Youtuber Wins First LifeScienceXplained Award

Sartorius Promotes Easy-To-Understand Life Science Communication

The three finalists after the award ceremony: Jasmin Schreiber (from left), Martin Moder and Lars Otte, Nov. 7, 2021.

YouTuber and molecular biologist Martin Moder (33) is the first winner of the 10,000 euro LifeScienceXplained award. With the award, Sartorius aims to honor young communicators who make the inner-workings of biotechnology and the resulting novel medical applications accessible to a broad audience in a comprehensible, innovative, and creative way.

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Science Communication Has Considerable Social Relevance

The life sciences are not only a highly innovative field of research, but also a particularly complex one that requires either a background in the subject or a lot of explanation. But as the findings and applications from this field have considerable social relevance, it is all the more important for non-experts to be able to have access to and learn about these complicated topics.

The communication of science and scientific progress is of fundamental importance for our society as a whole.

Joachim Kreuzburg, CEO Sartorius

Therefore, Sartorius has initiated a prize that awards one young science explainer who, in their blog, video, slam, podcast, article or contribution in another creative format, makes complex life science content easy to understand and motivates those who may not have a scientific background to engage with these topics.

Award for Young German-Speaking Content Creators

Science communicators aged 35 and younger were invited to apply with their German language content. The prize is especially geared towards young content creators who are working with new and innovative forms of communication, as Sartorius aims to foster new and innovative ideas to explain the rather complicated field of life sciences.

We were searching for people who are particularly committed to explaining current topics in the life sciences. And who do it in a way that it can be easily understood by anyone.

Inga Bergen, Chairwoman of the judges panel

Martin Moder Awarded for Explaining Coronavirus on YouTube

Joachim Kreuzburg (from left), Inga Bergen, Martin Moder and Metin Tolan after the LifeScienceXplained award ceremony on the Sartorius campus in Göttingen, Germany, November 7, 2021.

In the end, 33-year-old Martin Moder was able to win over the judges panel with the creative and entertaining videos he publishes on his YouTube channel M.E.G.A. ("Make Europe G'scheit Again", G'scheit is Austrian slang for clever). Martin uses this channel to share his knowledge of molecular biology in an entertaining and easily understandable way.

The Austrian holds a PhD in molecular biology, is an author and a science communicator. Since 2016, he has been a member of the multi-award-winning science cabaret group "Science Busters."

Jasmin Schreiber, 33, and Lars Otte, 25, were the other two finalists. Using her deceased hamster Hermine as an example, Jasmin wrote a novel about cell death and aging. With his book, Lars helps to uncover false theories which have emerged about the coronavirus pandemic via easy, do-it-yourself (DIY), at-home experiments .

Five Judges With Lots of Experience in the Life Sciences

The prize was awarded by a panel of experts from various fields: Inga Bergen, entrepreneur and expert on innovations in healthcare, Anja Martini, science editor at the Tagesschau, Dr. Viola Priesemann, physicist at the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization, Dr. Dong Seon-Chang, science slammer and author, and Prof. Metin Tolan, President of Georg August University Göttingen.

The panel of judges selected three entries for the shortlist, after closely considering all of the submissions, from which the winning contribution was then chosen. Three criteria were decisive for their decision: verifiability, comprehensibility, and creativity.

Impressions From the Ceremony on November 7th

The LifeScienceXplained | Sartorius Prize for New Communication was awarded as part of the Göttinger Literaturherbst festival on November 7, 2021, together with the NDR Nonfiction Prize at the Sartorius Campus in Göttingen.

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