Dr. Mogk put together such an outstanding program that attracted a major group b-it Life Science Informatics students. The group was first given a tour through the impressive Chempark Leverkusen, a real chemical park with companies from across the chemical industry (not only Bayer). The production facilities of the individual companies at the Chempark are interconnected via material and energy flows and thus benefit from each other. The Chempark has its own Rhine port and its own railway network, which are used to transport raw materials and finished products.
After the more than one hour Chempark tour, they had the opportunity to meet researchers of the Process & Technology Development (PTD) department who work in the field of Chemoinformatics, more specifically in the field of molecular simulation with quantum computers, hybrid modelling, retrosynthesis and early drug discovery. Further insights were provided into Computer Vision to monitor crops and seedlings. All this was complemented by two lab visits. This was an excellent visit tailored to the students’ wishes and it was delivered in an outstanding fashion.
Transfer Center enaCom supported the company visit providing information. Company visits are a great opportunity to see how Research and Development (R&D) works in practice and may be a first step linking science to industry.