Bees as sample collectors - Cooperation with the "Gymbee" project at Altes Gymnasium Leoben

On 21th of September 2021, a team from the Montanuniversität Leoben, consisting of Johanna Irrgeher, Thomas Prohaska, Victoria Grossmann and Philipp Spörl, was able to visit the local high school, which has launched the "Gymbee" project. The school project currently looks after three beehives under the direction of Markus Lendl, Stefanie Gruber and Veronika Tutzer in order to teach the students about bees and beekeeping.

Thanks to the cooperation of the Gymbee team, we were able to collect bee samples from dead bees, honey, pollen and honeycombs. The prepared samples were then chemically digested in the laboratory and, in a further step, examined for possible contaminations using Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS).

The TecEUS team would like to thank the Gymnasium Leoben (Moserhofstraße 5, 8700 Leoben) for the possibility to collect samples, the great hours on site and the interesting exchange.