Bo at the Forsche-Schüler-Tag 2026

On April 23rd, our doctoral candidate Bo Sun introduced high school students to the fascinating intersection of microbiome research, cancer biology, and computational modeling during the “Forsche-Schüler-Tag” at the Leibniz-HKI in Jena, Germany.

Bo presented how genome-scale metabolic models (GSMMs) can help predict the metabolites produced by gut bacteria and how these approaches contribute to understanding the role of the gut microbiome in cancer cachexia.

To make the session interactive, students also participated in hands-on activities focused on data visualization — exploring how the choice of plots can strongly influence how scientific data are interpreted and communicated.

Engaging young students with current research topics is an important step toward fostering scientific curiosity and critical thinking.
Many thanks to Bo Sun for sharing both the computational and creative sides of modern microbiome research.