Sugars are essential for life in the ocean, but some resist breakdown even by the hungriest marine microbes. Now, scientists have developed a new tool that allows them to observe, in real time, how microbial communities feed on complex carbohydrates such as sugars. This approach can help us under...
Six days of interesting talks, productive workshops, enriching coffee breaks and lots of science
40 employees tackled the route and mastered it with ease!
We are excited to announce the official launch of the Ecological Genomics Group at the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology!
On 28 May 2025, the moment had arrived: The University of Greifswald and the University of Bremen received funding approval from the German Research Foundation (DFG) for the Collaborative Research Centre/Transregio (TRR) 420 CONCENTRATE. The researchers in the network are investigating sugar poly...
The award enables joint research with Max Planck Director Marcel Kuypers from Bremen
Some microbes living on sand grains use up all the oxygen around them. Their neighbors, left without oxygen, make the best of it: They use nitrate in the surrounding water for denitrification – a process hardly possible when oxygen is present. This denitrification in sandy sediments in well-oxyge...
Historic Success: University of Bremen acquires funding for two Clusters of Excellence for the first time – including “The Ocean Floor – Earth's Uncharted Interface”
We congratulate to this outstanding honor.
Deployment of the in situ mass spectrometer developed by the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology and the MARUM - Centre for Marine Environmental Sciences at the University of Bremen.
The Research Vessel METEOR is currently underway in the Atlantic, exploring hydrothermal vents on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, led by MPI researcher Christian Borowski. On board is the new remotely operated diving robot MARUM-QUEST5000 from MARUM – Center for Marine Environmental Sciences at the Unive...
Last weekend, the expedition M208 led by the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel started. Among those on board are researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology in Bremen. The expedition with the research vessel METEOR is investigating the physical, chemical and bi...
Tiny algae darken the surface of glaciers and thus accelerate their melting. This is the case, for example, on the Greenland Ice Sheet, which plays an important role in our climate and is already melting increasingly fast due to global warming. A study by the Max Planck Institute for Marine Micro...
Researchers at three collaborating Max Planck Institutes have unveiled the process by which certain single-celled microorganisms convert carbon dioxide into energy-rich compounds in oxygen-free environments. An understanding of this mechanism has the potential to inspire and inform biological and...
Scientists from Bremen, Germany, find peculiar mitochondria-like symbionts all over the world, and unveil their surprising metabolic capacities. Their results are now published in Nature Communications.
Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology, Leibniz-Institute for Baltic Sea Research and University of Copenhagen introduce an innovative approach to image luminescence lifetimes. This simple approach uses readily-available cost-effective equipment, paving the way for advanc...
Scientists discovered significant numbers of animals living in cavities and caves below the deep-sea seafloor, some growing up to half a meter of length. The discovery, which underlines how many secrets still hide in the inaccessible deep sea and how important it is to protect this ecosystem, was...
In spring 2025, Prof Antje Boetius, Director of the Alfred Wegener Institute and Group Leader at the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology, will be appointed president of the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) in California. MBARI is one of the most esteemed institutes for ma...