Thorsten Henning Brinkhoff

Adjunct Professor

I am microbiologist with a focus on molecular ecology, bacterial physiology, genomics and genetics. I have expertise in analysing microbial community compositions, populations and individual organisms from a broad range of marine ecosystems. In previous studies, we analysed natural bacterial communities of algal blooms, organic particles and biofilms, including the sea surface microlayer of the North Sea and the Baltic Sea. To understand function and adaptation of ecologically relevant microbes, we isolated bacterioplankton and bacterioneuston strains using random and targeted approaches. The isolates allow studies of physiological and genomic characteristics, including, e.g., energy and secondary metabolism, biofilm formation, genomic adaptation, gene regulation, the influence of environmental factors and signalling molecules, thus elucidating the ecological role and interaction processes of the organisms.