What is needed to produce vascularized 3D cell aggregates and cultivate them successfully over a longer period of time and what is the value of these artificial tissues, not only for research but also for society?

These are the central topics and questions of LOEWE-FLOW FOR LIFE, which presented itself on June 16 at the 62nd Hesse Day in Bad Vilbel at the stand of the Hessian Ministry of Science and Research, Art and Culture (HMWK). Visitors of all ages were able to experience some of the different research topics of FLOW FOR LIFE scientists and to experimentally explore how large a 3D cell aggregate is and how it looks like. How different hydrogels are produced and how they are used for printing of engineered tissue. What is a microfluidic chip and how does it work?

The response was consistently positive. Visitors of all ages clearly enjoyed experimenting. There was a noticeable interest in the science and goals behind FLOW FOR LIFE and there were also critical questions about the relevance of our project on the one hand for research and on the other hand for society. Many visitors to the stand also had general questions about research funding and how planned cuts by the state government will affect scientists and the research over all in Germany.

In addition to FLOW FOR LIFE, the LOEWE research projects ACLF-I, CARISMa, FCI and emergenCITY also presented themselves at this year's Hesse Day with the support of the ProLOEWEnetwork.

All in all, it was a rewarding experience with many interesting conversations about FLOW FOR LIFE, but also about research in general and the situation of research in Germany.