Saying good-bye to Dr. Sruthi Sreekumar and Dr. Jasper Wattjes

Saying good-bye is always a little sad, having to say it twice is worse, and not being allowed to accompany it with a hearty hug is difficult. Today, Dr. Sruthi Sreekumar and Dr. Jasper Wattjes gave their farewell ‘party’ in the park between the Schloss and the Botanical Garden, with a lot of lightning going on in the sky, like a farewell firework. Sruthi joined us in late 2014 with a DAAD doctoral fellowship, worked in the framework of our European research project Nano3Bio and obtained her PhD in early 2018, then took over responsibility for our nanoControl project together with altona Diagnostics. She became our nanobiotechnology expert: there will be few people in the world knowing better how to fine-tune different nano-systems of different chitosans for different applications. Jasper had joined our group in late 2013 for his Master thesis, continued for his doctoral project in the framework of Nano3Bio and obtained his PhD in mid 2018, then took over responsibility for our German-Norwegian LignoLIPP project. He was the master mind behind the development of our new enzymatic mass-spectrometric fingerprinting analyses for chitosan polymers, working in a close team with Dr. Anna Niehues and Dr. Stefan Cord-Landwehr. After such a long time, losing these experts really hurts, it is a massive brain drain for our group. Both have supported so many of us in so many different projects, including many of our international guests who joined us for short term research stays. And they were our ambassadors during their own short term research stays abroad, Sruthi in Valencia and Leeds, Jasper in Lyon and Copenhagen. But the good thing is: we know that we are not losing them as friends and colleagues. Sruthi and Jasper – a huge thank you for all your excellent work and for always being among the first to offer your help, no matter what. We are looking forward to keep in touch.