Center for Geomicrobiology at Aarhus University

A joint initiative between the Danish National Research Foundation, the German Max Planck Society, and Aarhus University

The Center for Geomicrobiology is a co-operation between the Danish National Research Foundation (DNRF), the German Max Planck Society ( MPS), and the Aarhus University. The MPS and the DNRF share the financing of the center budget. Aarhus University (AU) funds initial equipment needed for the Center and provides laboratory and office space. The head of the center is Prof. Bo Barker Jørgensen. He is also a director of the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology in Bremen and co-head of its Department for Biogeochemistry. The Center started on October 1st, 2007, and is planned for five years.

Organisation
The co-funding of a European center outside of Germany is an unusual initiative of the MPS and shows the high priority that the Society gives this center plan and the future co-operation with Danish basic research. The Center is unusual compared to other Danish basic research centers in that it has not grown out of an existing group. Instead it is based on the establishment and hiring of a completely new research group. BBJ has brought the experience and support of the Max Planck Institute to Aarhus, and collaborations with scientists of the MPI have high priority. The Center is well integrated with the Section for Microbiology at the Department of Biological Sciences and members of this internationally outstanding group are partners in the Center.

Scientific background
The discovery of microorganisms in several million year old sedimentary deposits, and even in basement rock, has profoundly changed our perspective on the limits of living organisms. It is now apparent that processes in the geosphere may provide a driving force for life and that, vice versa, the subsurface biosphere has a large impact on geological processes. The slow biological degradation of organic carbon in the deep subsurface and the formation of great quantities of methane have a large-scale impact on sea floor processes, such as the accumulation of gas hydrates, the charging of mud volcanoes, or the formation of carbonate platforms.

Research mission
The overall research aim of the Center for Geomicrobiology is to understand how prokaryotic microorganisms drive processes in the subsurface seabed and control the coupling of essential element cycles that ultimately affect ocean chemistry and global climate. One major research goal is to develop and adapt methods to detect the activity of subsurface microbial populations in order to explore the diversity and function of the marine “deep biosphere” and how it differs from the much more active surface biosphere.

Deeply buried sediments constitute the largest ecosystem on Earth in terms of volume and organic carbon pool and they harbor the majority of all prokaryotic organisms (bacteria and archaea). Yet, they constitute an almost unexplored part of the global environment. Recent developments in analytical and isotope techniques, DNA/RNA-based methods, and drilling and sampling technology have now made this fascinating component of planet Earth available to modern research. Through a targeted sampling of sediments ranging from the surface of the seafloor to hundreds of meters subsurface, and from the present to the many-million-year old geological past, the changes in availability of organic carbon and energy for microbial processes will be studied. A major research goal is to understand how microbial life under extreme energy limitation may thrive in spite of near-zero growth with calculated mean generation times that may reach thousands of years. The potential role of natural radioisotopes to provide an energy source for this sub-surface life through the radiolysis of water will be explored.

Main research areas
On the Center’s website Center for Geomicrobiology you can find more information about the following main research areas:

• Diversity of the sub-seafloor biosphere
• Subsurface microbial physiology
• Biogeochemistry of marine sediments
• Single-cell techniques
• Electro biogeochemistry
• Slow life
• Shallow Gas
• Arctic Research: Life in the cold
• Participation in Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP)
• Anaerobic eukaryotes
• Seafloor and subsurface in situ experimentation

Head of Center: Prof. Bo Barker Jørgensen

Center for Geomikrobiologi
Bygning 1540
Ny Munkegade 116
8000 Århus C

Tlf: 8942 3314
Fax: 8942 2722
E-post: bo.barkerbiology.au.dk
Kontor: bygn. 1535 lok. 118

German Address:
Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology
Celsiusstr. 1, D-28359 Bremen, Germany
Phone: +49-421-2028-600/-602
Fax: +49-421-2028-690
bjoergenmpi-bremen.de