown the MRI machine, which was financed with funds from the Ministry of Culture and Science NRW and the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs as part of a special project. The tour then continued with a guided tour of immunology with Prof. Silvia Capellino. The focus here was on the so-called natural killer cells and how they help to fight tumor cells.

Prof. Jan Hengstler ended the tour with a visit to the toxicology department and explained what effects lifestyle and diet can have on the liver and what effects a healthy or diseased liver has on the body.