Kristina Bayer

Dr. Kristina Bayer is a Researcher at the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, specializing in Marine Ecology and Marine Symbioses. Her primary focus is on sponge-microbe symbiosis, microbial genomics, and advanced techniques like FACS sorting. She leads the Research Unit: Marine Symbioses within Research Division 3 at GEOMAR. Her work bridges cellular biology, microbial ecology, and environmental science, emphasizing symbiotic interactions in marine systems.

Key research areas include nitrogen and phosphorus cycling through marine sponges, microbial community dynamics, and symbiont function. She has pioneered novel in-vivo phagocytosis assays and contributed to understanding Chloroflexi dominance in deep-sea sponges. Her methods integrate fluorescence microscopy, metagenomics, and single-cell genomics.

Bayer collaborates widely, including on projects like CRC 1182 and PoF IV, and operates a MoFlo Astrios EQ Cell Sorter for microbial and cellular research. Her work has been published in leading journals like Frontiers in Marine Science and The ISME Journal, with chapters in books such as Frontiers in Invertebrate Physiology.

Her lab focuses on symbiotic mechanisms, environmental adaptation, and metaorganism research. She actively engages in international conferences and symposia, advancing the field of marine symbiosis and microbial ecology.