Becoming wiser … with a good laugh
Jens Münchow likes using comparisons to make facts easier to understand. For example: when a sperm cell swims towards an egg cell, it is similar to Hansel and Gretel with the breadcrumbs. The egg cell secretes an attractant and leaves a trail. This tells the sperm cells which way to go.
Münchow, who is writing his dissertation at the Institute of Pharmaceutical and Medicinal Chemistry, is interested in two questions: How does sperm arrive at the egg cell? And how can this be prevented? In reality, it is much more complicated. A protein acting as a “doorman”, allowing the sperm to penetrate the egg cell, plays an important role. And the main point is how knowledge of this molecular mechanism can be used to develop a pill for men. When Münchow, 29, talks about his subject, he makes it easy to understand. Which is no wonder: he has experience in presenting it to non-specialists – because one of his passions is science slams.
In a slam, held on stage, contestants have to give a wide audience brief insights into their own research, and as entertainingly as possible. The audience votes on which presentation was the best. Jens Münchow’s first slam presentation was in Münster in 2024. An advertisement in the students’ association newsletter for a science slam in Fürstenberghaus under the auspices of the young German Physical Society was a clear signal for him. “I had already been toying with the idea of taking part in a slam … so I applied. I was the winner – and now I had tasted blood,” he says with a laugh.
After this successful start, he put his name down on a list of slammers at an events agency. Gigs followed in Osnabrück, Dortmund and Heidelberg. Münchow’s stage career was interrupted by a six-month research stay at the University of Loughborough in the UK before it reached a temporary highpoint in October 2025 when he won the title of “West German Champion” at a slam in the Schlachthof cultural centre in Wiesbaden. “That was a special venue for me because I went to my first-ever concert there as a teenager,” he remembers. After Wiesbaden came the German Championships in Düsseldorf, in front of an audience of 800, and then a science slam in Bochum.
It isn’t the contest which makes him want to stand up on a stage and present the subject of his dissertation. “I’m doing lobbying work for research,” he says. “Everyone doing a PhD here has interesting topics, but unfortunately only very few people hear about them.” But it’s important, he says, that people are properly informed – precisely in times when facts are not the most important thing. He knows his topic is especially suitable for grabbing people’s interest. “It’s real life, and everyone’s familiar with it. It’s socially relevant, because a lot of people ask why, 65 years after the invention of the pill for women, we still don’t have a pill for men. And: it’s guaranteed to raise a laugh.” Humour, says Münchow, is an important ingredient in a successful science slam presentation. The audience should leave the event not only wiser than when it came in – it should also, at least once, have a good laugh.
Jens Münchow doesn’t have a lot of time currently for another of his passions, cycling. Nevertheless, a few weeks before the West German Championships, he allowed himself the pleasure of setting off on his bike for Amsterdam, 230 kilometres away, and returning by train in the evening. In 2023 he took part in an “ultrarace” in southern Sweden with his mountain bike: 600 kilometres in four days – from Göteborg to Malmö. After his dissertation he plans to travel to Spain, taking his gravel bike with him for the “unknown race”: 1,000 kilometres in five days. The first checkpoint is only announced just before the start, and all the riders have to plan their routes themselves.
Talking of planning: When will the pill for men become available? Before the final applause, Jens Münchow gives an answer in his presentation: “Well, it won’t be happening today, because I’m finished for now.”
Author: Dr. Christina Hoppenbrock
This article is from the brochure "Twelve months, twelve people", published in March 2026.
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