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Green fluorescent artificial cells under a microscope

Using air as a raw material and energy source

Researchers led by Tobias Erb developed a “synthetic-biological battery” for artificial cells that generates energy from atmospheric oxygen — a step closer to a fully self-sustaining artificial cell for sustainable carbon capture technologies.

New Early Career Postdoc Group at the Microcosm Earth Center (MEC)

Dr. Liujuan Zheng and his team investigate how bacteria respond to stress

A school class stands together with employees of the MPI and Botanical Gardens and Helge Bode in the MPI foyer

Max-Planck Kinder-Uni: School Children Isolate Bacteria

For the third time, the Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology offered around 200 schoolchildren the opportunity to gain hands-on experience of microbiological research.

Picture Collage: above, the Otto-Hahn Medal. On the left: Wenhao Xu, on the right: Leonard Ernst

Dr. Wenhao Xu and Dr. Leonard Ernst receive the Otto Hahn Medal from the Max Planck Society

Wenhao Xu’s work focused on bacterial signal detection and environmental sensing, while Leonard Ernst investigated iron-sulfur compounds in methane formation and the evolutionary origins of nitrogen fixation.

SynCell-nExUs: A New Pan-European Postdoctoral Program

Starting on 1 August, the five-year programme coordinated by the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry and the Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology, in collaboration with 22 research institutions across Europe, will offer 40 postdoctoral positions in nine countries.

Welcome to the Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology

Life without microorganisms is simply impossible. Microbes were the first life forms on early Earth. They evolved the ability to capture carbon dioxide and nitrogen, providing life with energy and nutrients. Microbes also invented photosynthesis, brought oxygen to the atmosphere and gave birth to multicellularity and the evolution of higher life. Microbes are more numerous and diverse than all other living organisms and there is no ecological niche that is not covered by them. They live in constant interactions with their environment, affecting health, agricultural productivity, and the climate on a global scale.

Our mission is to understand the function, communication, and interaction of microorganisms with their environment, to describe them with mathematical models, and to modify them with synthetic biological approaches.
We specifically focus on the microbial metabolism of greenhouse gases, the synthesis and function of bioactive natural compounds, cellular communication and regulation networks, as well as their spatial and temporal organization. Our research scale ranges from the atomic level up to global ecosystems.

We currently employ over 300 people from more than 35 countries. Together with our two affiliated centers, and the , MPI-TM is one of Europe’s leading Institutes in the fields of Molecular and Synthetic Microbiology The Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology (MPI-TM), with its two affiliated centres (SYNMIKRO and the Microcosm Earth Center (MEC), is one of Europe's leading institutes in the field of molecular and synthetic microbiology.
As part of the newly founded Microbes for Climate (M4C) Cluster of Excellence, we are collaborating with the Marburg University to research microbial metabolic networks and optimize them in order to develop sustainable solutions for the fields of health, the environment, and biotechnology.