Molecular microbial ecology is crucial for understanding the role of microorganisms in ecosystems, as it provides insights into microbial diversity, interactions, and functions at the molecular level. Our labs utilize advanced techniques for environmental DNA and RNA isolation but also DNA sequencing, metagenomics, and enumeration of microbial cells to uncover the genetic and metabolic capabilities of microbes in all kinds of natural environments. This knowledge is vital for addressing global challenges such as climate change, soil health and development, the sustainable utilization of the underground and the exploration of the limits of life.

Our microbiology laboratories are used for the enrichment, isolation, and characterization of novel microorganisms, including both aerobic and anaerobic species. We conduct phylogenetic and physiological analyses to describe new strains and assess their metabolic potential. Additionally, we perform physiological growth experiments under diverse environmental conditions, including extreme stress factors. Our research includes studies on microbial adaptation to desert environments (hot and cold), Martian-like conditions, and other extreme habitats, providing insights into microbial survival strategies in terrestrial and extraterrestrial extreme ecosystems. These investigations contribute to understand geo-bio interactions and expanding our understanding of microbial life in extreme conditions and its potential applications.

Microorganisms interact with their environment as they produce and and consume dissolved compounds that will therefore become depleted or enriched in their surrounding, mainly in the pore water. Analysis of dissolved compounds is therefore a prerequisite for understanding microbial activity in geologic settings. Another major focus of our work in on direct detection of microbial turnover via the use of radioisotopes as those offer unsurpassed sensitivity. As microbial abundance and activity decreases with depth, radiotracers are often the only option to detect these faint traces of life.

Bioinformatics is an essential component for high-precision analyses of microbial communities, active genes and the reconstruction of new genomes. Our laboratory uses a variety of open-source software and contribute to develop new software solution for DNA and RNA sequencing data. To execute computation intensive algorithms, we have access to different sources of GFZ hardware and operate an own server.