Jena Alliance Life in Focus

Interactions of microorganisms with each other, with other living organisms and their environment are essential for the functioning of all ecosystems, a stable climate and the well-being of plants, animals and humans. Disturbed balances can cause diseases, weather extremes and crop failures and destroy ecosystems. Research into the dynamic balance of microbial communities from the molecular level to complex ecosystems and the development of new technologies required for this calls for close cooperation between microbiology, chemical biology, infection biology, medicine, ecology, optics/photonics, material sciences, bioinformatics and applied ethics. The funding from the Carl Zeiss Foundation enables the Friedrich Schiller University Jena to align the qualification of young scientists with the new trans- and interdisciplinary requirements.