As in previous years, VAAM 2026 in Berlin once again offered numerous opportunities for scientific exchange and discussion of current developments in microbiology.
Ph.D. students Christian Carolina Meriño Serrano, Paula Schrage, Marc Gregor Mohr, Stefanie Rustler, Jan-Lorenz Weyers, and Natalie Hager from the IfMB presented posters. In addition, there were a particularly large number of presentations from our institute this year: Martina Grosser presented a key finding from her doctoral thesis in her talk titled “Near-atomic resolution structure of the sHdr enzyme complex indicates a new mechanism for sulfur oxidation.” Ph.D. student Titouan Bouvier d’Yvoire presented results from his doctoral project in a talk titled “Mapping genome organization and DNA-binding proteins in the archaeon Haloferax volcanii using super-resolution microscopy.” Master’s student Chelsea Cumagun also presented the results of her work in her talk “Monitoring light-induced H₂O₂ dynamics in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii mutants using a fluorescent H₂O₂ biosensor.”
The IPM was also represented at the conference: in attendance were group leader Dr. Thomas Fließwasser and doctoral students Carolin Ade, Eva Fahr, Aia Ali Abdelrahman, and Verena Wiemann, who presented their research findings on posters.
The combination of a specialized program, interdisciplinary encounters, and a lively conference atmosphere made this year’s VAAM once again a special gathering place for the microbiology community.