Members

The Geomicrobiology group of Prof. Dr. Andreas Kappler focuses on the interactions of microorganisms with minerals in modern and ancient environments. These interactions lead to mineral formation or dissolution and largely determine the fate of harmful organic and inorganic pollutants in nature. Microbial iron-oxidizing and -reducing communities play a key role in iron-mineral formation and transformations. Studying both biological molecular mechanisms and geochemical conditions are crucial to the understanding of these biogeochemical processes. Therefore, we combine microscopic, spectroscopic and molecular techniques with geochemical analysis in order to understand modern and ancient iron biogeochemistry and its environmental impact. A special focus of our research is to apply combinations of light and fluorescence microcopy with transmission and scanning electron microscopy to analyze cell-mineral interactions as well as structure and identity of biominerals.

More information is available on the group homepage of Andreas Kappler.