Press releases

News

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...

In the ocean‘s sandy seafloor, bacterial residents have neatly organized their housing space. Some enjoy the hustle and bustle in the pore water between the grains of sand and are specialized to use the fresh organic matter from the seawater flushing through the sediment. The majority of bacteria...

From September 21 to 22, it was once again time for the Bremer Forschungsmeile as part of the Maritime Woche!

On September 23, 2024, it was that time again: We welcome the 9 new MarMics to our institute!

Microbes were the only life form on Earth for most of the history of our planet. Even today, they still make up the majority of species that are vital to the health of our planet. They produce much of our oxygen, help plants grow, maintain biogeochemical cycles and thus sustain our ecosystems. A....

We congratulate our Director Prof. Dr. Nicole Dubilier, who has been awarded the prestigious Award for Interdisciplinary Research from the American Society for Microbiology (ASM).

Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology now reveal how a bacterial parasite infects and reproduces in the nuclei of deep-sea mussels from hydrothermal vents and cold seeps. They show how a single bacterial cell invades the mussel’s nucleus where it reproduces to over 80,...

We are happy to announce that our researcher, Luis Humberto Orellana Retamal, has been awarded an ERC Starting Grant.

We are pleased and excited to welcome a new research group to our institute as of January 2025: Under the heading of Dr. Matthias Fischer, the researchers will explore the biology of giant viruses and their parasites.

Methane-oxidizing bacteria could play a greater role than previously thought in preventing the release of climate-damaging methane from lakes, researchers from Bremen report. They also show who is behind the process and how it works. 

On 22 July, we welcomed a group of pupils from the Japanese province of Öta to our institute.

Fucoidan, a sugar released by algae, can trap carbon dioxide (CO2) for centuries but remains poorly understood due to its complex and diverse molecular structure. Dr. Conor Crawford developed an automated method to recreate fucoidan to study which types are most effective at storing carbon. With ...

Lucinid clams, inconspicuous inhabitants of the seafloor and one of the most diverse group of animals in the ocean, rely on symbiotic bacteria for their survival. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology in Bremen, Germany, now reveal the evolutionary journey of these tiny ...