Director of the Research Unit for Comparative Microbiome Analysis
Prof. Dr. Rer. Nat. Habil. Michael Schloter
"Environmental- and human health are interlinked, as acknowledged by the “Planetary Health” concept. Thus, improving environmental quality means the prevention of diseases. The crosstalk of environmental microbiota with our microbiome plays a key role in this respect."
Academic Pathway
Michael Schloter is a microbiologist by heart. Already during his diploma studies and his PhD, which he did at the LMU in Munich and the University of Bayreuth respectively, he was fascinated by the unbelievable diversity of microorganisms and their possibilities to adapt also to conditions which have been considered as hostile for life. After finishing his PhD, he joint research groups in Brazil and US, where he identified microbes, which support plant growth under the presence of abiotic and biotic stressors and developed strategies to implement those microbiota into agricultural management as bioinocula. This concept of using the functional potential of microbiota to support the health and performance of Eukaryotes motivated him since that time and stimulated his research.
Back in Germany he got employed the GSF – National Research in 2001 where he became a group leader focusing on soil microbial ecology and further sharpened the idea of using microbiota to improve the sustainability of agriculture. In 2007 he finished his habilitation and became Professor for Microbiology at the TU Munich in 2010. In 2011 Helmholtz Munich offered him the position as a director of the Research Unit for Comparative Microbiome Analysis. Since that time he broadened his research to other microbe – host systems, with a focal point of the human microbiome and its link to human health. As a result of his research he became PI of the German Center for Lung diseases (DZL) as well as the Central for Food and Nutrition (ZIEL) at the TU Munich.
Michael Schloter received numerous honors. From 2019 – 2021 he was amongst the 1 % most cited scientists worldwide. In 2021 he became member of the Bavarian Academy of Science.
His vision is to define strategies how to improve the use of the functional potential of microbiomes associated to humans to improve our health and to reduce the burden of Environmental Diseases like allergies and infections. To do so Michael is part of national and international coordinated actions and consortia, which aim to promote microbiome research and to set standards for analysis.
Work and Expertise
Professional Background
Principle investigator at German Center for Lung Diseases (DZL)
Director Research Unit for Comparative Microbiome Analysis
Professor for Microbiology at TU Munich
Publications
Hug, L.A. ; Hatzenpichler, R. ; Moraru, C. ; Soares, A.R. ; Meyer, F. ; Heyder, A. ; The Data Reuse Consortium (Schloter, M.) ; Probst, A.J.
Author Correction: A roadmap for equitable reuse of public microbiome data (Nature Microbiology, (2025), 10, 10, (2384-2395), 10.1038/s41564-025-02116-2).Hug, L.A. ; Hatzenpichler, R. ; Moraru, C. ; Soares, A.R. ; Meyer, F. ; Heyder, A. ; The Data Reuse Consortium (Schloter, M.)
A roadmap for equitable reuse of public microbiome data.Frodermann, T. ; Rochwalsky, U. ; Selting, A. ; Oehmke, F. ; Gentil, K. ; Kempf, V.A.J. ; Göttig, S. ; Hogardt, M. ; Anagnostou, A. ; Schloter, M. ; Staude, B. ; Gertheiss, J. ; Ehrhardt, H.
Dynamics of postnatal upper airway bacteria colonization in preterm infants <1000g and bronchopulmonary dysplasia.Schloter, M. ; Somehsarei, N.N. ; Gschwendtner, S.
Künstliche Darmmodelle: Potenziale und Grenzen der Mikrobiomforschung.Bassu, S. ; Eichelsbacher, S. ; Giunta, F. ; Motzo, R. ; Dawid, C. ; Gastl, M. ; Schloter, M. ; Scherf, K.A. ; Hör, S. ; Pinheiro Alves de Souza, Y. ; Schulz, S. ; Stark, T.D. ; Mohler, V. ; Asseng, S.
Positive impact of hydroponics and artificial light on yield and quality of wheat.Hu, B. ; Liu, R. ; Ramm, E. ; Tong, P. ; Dannenmann, M. ; Chen, Z. ; Zou, T. ; Shi, X. ; Chen, X. ; Haensch, R. ; Schloter, M. ; Rennenberg, H.
Impaired sustainability of thawing permafrost peatland ecosystems by Siberian alder colonization.Thaqi, S.K. ; Siani, R. ; Chiba, A. ; Peine, M. ; Baum, C. ; Witting, M. ; Walch, S. ; Leinweber, P. ; Schloter, M. ; Schulz, S.
Strain-specific strategies underlie convergent phosphate solubilization in Bacillus.Urel, H. ; Benassou, S. ; Marti, H. ; Reska, T.T.M. ; Sauerborn, E. ; Pinheiro Alves de Souza, Y. ; Perlas Puente,A. ; Rayo, E. ; Biggel, M. ; Kesselheim, S. ; Borel, N. ; Martin, E.J. ; Venegas, C.B. ; Schloter, M. ; Schröder, K. ; Mittelstrass, J. ; Prospero, S. ; Ferguson, J.M. ; Urban, L.
Nanopore- and AI-empowered microbial viability inference.Pianta, M. ; Calbi, M. ; Cerabolini, B.E.L. ; Poschlod, P. ; Schloter, M. ; Roccotiello, E.
How substrate depth shapes spontaneous plant colonisation on Mediterranean green roofs: A case study.Mwanake, R.M. ; Gettel, G.M. ; Wangari, E.G. ; Macharia, G.W. ; Martinez-Cuesta, R. ; Schulz, S. ; Schloter, M. ; Butterbach-Bahl, K. ; Kiese, R.
Elevated in-stream CO2 concentration stimulates net-N2O production from global fluvial ecosystems.