Welcome to the IMPRS “Principles of Microbial Life” in Marburg, Germany!


We are dedicated to offering  excellent research opportunities for junior scientists with background in biology, biochemistry, chemistry, physics and bionformatics from all over the world. With us you can do a PhD in different branches of microbiological research, including
 
  • Cellular organization & architecture
  • Microbial communities & host-microbe interactions
  • Natural products & chemical biology
  • Physical biology
  • Physiology & metabolism
  • Signal transduction & information processing
  • Systems & synthetic biology.

Since 2003, the IMPRS in Marburg offers an international PhD program which provides interdisciplinary training in modern microbiology, state-of-the-art research facilities, and mentoring by world class scientists. Our thriving scientific community and academic landscape will give you the freedom to embark on your scientific journey!

Upcoming events

Dr. Michael Funk

Inside publishing at Science
Sep 7, 2026 01:15 PM (Local Time Germany)
MPI for Terrestrial Microbiology, Room: Lecture hall

Graduate Students Mini Symposium VII - 2026

Sep 21, 2026 01:15 PM (Local Time Germany)
Online

Helene Elise Keuthen

Epitranscriptomic regulation of RNA processing in E. coli during T4 phage infection
Oct 2, 2026 02:00 PM (Local Time Germany)
MPI for Terrestrial Microbiology, Room: Lecture hall

Dr. Maria Zimmermann-Kogadeeva

Learning from networks: leveraging metabolic models and machine learning to discover microbial metabolic functions and interactions
Oct 19, 2026 02:00 PM (Local Time Germany)
MPI for Terrestrial Microbiology, Room: Lecture hall

Dr. Michael Zimmermann

Employing xenobiotic biotransformation reactions to probe metabolic interactions in microbial ecosystems
Oct 19, 2026 03:00 PM (Local Time Germany)
MPI for Terrestrial Microbiology, Room: Lecture hall
Seminars, defenses, workshops & more.
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Our graduate program International Max Planck Research School Principles of Microbial Life: From molecules to cells, from cells to interactions (IMPRS-µLife) is a collaboration between the Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology, the University of Marburg and the Center for Synthetic Microbiology (SYNMIKRO).
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