How do the heart and lungs work together so that we can breathe? What exactly happens in the roughly 300 million alveoli so that oxygen goes in and carbon dioxide comes out?
Around 35 seventh‑graders from a Munich secondary school see and hear things on the first project day at LMU University Hospital that will hopefully stay with them. The day was organised by Amanda Tufman, Deputy Head of the Tumor Center at LMU Klinikum Innenstadt and CPC‑M researcher.
“I’m impressed by how curious the students are,” says Tufman. “They asked many questions that don’t usually come up in class.” For example: Why does some air always remain in the lungs even after you breathe out completely? The answer: this residual air acts like a cushion and keeps the lungs from collapsing.
For Tufman, it’s not just about how the lungs work or about disease. She wants young people to see the wide range of tasks, professions and forms of commitment linked to lung research and medicine - beyond the usual image of doctors they may know from the media:
- medical technical assistants who measure lung function
- nurses who care for patients quickly in the emergency department
- occupational health physicians who explain risks in the workplace
Showing what’s possible early on - for future career choices
The idea is simple: if you see early how diverse medicine is, you can make an informed decision later. Or at least understand what lies behind diagnoses, research and treatment. The feedback from individual students has been positive, and first internship plans are already underway.
Even better for organiser Tufman: the project can continue for the next two years thanks to funding from the Josef Plainn Foundation in Munich. With €80,000, she can expand the work with school classes - more workshops, more insights, more direct encounters, and more education about lung health.
Her vision: young people should discover as early as possible the interesting and rewarding work in lung research and medicine—and then choose it when the time comes after school or training.
About the Josef Plainn Foundation
The Josef Plainn Foundation was recognised in 2023 as a non‑profit spend‑down foundation by the Government of Upper Bavaria. It was established based on the will of Josef Plainn, who lived in Garching near Munich until his death in 2021. Having been affected by the disease himself, he stipulated that part of his estate should support research and public health, especially in the field of lung cancer.