Group event 2014

On July 28th our lab went on a canoe tour on the river Saale. Starting from Kleineutersdorf close to Kahla we paddled about 20 km towards Jena Burgau. After 4,5 hours and several on-land and on-water picknicks, everybody made it safely to Jena though some of us went for a little (unintended) swim ;)

It was a very nice day (no rain!) and we all enjoyed the river and its beautiful environment. Here's a picture of the brave team:

 

After the canoeing we met at the Steinkreuz for BBQ. For more pictures see here.

Off-road traning for Toyota Hilux

Recently, some members from our group and other group joined a off-road training for the 4WD pickup Toyota Hilux.  The training was organized and oriented to off-road beginners with little or no experience. We tried different sites including forest and agricultural trails, as well as hillside situations.

Denise visited us

Dr. Denise Akob and her family visited us from March 18 to April 7. Many lab members took this chance to talk about the collaborating projects with her. During her stay, Denise gave a geomicrobiology course for the graduate school student and also a talk about her recent research achievements during the GRK Brainstorming, entitled 'Organic Composition and Microbiology of Produced Waters from Pennsylvania Shale Gas Wells'.

2014 NEW BACHELOR STUDENTS JOINED OUR LAB

Six new bachelor students joined our lab since last month for their bachelor theses. Welcome all of you!
Daniel Raabe is working with Qing on the Mn oxidizing bacteria.
Michaela Kempf is working with Shipeng on the acidic iron cycling.
Anja Ganzauge is working with Jiro on the Ronneberg project.
Julia Kuhr is working with Felix on the Mofette project. 

Esthus Voigtis and Vanessa Steinen are working with Steffen and Maren mainly on qPCR. 

(left to right, back to front) Daniel, Anja, Julia and Michaela 

Esthes and Vanessa

LIMNOLOGISCHES GELÄNDEPRAKTIKUM SS2013

Limnology practical course
From 16-20 Sep. 2013, 23 bachelor students joined limnology practical course hold by our lab. The students visited and investigated the Fürstenbrunnen, stream Leutra and lake Porstendorfer See. They also learned lab and presentation skills. 

Working on the  Porstendorfer See

 Sampling at Fürstenbrunnen

Early morning at Porstendorfer See

New AEM cover photograph from our lab

A confocal laser scanning microscopy micrograph of iron snow was selected for the Applied and Environmental Microbiology as a cover photograph recently (Volume 79 Issue 16) showing that the microbial community was dominated by cocci, rods and filamentous cells. One single filamentous cell (>120 µm) was found inter-connecting different mineral particles separated from each other.
Read more about the iron snow story

The AEM cover of Volume 79 Issue16

Collaborative Research Centre AquaDiva: proposal is funded!

The proposal for establishing the AquaDiva Collaborative Research Centre (CRC AquaDiva) has been selected for funding by the German Research Foundation (DFG).

Press release of the DFG: http://www.dfg.de/en/service/press/press_releases/2013/press_release_no_16/index.html

The CRC AquaDiva will focus on the important roles of water (Aqua) and biodiversity (Diva) for shaping the structure, properties and functions of the subsurface, defined as the zone that begins below the highest density of plant roots (~0.3 meters) and extends down into the first aquifers (~100 meters).

 The coordinators of the recently funded Collaborative Research Centre AquaDiva (from left): Prof. Susan Trumbore (MPI-BGC Jena), Prof. Kirsten Küsel and Prof. Kai Uwe Totsche (FSU Jena)

 Scientific evaluation of the CRC AquaDiva in February 2013