Katja Laufer

Katja Laufer is a Postdoctoral Researcher in Geomicrobiology at GEOMAR - Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, working within Research Division 2: Marine Biogeochemistry and specifically in the Research Unit: Marine Geosystems under AG Perner. Her research focuses on understanding how microorganisms regulate elemental cycles in marine sediments, with particular emphasis on the iron cycle and its connections to other biogeochemical processes.

Her educational background includes a Ph.D. in Geosciences from Eberhard Karls University Tübingen (2013-2016), an M.Sc. in Biological Oceanography from GEOMAR (2010-2012), and a B.Sc. in Biology from Christian-Albrechts-University Kiel (2007-2010). Prior to her current position at GEOMAR since June 2019, she conducted postdoctoral research at Aarhus University's Center for Geomicrobiology in Denmark.

Dr. Laufer's research combines geochemical and microbiological methods including rate measurements, molecular biological techniques, culture-dependent approaches, and the enrichment and isolation of novel microorganisms. Her current projects investigate the biogeochemical iron cycle in Arctic fjord sediments on Svalbard and Greenland, as well as the microbiology of hydrothermal vents and massive sulfides along the Indian Ridge. She has led multiple research expeditions to Arctic regions, including several trips to Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard, and Young Sound, Greenland.

Her publication record demonstrates consistent contributions to understanding iron and sulfur cycling in marine environments, particularly in Arctic systems. Her work often examines how glacial processes influence biogeochemical cycles, with several high-impact publications in journals like Nature Communications, The ISME Journal, and Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta. Many of her recent studies focus on the connections between glacial retreat, iron cycling, and microbial processes in Arctic fjords.

Dr. Laufer has received several scientific awards including a Best Student Poster Award at the Goldschmidt Conference, a FEMS Early Career Scientist Meeting Grant, and a DFG Research Fellowship. She has also secured funding for her DFG project on 'Mechanisms and effects of benthic biogeochemical iron cycling in glaciated fjords' (2022-2025).

As an active member of the scientific community, she serves as a reviewer for numerous prestigious journals including Environmental Microbiology, Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, and Marine Chemistry. She has convened conference sessions at the Goldschmidt Conference and IASC workshops, and is a member of the European Association of Geochemistry (since 2014) and the European Geosciences Union (since 2022).