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Environmental Health Center Comparative Microbiome Analysis

We are living in a microbial world … It is our aim to use the enormous functional power of microbiomes to improve planetary health.

We are living in a microbial world … It is our aim to use the enormous functional power of microbiomes to improve planetary health.

About our Research

The human microbiome is a key component for our health. It is strongly influenced by environmental microbiota, which interact with the microbiome of barrier organs like skin or respiratory system. As a consequence, the reduced microbial diversity in the environment, resulting from climate- and global change, strongly impacts human – environment interactions, resulting in an increase in environmental diseases and infections. According to the planetary health concept the prevention of such diseases requires strategies which increase biodiversity in the environment.

We identify key microbiota from the environment, which trigger our health, develop strategies to promote the abundance of those microbiota in urban and indoor environments and analyze consequences for our health.

Our Research Topics

3D Rendering of Bacteria in Human Intestine
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Human Microbiomes

We investigate the interactions of environmental- and human microbiomes of barrier organs including respiratory system and skin and define keystone species which determine human health.

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Escherichia coli
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Environmental Microbiomes

We study how climate- and global change impacts the environmental microbiome and develop mitigation strategies to increase microbial diversity for the prevention of human health.

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Environmental technology concept. Sustainable development goals. SDGs.
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AMR and One Health

Addressing the growing challenge of antimicrobial resistance requires a rethinking to develop counteracting strategies and a better understanding of resistance genes propagation.

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Business, Technology, Internet and network concept. Virtual display: Clinical trial
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Microbiome Theory and Methodology

We support the adaptation of classical microbiological definitions, the establishment of data analysis and reuse guidelines and the identification of microbiome application cases.

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Scientists at COMI

Michaela Blank

Laboratory Assistant -- Funded by the BMBF (www.bonares.de; project: µPlastic)

Gudrun Hufnagel

Laboratory Assistant -- Partly funded by the German Center for Lung Research (www.dzl.de)

Video: How our microbiome helps to protect us from allergies

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News

Development of new drug
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04/2025: EU-Helmholtz workshop on the upcoming novel REACH regulation

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Porträt Stefanie Schulz
Helmholtz Munich | Matthias Tunger Photodesign

04/2025: Co-Publication by Stefanie Schulz has ranked within the most-viewed papers 2023

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Stapel Zeitschriften
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03/2025: Co-Publication in Science

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Bacteria, human microbiome
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Talk by Michael Schloter

02/2025: Coevolution of Staphylococcus aureus with its human host

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Talk by Michael Schloter

02/2025: The forest soil microbiome in a changing climate

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Porträt Michael Schloter
Matthias Tunger Photodesign

01/2025: Michael Schloter was appointed as a member of the DFG's Permanent Commission on Biodiversity

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Talk by Michael Schloter

01/2025: The importance of the soil microbiome for crop cultivation

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Porträt Natalia Rodriguez
Helmholtz Munich | ©Petra Nehmeyer

12/2024: Natalia Rodriguez receives the SECS Prize for the Best Doctoral Thesis 2024

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congratulations graduates on top of the money scholarship money background concept.
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12/2024: Zhongjie Wang successfully defended his dissertation

Big data and artificial intelligence concept.
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12/2024: Funding of two projects in the frame of the Helmholtz Metadata Collaboration

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Recent Publications

Publications

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2024 Scientific Article in Environment International

Schneider, E. ; Amar, Y. ; Butter, K. ; Steiger, K. ; Musiol, S. ; Garcia-Käufer, M. ; Hölge, I.M. ; Schnautz, B. ; Gschwendtner, S. ; Ghirardo, A. ; Gminski, R. ; Eberlein, B. ; Esser-von Bieren, J. ; Biedermann, T. ; Haak, S. ; Ohlmeyer, M. ; Schmidt-Weber, C.B. ; Eyerich, S. ; Alessandrini, F.

Pinewood VOC emissions protect from oxazolone-induced inflammation and dysbiosis in a mouse model of atopic dermatitis.

2024 Scientific Article in Basic and Applied Ecology

Eisenhauer, N. ; Mueller, K. ; Ebeling, A. ; Gleixner, G. ; Huang, Y. ; Madaj, A. ; Roscher, C. ; Weigelt, A. ; Bahn, M. ; Bonkowski, M. ; Brose, U. ; Cesarz, S. ; Feilhauer, H. ; Guimaraes-Steinicke, C. ; Heintz-Buschart, A. ; Hines, J. ; Lange, M. ; Meyer, S.T. ; Mohanbabu, N. ; Mommer, L. ; Neuhauser, S. ; Oelmann, Y. ; Rahmanian, S. ; Sasaki, T. ; Scheu, S. ; Schielzeth, H. ; Schmid, B. ; Schloter, M. ; Schulz, S. ; Unsicker, S.B. ; Vogel, C. ; Weisser, W.W. ; Isbell, F.

The multiple-mechanisms hypothesis of biodiversity-stability relationships.

Contact

Dr. Barbara Stempfhuber

Scientific Assistant

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