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Summer Break Is Over, Pipettes Are Thawed!
Dear Microverse Community,
We hope you had a fantastic summer, soaked up plenty of Vitamin D, and successfully recharged your batteries (and your cell cultures)! Now that the summer break is officially behind us, we’re diving straight back into action—and our calendar is already packed to the brim.
The absolute biggest highlight is right around the corner: The official opening of our new Microverse Center Jena on October 5!
We can’t wait to properly celebrate our new scientific home. To make this day truly unforgettable, we need YOU.
What else is packed into this edition:
- Upcoming September Microverse Seminars: Dive into marine plankton cell lysis (Hisashi Endo, Sept 11) and bacterial RNA regulation (Prof. Sivaramesh Wigneshweraraj, Sept 29).
- Outreach Event "Die Maus": How 60 young explorers will take over the Microverse for Doors Open with the Mouse.
- L³ Future Dialogue & Jena RNA Club: Science, film, and climate discussions in September.
- Open Calls & Publications: Hot off the press research and exciting new funding opportunities.
Grab a fresh cup of coffee, dive into the updates, and don't forget to register your team for the opening. We can't wait to see you all again!
Warmly,
Your Microverse Team
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Drone footage: University Communications
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Official Opening of the Microverse Center Jena
October 5, 2026 | from 10 am | Microverse Center Jena, Rosalind-Franklin-Str. 5, 07745 Jena
On October 5, we will celebrate the official opening of the Microverse Center Jena.
The day will begin with "Microverse & Friends", where research groups from the building will present their work, showcase the new laboratories and research facilities, and provide plenty of opportunities for networking.
If you would like to take part in ‘Microverse & Friends’, please register here.
The official inauguration starts at 3 pm and will bring together representatives from science, politics, and partner institutions to mark this important milestone for our community.
More details on the programme, participation, and registration will follow soon. We hope you will join us for this special day!
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Upcoming Microverse Seminars
Portraits: Prof. Sivaramesh Wigneshweraraj & Hisashi Endo
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Two exciting seminars are coming up in September, featuring talks on marine microbial ecology and bacterial RNA regulation.
On September 11, Hisashi Endo, from the Institute for Chemical Research at the Kyoto University, will present “Plankton cell lysis in the sea: Moving from concept to quantification”, exploring the processes and consequences of plankton cell lysis in the marine environment and approaches to quantifying these processes.
- September 11, 2026 | 11 am to 12 pm | Microverse Center Jena, Conference Hall, Level 2, Rosalind-Franklin-Str. 5, 07745 Jena (Please use the main entrance at Winzerlaer Str.)
On September 29, Prof. Sivaramesh Wigneshweraraj, Professor of Molecular Microbiology at Imperial College London, will give a talk entitled “The canonical and non-canonical functions of a major bacterial RNA matchmaker in growth-arrested bacteria”. His presentation will explore the roles of bacterial RNA regulation in cells experiencing growth arrest.
- September 29, 2026 | 12.15 to 1.15 pm | Microverse Center Jena, Conference Hall, Level 2, Rosalind-Franklin-Str. 5, 07745 Jena (Please use the main entrance at Winzerlaer Str.)
All interested researchers and members of the Microverse community are warmly invited to attend both seminars.
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Photo collage: Juliane Seeber
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Doors Open with "Die Maus": A Journey into the Microverse
October 3, 2026 | from 10 am | Microverse Center Jena, Rosalind-Franklin-Str. 5, 07745 Jena
On October 3, 2026, the Microverse Center Jena will open its doors to young explorers as part of Türen auf mit der Maus – inviting children aged 6 to 12 to discover the fascinating world of microbes.
Across several hands-on sessions, young visitors will embark on a journey into the microverse, learning how tiny organisms help clean water, make bread rise, and can even produce light in the dark. They will explore a real research laboratory, take part in exciting experiments, and get a glimpse of what it means to be a scientist.
A huge thank you in advance to all the scientists and team members who are contributing their time, enthusiasm, and expertise to make this special day possible. Your commitment will help turn cutting-edge microbiology into an exciting, hands-on experience for our youngest visitors.
The event is already fully booked, with around 60 children set to take part across six sessions throughout the day – a wonderful response and a great start for outreach activities in our new research building!
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From Lab to Headlines
Our research continues to spark interest beyond the scientific community. Explore recent media coverage featuring discoveries, researchers, and initiatives from our Cluster of Excellence and see how our science is making its way from the lab into public conversations.
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Film shooting in the lab (Photo: Juliane Seeber)
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Jena RNA Club Symposium
September 30, 2026 | Microverse Center Jena, Rosalind-Franklin-Str. 5, 07745 Jena
On 30 September 2026, the Jena RNA Club invites researchers to its symposium at the Microverse Research Center Jena. The programme features renowned speakers from Frankfurt, Munich, Darmstadt and London: Michaela Müller-McNicoll, Nicolai Siegel, Beatrix Süß and Sivaramesh Wigneshweraraj.
Participation is free of charge. Last-minute registrations are still possible – please contact Kathrin Fröhlich directly at kathrin.froehlich@uni-jena.de. Further information is available on the event website.
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Bronze sculpture ‘Dancing Girls’ by the artist Ursula Schneider-Schulz
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Still from the film ‘The Weight of the World’ (2026) - © mindjazz pictures
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L³ Future Dialogue: Climate, Change, Science
September 17, 2026 | from 4 pm | CineStar Jena, Holzmarkt 1, 07743 Jena
How can science help us understand and navigate a changing climate? On September 17, 2026, the Friedrich Schiller University Jena’s profile lines LIGHT. LIFE. LIBERTY. (L³) invite you to the L³ Future Dialogue: Climate, Change, Science at CineStar Jena, as part of the nationwide Week of Climate Adaptation.
The evening combines research, film and discussion: Starting at 4:00 p.m., a public poster exhibition will showcase current research projects from Jena and the surrounding region. At 5:00 p.m., the documentary Das Gewicht der Welt (The Weight of the World) by Florian Heinzen-Ziob will be screened, followed by a panel discussion at 7:00 p.m. with Prof. Sebastian Seiffert, PD Dr. Katharina Eckstein and Luise Rößner, moderated by Inga Stademann and Felix Heller from the University of Jena’s Green Office.
The exhibition will remain open until 9:45 p.m., offering an opportunity to meet researchers, exchange ideas and continue the conversation.
Participation is free of charge. Registration is required. A total of 150 free tickets are available for the film screening.
More information and registration
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Open Calls
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Upcoming Events & Workshops
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Symposium of the VAAM special interest group “Biology of bacteria producing natural products”
September 16 to 18, 2026 | Johann Wolfgang Goethe University, Otto-Stern-Zentrum, 60438 Frankfurt am Main
Read more
- German Conference on Bioinformatics (GCB2026)
September 22 to 25, 2026 | Saarland University, Günter Hotz Lecture Hall, Campus E2_2, 66123 Saarbrücken
Read more
- 78th Annual Conference of the German Society for Hygiene and Microbiology (DGHM)
September 28 to 30, 2026 | Universität Hamburg, Institut für Medizinische Mikrobiologie, Virologie und Hygiene, Martinistraße 52, 20251 Hamburg
Read more
- Long Night of Sciences Jena
November 20, 2026 | from 6 pm
Read more
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Science & Society - Dieter Bednarz - 2026
December 19, 2026 | 4 to 6 pm | Abbe-Zentrum Jena, Hans-Knöll-Str. 1, Hörsaal
Read more
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More dates from the Microverse
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Selected Publications
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Nikitashina V, Pohnert G. Metabolic partitioning between photosynthesis and osmotrophy in Collodaria photosymbiotic holobionts. Nature Communications. 2026;17(1):8570.
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-76549-6
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Papenfort K. Bacterial small regulatory RNAs. Nature Reviews Microbiology. 2026.
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41579-026-01353-4
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Suma HR, Kay RR, Eswarappa SM, Stallforth P. Nanotubes enable intercellular communication in early-branching eukaryotes. PNAS Nexus. 2026 Jul 28;5(7):pgag238.
https://doi.org/10.1093/pnasnexus/pgag238
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Küsel K, Dopson M. Groundwater microbial communities across the terrestrial subsurface. Nature Microbiology. 2026;11(8):2088-2097.
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41564-026-02427-y
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Schaal T, Akbarimoghaddam P, Wegner VD, Steube A, Gardey E, Feile A, et al. Assessing the proinflammatory potential of sterile fecal microbiome filtrate from ulcerative colitis patients using an intestine-on-chip platform and automated image analysis. Gut Microbes. 2026;18(1):2701400.
https://doi.org/10.1080/19490976.2026.2701400
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Herzog E, Ishida K, Molloy EM, Hermenau R, Scherlach K, Hertweck C. Structural and Functional Siderophore Remodeling by Enzymatic Delipidation. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2026 Jul 24:e2621546.
https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.2621546
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Mauri M, Unger K, Gershenzon J, Allen RJ, Agler MT. Bacterial degradation of a plant toxin and nutrient competition with commensals trade off to constrain pathogen growth. mSystems. 2026 Jul 21;11(7):e0006426. https://doi.org/10.1128/msystems.00064-26
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Grohs R, Hornung F, Enghardt ML, Silge A, Glaser U, Hübner U, et al. On-Chip Raman Spectroscopy for Rapid Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing from Blood Cultures. Analytical Chemistry. 2026 Aug 4;98(30):22188-22200. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.analchem.6c01690
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Shetty P, Vuong T, Li C, Wagner V, Myrzakhmetova D, Peng CC, et al. Multiomics studies reveal how ambient temperature changes govern cellular responses of Chlamydomonas. Plant Cell. 2026;38(7):koag136.
https://doi.org/10.1093/plcell/koag136
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Xi Z, Zerdani M, Trautmann J, Neumann C, Wiedemann C, Nowotnick AG, et al. Ethanol-driven structural transitions of human serum albumin and surface-assisted 2D network formation on Ti-6Al-4V: A kinetic-morphological map. Colloids and Surfaces B: Biointerfaces. 2026;267:115954.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.colsurfb.2026.115954
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Dönertas HM, Partridge L. Evolutionary genetics of ageing. Nature Reviews Genetics. 2026;27(9):708-723. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41576-026-00959-x
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All publications
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