Press release: Northern German Center on Microbial Genome Research has opened

Nr. 5/2013 - 28.01.2013

Six research institutions launch a joint venture in the life sciences

(pug) Six Northern German science institutions – all international leaders in microbial genome research – have bundled their competences to found a joint research centre devoted to the field. Lower Saxony’s Minister of Science and Culture, Professor Johanna Wanka, officially opened the Northern German Center on Microbial Genome Research (NZMG) at Göttingen University. “This new centre strengthens the North of Germany as a scientific venue," said Prof. Wanka. “We need pioneering insights into how to contain and fight infectious diseases and high-performance health care research to do so. The NZMG enables us to harness and exploit the enormous potential of genome research to benefit science.”

“This joint centre can raise the visibility of life sciences in Northern Germany to a new level internationally”, enthused Professor Ulrike Beisiegel, President of Göttingen University. “Through networking and cross-regional research, we can shed new light on the currently relevant questions in this field.” The NZMG is a centre jointly run by the Universities of Göttingen and Greifswald, the Technical University of Braunschweig, Hannover Medical School, the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research in Braunschweig and the Leibniz Institute DSMZ – German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures in Braunschweig.

Microbial genome research ranks among the most important areas of the life sciences worldwide. The field is already influencing broad sectors of the economy and society – from human health through climate change issues to the multiple facets of biotechnology, including synthetic biology. Subjects of central focus at the new centre include genome and proteome analysis of microbial pathogens, systems biology of bacterial model systems, functional genome analyses of biotechnologically important microorganisms and genome research on the microorganisms that primarily affect the material cycles of the oceans and environmental conditions and thus impact our climate. Further information on the NZMG can be found on the web at www.nzmg.de.

Contact address:
Prof. Rolf Daniel
Georg-August University Göttingen
Faculty of Biology and Psychology
Institute of Microbiology and Genetics
Grisebachstrasse 8, 37077 Göttingen
Phone +49 (551) 39-3827
E-mail: rdaniel@gwdg.de
Website: appmibio.uni-goettingen.de