Marine Microbiologist Martin Könneke appointed

Dr. Martin Könneke has been appointed Professor of Benthic Microbiology at the Institute of Chemistry and Biology of the Marine Environment (ICBM).

He previously led a research group at MARUM - Center for Marine Environmental Sciences at the University of Bremen as a fellow of the renowned Heisenberg Programme of the German Research Foundation (DFG). Könneke (52) studied biology at the Technical University of Braunschweig. He then conducted research at the Max Planck Institute (MPI) for Marine Microbiology in Bremen and received his PhD from the University of Bremen in 2001. After a research stay at the University of Washington, Seattle (USA), Könneke moved to the ICBM in 2005. He returned to Bremen to the MPI in 2011 and then moved on to the university in 2012. In 2014, the microbiologist earned his habilitation in Oldenburg, and from 2016 he established the Heisenberg group at MARUM. Könneke's research focuses on the role that previously uncharacterized microorganisms living in marine sediments play in the cycling of elements in the oceans. He also develops methods to isolate previously unknown microbes from seawater and cultivate them in the laboratory.