Prof. Guber, you and Prof. Nick are not only on different paths thematically, but also spatially separated on two campuses. How did the first contact come about?
We met in 2008 at a meeting on life sciences activities within KIT in the Audimax. In so-called competence fields, KIT aimed at cross-thematic networking of scientists from different disciplines in order to promote active exchange. Colleague Nick gave a lecture on a current question of basic research in the field of molecular cell biology: How do cells organize themselves and which signals influence them? From my point of view, a vessel or rather an investigation system for this was missing, in which cell processes can be observed online and, if necessary, manipulated. Plants, or rather their leaves as a complex system with channels and fluid flows, strongly reminded me of a microfluidic system and so we started talking to each other. We decided to approach the problem solving collaboratively and developed a microchip for cell testing.
Prof. Nick, in addition to engineering, you also work closely with the humanities. For this, you received the state teaching award for an interdisciplinary teaching format in 2015. What fascinates you about working across disciplinary boundaries?
Since 2015, I have been involved in the "Forum for Critical Interdisciplinarity (FKI)," which I founded together with Prof. Mathias Gutmann from the Institute of Philosophy. Under the flag "Biology meets Ethics", we still use this teaching format to promote the exchange of students from all disciplines on a whole new level. We seek conversation in order to ask the right questions and critically question ideas. This helps scientists to change their perspective and to reflect on their own theories and developments. These impulses from outside are valuable for interdisciplinary work.
What opportunities do you both see in the combination of disciplines?
Prof. Guber: Innovations often only emerge through the symbiosis of different know-how. For example, in the joint development of our microfluidic chip, the biologists created an understanding of the plant organism or provided the impetus for the development with a concrete need. As engineers, we developed the appropriate technical examination system to map the processes in the plant. In this way, an application developed into a marketable product.
Prof. Nick: Similar to plants as organisms, in which individual cells take on specific tasks, we use our different competencies. Without the help of the engineers, we would not have such a convenient solution for cell monitoring today. With the resulting product, we are contributing to research work in general, but are also opening doors to new industrial applications. We already have ideas for further development and continuation of the successful collaboration.