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The Leibniz Institute for Plasma Science and Technology (INP) is one of the world's leading research institutes in the field of plasma research, situated in the north eastern corner of Germany, directly at the coast of the Baltic sea. The branch in Greifswald specializes in plant physiology, among other things.
In the course of this internship I learned a lot about the production and application of plasma-treated water in agriculture. I was able to conduct my own experiments featuring Thai Basil and Chives and their reaction to inoculation with mycorrhizal fungi with and without the addition of plasma-treated water in the process.
The work environment is very amical and helpful. Nevertheless, the institution is very big and it tends to get complicated in the beginning. A highlight for me was seeing all the different applications of plasma in agriculture as well as completely unrelated fields. Due to the size of the institution, I came into contact with a lot of different personalities and works that were very interesting. Challenging sometimes was the use of the machines, as so many people from various fields used them it could be hard to find a fitting time slot.
The organisation of the internship was rather complicated, in particular the organisation of the SEMP scholarship, as information about it is hard to get.
The few botanical courses I had in university as well as chemistry and physics helped me in this internship.
I got the internship through another internship I did at the Agroscope Reckenholz in the Plant-Soil Interaction group in Zurich. They had an ongoing cooperation with the INP in Greifswald and as a part of it I was allowed to move there for three months.
A prerequisite is a Master’s program in biology or a related subject, in my case Earth System Science. I lived in the guest room of the institution, which was a room in the attic of one of their bureau facilities. A common kitchen and bathroom were provided.
Ariane Dorffer
