Matthias Labrenz

Prof. Dr. Matthias Labrenz is a Professor at the University of Rostock and heads the Environmental Microbiology working group at the Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research (IOW) in Rostock, Germany. He holds a Diplom in Biology (1995) and a PhD (1999) from Christian-Albrechts-University Kiel, followed by postdoctoral research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the German Research Center for Biotechnology. He completed his Habilitation in Microbiology at the University of Rostock in 2008.

His research focuses on:

• Microbial diversity in extreme environments
• Microplastics pollution and environmental impacts
• Pathogenic Vibrio ecology in the Baltic Sea
• Bacterial taxonomy and biogeochemical cycling
• Development of in situ microbial technologies

Labrenz leads major projects including OTC-Genomics (BMBF) for environmental DNA monitoring and BaltVib (EU) on pathogenic Vibrio control. He has published extensively on microbial responses to pollutants, nutrient cycling in redox zones, and microplastic-biofilm interactions.

He directs IOW's genetic engineering facility and oversees doctoral researchers in microbial ecology. His group develops innovative methods like microplastic immobilization techniques and autonomous sampling systems.