Scientists have found a new type of iron-storing protein in a mixture of microbes containing methane-degraders. This discovery underscores the importance of characterizing proteins from microbes that cannot be isolated, thereby enabling the discovery of new enzymes for future applications.
A short research trip to Bremen became a lifetime experience: Manabu Fukui never imagined the city would become his second home, but three decades at the Max Planck Institute transformed his career and life through science, friendship, and unexpected adventures.
The ecologist Jean-Baptiste Raina will join the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology in June 2026 to lead a new department exploring microscale microbial interactions and their impact on marine ecosystems. We are very happy to welcome him and look forward to our collaboration!
Climate scientist Tatiana Ilyina will be strengthening our executive board and expanding our research with a new Department of Ocean Biosphere Dynamics. We are very happy to welcome her and look into our shared future with confidence and joy!
Meet Alicia, Nahja and Laura – this is to all the inspiring women driving knowledge & equality in science!
Am 14. Februar 2018 ist es soweit: An der Universität Bremen findet der erste Bremer Ocean Day statt.
After seven years of dedicated research in our institute, we say goodbye to Tristan Wagner as he moves on to a new stage of his scientific career.
An international team of researchers led by the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology has uncovered a hidden world of tiny partnerships thriving in wastewater treatment plants worldwide. The microscopic allies—specialized bacteria living inside single-celled hosts—play a surprising role in...
Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology find that urea is a major energy source for ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA) in the open ocean, while coastal AOA prefer ammonium. The study, published in Nature Communications, suggests that organic nitrogen plays a far greater role...
On November 18, 2025, the unifreunde Bremen association awarded the Bremen Study Prize for outstanding theses and dissertations. Our former doctoral student Jan Brüwer is one of the prize winners. We congratulate him warmly!
Antje Boetius, head of our Deep Sea Ecology and Technology Group at the Max Planck Institute in Bremen, has been admitted to the Pour le Mérite order. It is one of the most prestigious honors for science and art in Germany.
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...