A German university has cancelled a lecture by a biologist after she was accused of being anti-trans.

The Humboldt University in Berlin (HU) axed the lecture set to take place as part of the Long Night of Science 2022, where German labs and colleges open their doors to the public.

But the event has been cancelled after doctoral student Marie-Luise Vollbrecht was accused of being anti-trans.

The lecture had been titled ‘Gender is not the same as gender. Sex, gender and why there are only two sexes in biology’.

Vollbrecht has reportedly planned to use evolutionary biology to show – using examples from the animal and plant kingdoms – why there are only two sexes from a biological point of view.

She was also due to discuss how biological sex and gender roles are two different things.

But the event was scrapped after a protest group accused Vollbrecht of being anti-trans and threatened a demonstration outside the venue.

The self-proclaimed Working Group of Critical Lawyers at the Humboldt University in Berlin (AKJ) threatened: “See you on the street!”

A tweet from AKJ on the lecture warned: “At our university there is no place for queer hostility. See you on the street!”

A university spokesperson is quoted in German media as saying: “Ms Vollbrecht’s lecture was cancelled in the interest of the event as a whole and the visitors.

“The debate about the lecture threatened to overshadow the other lectures.”

Furious Vollbrecht told German daily Bild: “That they cave in to radical violent activists who have no understanding of biology is understandable but alarming.”

The theme of the Long Night of Science 2022 is, ironically, that science can be an answer to fake news, conspiracy theories and fatal errors.