Human Biologist Janina Isabell Otto Wins LifeScienceXplained Award 2022

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Nov 04, 2022 | 4 min read

The LifeScienceXplained | Sartorius Award for New Communication, endowed with 10,000 euros, honors young German-speaking science communicators who present and explain the functionality and potential of life sciences to a broad audience in a comprehensible, innovative, and creative way.

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All sugar is the same, isn’t it? This fundamental question is answered by human biologist and science journalist Janina Isabell Otto in her video “ZUCKER – die nächste Pandemie?” (Sugar – the next pandemic?), in which she explains how sugar consumption and type 2 diabetes are related. In a self-experiment, she tests the effects of different types of sugar in the body and clarifies the differences between glucose and fructose. While her clip presents the necessary scientific details, it is still easy to understand. That’s why it won the LifeScienceXplained award 2022, which Sartorius launched in 2021 to recognize young content creators who are working with new and innovative forms of communication to explain life science topics.

We think this submission is so delicious - if we may say so - that we want to sweeten Janina’s effort by awarding her with the first place at LifeScienceXplained.

LifeScienceXplained panel of judges

The award ceremony took place at the Sartorius headquarters in Göttingen on November 3. Janina’s winning video is part of her YouTube channel “Janina explains it all”, where she discusses the human body and current medical topics.

Personally, I think it is fantastic and important that a company is promoting a greater understanding in the world for a field as wonderful as the life sciences. I would like to give a big thank you for this, and I hope that many more stories will be told.

Janina Isabell Otto, Winner of LifeScienceXplained 2022

Other LifeScienceXplained finalists were Team Breaking Lab with their video “Neues von Elon Musks Gehirn-Chip und was die Konkurrenz macht” (News on Elon Musk's brain chip and what the competition is doing), and the team of Dr. Ariane Pessentheiner and Wolfgang Schütz with their science comic “Marko, der Makrophage” (Marko, the Macrophage).

Impressions From the Award Ceremony

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Award for Young German-Speaking Content Creators

Few areas of research have such a considerable impact on our lives and health as life sciences. However, as they are very complex, they often require a background in the subject and a lot of explanation. To promote a better understanding of life sciences, Sartorius launched LifeScienceXplained in 2021, inviting science communicators aged 35 and younger to apply with their innovative German language content. Formats can be anything from books and blogs to comics, podcasts, or videos – and beyond.

Five Renowned Judges

The judges panel determining the winner consists of experts from various fields: Inga Bergen, entrepreneur and expert on innovations in healthcare; Anja Martini, science editor at German public broadcaster NDR; Dr. Jan Pietras, engineer in the Experimental Researcher at the Department of Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgery at the University Medical Center Göttingen; Dr. Viola Priesemann, physicist at the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization; and Prof. Metin Tolan, President of Georg August University Göttingen.

LifeScienceXplained was awarded as part of the Göttinger Literaturherbst literature festival on November 3, 2022, together with the NDR Sachbuchpreis (NDR Nonfiction Book Prize) at the Sartorius Campus in Göttingen.

LifeScienceXplained 2021

Martin Moder is the first winner of the LifeScienceXplained award, with which Sartorius aims to honor young science communicators.

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