Prof. Dr. Marie Schoelmerich

Research area

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At the Schoelmerich Lab, we study anaerobic microorganisms that are key players in the capture and conversion of the greenhouse gases carbon dioxide (CO₂) and methane (CH₄). These anaerobic bacteria and archaea employ the most ancient CO₂ fixation pathway - the Wood-Ljungdahl pathway.

Our main projects include:

1.    Illuminating the composition of microbial communities in anoxic environments. Our focus is to identify both recognized and novel bacteria and archaea playing a role in the cycling of CO₂ and CH₄.

2.    Discovering and examining extrachromosomal elements - plasmids and phages in acetogenic bacteria, and plasmids and viruses in methanogenic archaea.

3.    Investigating the emergence and functional role of intrinsic disorder (unstructured regions in proteins) in these organisms.

To accomplish these goals, we employ a combination of computational and laboratory-based methods. These include culture-independent approaches like fieldwork, metagenomics, and computational biology, as well as genome-informed cultivation approaches and biochemical methods. Our overarching mission is to decipher the influence of these anaerobic microorganisms on biogeochemical cycles, and to identify the molecular elements and mechanisms driving these processes.