Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology

Content sourced from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology (MPI-TM) in Marburg, Germany, is a research institute of the Max Planck Society. It was established in 1991 by Rudolf K. Thauer and focuses on understanding how terrestrial microorganisms work at the molecular, cellular, and community levels, especially how bacteria adapt to changing environments.

Structure and research
- Departments (led by four department heads):
- Department of Natural Products in Organismic Interactions (Helge Bode): studies microbial natural products and how they can be used to develop bioactive drugs; works on manipulating nonribosomal peptide systems to produce useful compounds.
- Department of Ecophysiology (Lotte Søgaard-Andersen): investigates how bacteria process information inside cells to decide responses, including gene expression, movement, and secretion.
- Department of Systems and Synthetic Microbiology (Victor Sourjik): seeks general principles of evolutionary optimization in cellular networks and how to design new networks in microorganisms.
- Department of Biochemistry and Synthetic Metabolism (Tobias J. Erb): uses synthetic biology to study carbon conversion and to develop biocatalysts and processes for better carbon capture.
- Emeritus and special groups:
- Emeritus Biochemistry of Anaerobic Microorganisms (Rudolf K. Thauer): focuses on the biochemistry of methanogenic and methanotrophic archaea and saccharolytic clostridia.
- Emeritus Molecular Phytopathology (Regine Kahmann): studies phytopathogenic fungi and how they differentiate and communicate with plant hosts.
- Emeritus Methanogenic Degradation and Microbial Metabolism of Trace Gases (Ralf Conrad): explores soil microbial metabolism related to methane and nitrous oxide formation and consumption.
- Shared research initiatives:
- SYNMIKRO Center for Synthetic Microbiology: a joint center with the University of Marburg, founded in 2010 and made permanent in 2019; moved to a new building on the Lahnberge campus in 2021.

Education and collaborations
- The institute runs the International Max Planck Research School for Environmental, Cellular and Molecular Microbiology (IMPRS), together with Philipps University of Marburg. Degrees are awarded by the university.
- MPI-TM collaborates with other research centers in Marburg and around the world.

Leadership
- Managing Director (2024–2026): Helge Bode.
- Department heads: Helge Bode; Lotte Søgaard-Andersen; Victor Sourjik; Tobias J. Erb.