Gatersleben
Gatersleben is a small village in the Salzlandkreis district, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It used to be its own municipality, but since September 1, 2010, it has been part of the town of Seeland. It lies southwest of Magdeburg and northwest of Halle (Saale). The area is about 16 square kilometers with around 2,270 residents (as of 2009) and an elevation of about 110 meters.
Two main economic focuses are agriculture and biotechnology. The Biotechpark Gatersleben hosts several biotech companies. The Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK) is based there and works on crop genetics and molecular biology. In 1998, SunGene, a plant biotechnology company linked to BASF, started there and today is part of BASF Plant Science. Other biotech firms like TraitGenetics, Novoplant, and ArrayOn operate on the campus, and Plantalytics GmbH provides photosynthetic metering services.
Because Saxony-Anhalt has faced unemployment, the biotech park is important for the area. Gatersleben combines rural village life with an international community, creating a culture known as “G-Life.”
Transport is via buses and trains. The nearest airports are Magdeburg-Cochstedt Airport (about 7 km away) and Leipzig/Halle Airport (about 90 km away).
Local facilities include a traditional restaurant/pub, a bank, a post office, a supermarket, a hardware store, and a drugstore. The surrounding landscape is pleasant in every season, with nearby towns like Wernigerode and Quedlinburg.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 19:31 (CET).