Serendipity in life (and) science: Christian Mellwig

Life has a funny habit of turning out quite differently from what you expect. Take Christian Mellwig, for example. He explains to Vienna Leigh that he was determined that, whatever path he took in life, it wouldn’t be teaching.

“My father was a teacher,” explains Christian, who for the past six years has taught chemistry, mathematics and bioinformatics to 14- to 23-year-olds at the Marie Baum Schule^w1 in Heidelberg, Germany, a vocational college with an integrated biotechnology high school. “When I was a kid, he’d come home all the time with terrible stories about what had happened in his classes. I’d think, how can he enjoy his job?

So Christian embarked on a scientific career. He studied chemistry and mathematics at the University of Freiburg^w2 and then started a PhD there, which he completed at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL)^w3 in Heidelberg in cooperation with Freiburg’s Physical Chemistry Institute^w4. At this institute, researchers use physics methods to investigate biological systems. One focus is the molecules involved in photosynthesis, such as the ATP-synthase enzyme, a membrane protein. During his PhD, Christian analysed and modelled the structure of this protein using electron microscopy and three-dimensional reconstruction. So far, so good. But during his PhD, he worked at the university as a Hilfswissenschaftler, someone who helps organise and supervise the practical work of students – in this case chemistry classes for first-semester chemistry students, as well as for biology and geology students.

It was absolutely the right decision for Christian, although, of course, not without hurdles. “One of the biggest challenges as a teacher is to motivate the students in scientific subjects, especially chemistry and mathematics,” he says. “Very often the students tell me that their parents don’t mind if they have problems in these subjects, because the parents had the same problems themselves.

“Chemistry and mathematics are two subjects that require a lot of hard work, and I think that if a student is interested enough and willing to work hard, they can reap great rewards in these fields.”

In Germany, the school system differs slightly from one federal state to another. In Baden-Württemberg, students at the age of 16 who decide to pursue the three-year qualification for university have four school types with different profiles to choose from: the economics high school (Wirtschaftsgymnasium), the nutritional science high school (ernährungswissenschaftliches Gymnasium), the technical high school (technisches Gymnasium) and the biotechnology high school (biotechnologisches Gymnasium). Biotechnology high schools also exist in the federal states of Bavaria and Saxonia.

Christian and his colleagues also motivate their students to take part in the International Biology and Chemistry Olympiads^w5, and one of their students even won a silver medal for Germany at the International Biology Olympiad in Argentina in 2006. This is why the Marie Baum Schule has a sterling success rate for turning out scientists. “Roughly half of our students choose a science career, mainly in biology, medicine, chemistry or molecular biology,” says Christian. “Due to their education they have a fantastic starting point for university and are interesting candidates for a range of companies.

“To try to keep in contact with as many of them as possible, I’ve established a web platform on our school homepage where the alumni can register.

Despite the success rate, though, Christian has several ideas about how science teaching in schools can be developed and improved on a general basis. “I think it’s very important for children to meet ‘real’ scientists and talk to them to get ideas of what kind of options there are with a science background,” he says. “Some of my students visited EMBL, where I did my PhD, and they were very surprised, because they didn’t expect scientists to be like everyday people, with hobbies and other interests!

“I didn’t have the chance to meet a scientist when I was at school; the first time I met one was when I started at university. For me, for a long time, all scientists just looked like Albert Einstein!”

In the classroom, though, Christian can’t emphasise enough the importance of practical sessions. “Practical work is the only way to get children and students excited about science,” he says. “It takes up a lot of time, and so many teachers have doubts about whether all their efforts are worth it. But the practical work is a major part of my lessons because I believe every theoretical concept should be backed up with experiments.”

Despite his own decision to leave research, Christian always encourages those students who choose to follow a scientific path. “It’s a fascinating thing. For me, science was always like a puzzle, where you try to find out which pieces belong together. Of course, you normally only work on one little piece, but to find some new information about the whole puzzle is hugely exciting.

“One day from my scientific career that will stay with me forever was a day when I did something absolutely wrong – or so I thought – and the result I got was one I had been waiting a whole year for. I was trying to get a three-dimensional structure of ATP synthase using electron microscopy, but my samples never contained the enzyme. The problem was obvious to me, but not the solution: I always used detergent to embed the samples, since I thought that membrane proteins – such as ATP synthase – needed this to stay soluble.