Martina Preiner

Dr. Martina Preiner serves as a Max Planck Research Group Leader at the Microcosm Earth Center (MEC) within the Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology in Marburg, Germany. She leads an interdisciplinary research team investigating the chemical origins of life, focusing on the critical interface between geochemistry and biochemistry. Her laboratory employs various imaging techniques alongside chemical, biochemical, and geochemical methods to examine how life might have emerged from non-living matter.

Dr. Preiner's research centers on fundamental questions about life's emergence: How did life originate from non-life? How did cellular structures develop from geochemical environments? Her primary interests include Origin of Life studies, Prebiotic Chemistry, Geochemical-Biochemical Transitions, and Mineral Catalysis. A significant focus examines how mineral surfaces function as protoenzymes ('geozymes') in primordial metabolism, particularly investigating specific abiotic hydride transfer to biological redox cofactors like NAD+.

Analysis of her recent publications reveals a strong emphasis on hydrothermal vent systems, mineral-catalyzed reactions, and the chemical properties of biological cofactors in prebiotic contexts. Her work consistently explores how mineral surfaces facilitate specific biochemical reactions essential to life, with particular attention to energy transfer mechanisms and carbon fixation pathways. This research bridges geochemistry, biochemistry, and systems chemistry to develop testable models for life's emergence.

• Major Research Themes:
• Geochemical protoenzymes (geozymes) in primordial metabolism
• NAD+ reduction on mineral surfaces
• Hydrothermal vent chemistry and life's origins
• Serpentinization processes and early metabolism
• Autotrophic core metabolic networks

Dr. Preiner leads a dynamic research group comprising postdoctoral researcher Delfina Patricia Henriques Pereira, doctoral researchers Manavika Khanna, Oskari Lehtinen, and Giuseppe Peyroche, along with master's students Rafael Pollinger and Zinab Yadallah. Her laboratory at the Microcosm Earth Center features specialized equipment for creating experimental setups that simulate early Earth conditions, enabling direct testing of hypotheses about life's chemical origins.