Marburg celebrates success in Excellence Strategy
`Microbes for Climate` Cluster of Excellence will receive seven years of funding
Could microbes be the key to tackling climate change? Can microbes become a game changer in climate change? With its research in this field, Marburg is successfully participating in the German government's Excellence Strategy and is making its mark on the map of research excellence in Germany. In the most important competition for German research funding, the Marburg Cluster of Excellence 'Microbes for Climate' (M4C), a collaboration between the University of Marburg and the Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology, will receive funding for seven years, starting on the 1st of January 2026. An extension for a further seven years is possible.
“This flagship project is the result of scientists focusing strategically on important research topics. The Cluster of Excellence will support research teams to find fundamental answers to major questions facing humanity and rewards the efforts made in many areas of the university over the past years. Our sincere thanks to everyone who contributed, particularly those in science, administration and the Hessian Ministry of Science,” says Marburg University President Prof. Dr. Thomas Nauss.
Prof. Dr. Helge Bode, Managing Director of the Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology, adds, “I am delighted that the long-standing constructive cooperation between the University of Marburg and the Max Planck Institute in the field of microbiology has now received such outstanding recognition.”
The Cluster of Excellence „Microbes for Climate“ (M4C)
The climate crisis is essentially caused by human-induced imbalances in the global carbon cycle. Microorganisms play a pivotal role in this process as they produce and convert billions of tons of greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide (CO₂) and methane (CH₄), every year. However, they also offer opportunities to convert these greenhouse gases into harmless molecules. Their integral role in natural ecosystems, agriculture, and biotechnologies makes them both part of the climate crisis and a potential key to its solution. The Microbes for Climate (M4C) Cluster of Excellence brings together researchers who are striving to establish the knowledge base for a balanced future carbon cycle, with the aim of counteracting further global warming.
“At M4C, we are unravelling the fundamental mechanisms through which microbes contribute to the carbon cycle. Using synthetic biology, we are developing more efficient, sustainable ways to convert CO₂. However, we can only develop more efficient alternatives if we understand exactly how these mechanisms are operated by microbial cells and influenced by the environment. Synthetic biology enables us to test pathways that either do not exist in nature or have become extinct. The Cluster of Excellence's duration of at least seven years gives us great flexibility to advance this research in a dynamic manner. We consider this a great vote of confidence,” explains Prof. Dr. Anke Becker. The Managing Director of the Centre for Synthetic Microbiology (SYNMIKRO) is a spokesperson for the cluster.
Harnessing microbial solutions for the capture and conversion of CO2
Despite converting half of the world's CO2 and thus having an enormous impact on the global climate, microorganisms are underrepresented in research. M4C aims to raise awareness of the importance of these organisms, improve our understanding of their role in the carbon cycle, and utilise and expand their potential through synthetic biology.
“We have a great opportunity here. Throughout evolution, microbes have dramatically altered the global carbon cycle multiple times. We can still trace the history of these events in the sequences of microbial enzymes,” says Prof. Dr. Tobias Erb, Director at the Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology, who is also a spokesperson for the cluster. “New computer-based methods enable us to delve into their genetic past and resurrect long-extinct microbial enzymes in the laboratory. We hope this will help us answer crucial questions: How did CO2-converting enzymes and metabolic pathways evolve? How did certain processes succeed, and what prevented alternative carbon metabolism from developing in a particular environment? We are also exploring undiscovered microbial solutions for CO₂ conversion in extreme habitats and developing completely new ways of capturing the greenhouse gas CO₂ using synthetic biology.”
The Vice President for Research, Prof. Dr. Gert Bange, adds: “Together, we have succeeded in strengthening scientific excellence at Philipps University Marburg, while also leveraging synergies with our partners at the Max Planck Institute. This has enabled us to combine our strengths and develop innovative research approaches that extend far beyond Marburg. The Cluster of Excellence is another example of Philipps University Marburg's strategic development and its leading role in the Central Hesse scientific region."
M4C is jointly operated by Philipps University of Marburg and the Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology, with their shared centres, the Centre for Synthetic Microbiology (SYNMIKRO) and the Microcosm Earth Centre (MEC). Researchers from Justus Liebig University Giessen and the University of Münster are also involved. The cluster is supported by two LOEWE top professorships and two LOEWE focus areas, Tree-M and RobuCop, as part of the Hessian excellence programme LOEWE (Landesoffensive zur Entwicklung wissenschaftlich-ökonomischer Exzellenz, State Initiative for the Development of Scientific and Economic Excellence).
The Excellence Strategy is an agreement between the German federal and state governments which aims to provide long-term funding for world-class research, thereby strengthening the international standing of German universities and, consequently, Germany's position as an economic hub. The first funding round of the Excellence Strategy began in 2019. This replaced the Excellence Initiative, which was first launched in 2005/06. From 2026 onwards, the Excellence Strategy's total annual budget will amount to 687 million euros.
The central goals of the Excellence Strategy are to promote research excellence in internationally competitive areas, strengthen German universities institutionally, and further develop the German higher education system. To this end, the Excellence Strategy comprises two separate but interlinked funding lines: clusters of excellence and universities of excellence.
The selection and evaluation of the clusters of excellence is based on scientific selection procedures. These procedures are carried out on behalf of the federal and state governments by the German Research Foundation (DFG) and the Science Council. The aim is to promote internationally competitive fields of research at universities and in university networks. In the second funding round starting on 1 January 2026, the clusters will receive between 3 and 10 million euros per year. For the first funding phase, which will initially run for seven years (starting in 2019), a total of 57 clusters of excellence were selected.