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Curiosity Cube Visits Vetmeduni
From 15 to 17 September 2026, the Curiosity Cube, an initiative of the science and technology company Merck, stopped at Vetmeduni: School classes from Vienna and Lower Austria explored the world of synthetic biology through interactive experiments in a colourful, solar-powered container laboratory - complete with plenty of joyful “aha!” moments.
The Curiosity Cube was located near the biotope on the Vetmeduni campus in Vienna’s 21st district. From left to right: District Mayor Georg Papai, Vetmeduni Rector Matthias Gauly and Chris Neff, Managing Director of MERCK Austria. Photo: Richard Tanzer/APA/Merck GmbH
Vetmeduni was thus part of this year’s Curiosity Cube tour, which aims to introduce young people to science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) in an accessible way and inspire an early interest in these fields. The mobile laboratories travel worldwide across Europe, North America and Africa and are expected to reach around 60,000 children and young people in total this year.
Hands-on science
This year’s programme focused on synthetic biology. A total of 350 curious children aged between eight and 13 took part in experiments, building lock-and-key models to understand how enzymes work, assembling DNA sequences from building blocks and modifying the cellular code step by step. They also tested their knowledge in a quiz on how genes are switched on and off.
The activity stations were designed to make scientific connections immediately understandable - without barriers and through hands-on exploration, experimentation and learning. The groups were accompanied by expert facilitators, who explained the scientific background and answered questions.
“Vetmeduni is a place where science is alive in the truest sense of the word: every day, we work on the foundations of animal health, biology and medicine. By opening our campus to schoolchildren, we foster a curiosity for the natural sciences that extends far beyond veterinary medicine.”
Matthias Gauly, Rector of Vetmeduni
