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SYNMIKRO Center

The SYNMIKRO Center for Synthetic Microbiology is an inter-institutional research center, jointly operated by the University of Marburg and the Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology. Founded in 2010 through the LOEWE excellence program of the State of Hesse, SYNMIKRO has been one of the first centers for synthetic biology research in Germany and worldwide.

SYNMIKRO was made permanent in 2019 and moved into a dedicated research building in 2020. This building provides home to research groups from the University of Marburg, the Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology, as well as several core facilities. The center has become an international lighthouse and a scientific hub for microbiology research in Marburg, encompassing more than 30 research groups and 350 scientists from more than 30 countries.

SYNMIKRO is also home to two successful winning teams of the iGEM students’ competition (see below), and the cradle to the German Association for Synthetic Biology (GASB), founded by SYNMIKRO’s doctoral candidates, which today has several hundreds of members, promoting scientific exchange of the (inter)national synthetic biology community through annual workshops and conferences. For more information click here.