Microorganisms in the Black Sea can produce large amounts of the potent greenhouse gas nitrous oxide (N2O). However, this gas never reaches the atmosphere because it is swiftly consumed by other microorganisms, which convert it to harmless dinitrogen gas (N2). Scientists from the Max Planck Insti...
Scientists have demonstrated the key role of a tungsten-containing enzyme in the production of ethanol from carbon monoxide performed by the microbe Clostridium autoethanogenum. This discovery resolves a long-standing biochemical debate and provides new insight into how bacteria can transform ind...
Congratulations, Lauren!
The Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology welcomes Dr. Alicia L. Bruzos as a Minerva Fast Track Fellow.
From September 20 to 21, it was once again time for the Bremer Forschungsmeile as part of the Maritime Woche!
An international meet-up in Bremen exploring the evolutionary links between specialized bacteria and algal hosts
New research reveals structures of the methane-converting enzyme Methyl-coenzyme M reductases (MCR) in unprecedented detail. MCRs were isolated from freshwater and marine methane-consuming microorganisms known as anaerobic methanotrophic archaea (ANME). The results now published in Nature Communi...
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...