History
The Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology was founded in 1991, with plans for three departments and one department-independent junior group. The founding director was Rudolf K. Thauer, Professor of Microbiology at the Philipps-Universität Marburg. The mission of the institute is to understand how microorganisms function at the molecular, cellular, and commu-nity levels. In particular, the institute aims at elucidating the mechanisms underlying the metabolic diversity of microorganisms, their ability to adapt and differentiate in response to changes in the environment, and the mechanisms involved in cell cycle regulation and cell polarity in prokaryotic as well as eukaryotic microorganisms. These analyses include all levels of microbial func-tions from the atomic/structural level, the molecular and cellular levels, and biochemistry/physiology to the microbial community level.
In 1991, the first two departments were established — the Department of Biochemistry (headed by Prof. Dr. R.K. Thauer) and the Department of Biogeochemistry (headed by Prof. Dr. Ralf Conrad). These two departments were initially accommodated in an interim-building and in rooms of the Faculty of Biology at the Philipps-Universität. At the same time, planning began for a new building to house the institute in the immedi-ate vicinity of the Faculty of Biology.
The two departments moved into the new institute building on April 1, 1996. At the same time, two department-independent junior groups were established, one in Symbiosis Research headed by Dr. Barbara Reinhold-Hurek and one in Ecophysiology headed by Dr. Matthias Ullrich.
B. Reinhold-Hurek accepted a professor position at the University of Bremen in 1999 and in 2002, M. Ullrich accepted a professor position at the International Uni-versity Bremen.
The Department of Organismic Interactions (headed by Prof. Dr. Regine Kahmann) was established in 2000. In 2004 Prof. Dr. Rolf Thauer reduced the size of his Department to half which allowed to establish the Department of Ecophysiology (headed by Prof. Dr. Lotte Søgaard-Andersen) in parallel. The Department of Biochemistry was closed in 2007, when R. K. Thauer retired. Since then, he has headed an Emeritus Group funded by the Max Planck Society.
The institute currently hosts four Max Planck Research Groups funded by the Max Planck Society — the Prokaryotic Cell Biology group (headed by Martin Thanbichler, since January 2007), the Molecular Biology of Archaea group (headed by Dr. Sonja-Verena Albers, since October 2008), the Prokaryotic Small RNA Biology group (headed by Lennart Randau, since December 2010) and the Fungal Biodiversity group (headed by Eva H. Stukenbrock, since February 2012). M. Thanbichler is also Junior Professor of Microbiology (tenure track) at the Philipps-Universität. The close collaborations between the institute and the Philipps-Universität have resulted in the appointments of Prof. emer. Dr. Wolfgang Buckel (until 2008 Professor of Microbiology at the Philipps-Universität) and Prof. Dr. Roland Lill (also Professor of Cytobiology and Cytopathology at the Philipps-Universität) as Max Planck Fellows.