PriME - Principles of Microbial Ecosystems
@primecollaboration.bsky.social
A Simons collaboration which investigates the principles underpinning the self-organization, structure, and function of #microbial communities in the #ocean.
Pinned
We gladly introduce PriME, an international and interdisciplinary collaboration which aims to derive fundamental principles of how microbial ecosystems assemble and function, with a primary focus on #marinemicrobes and #carboncycling 🦠🌊
❓Does having several microbes capable of doing the same job necessarily make a community more robust? 🦠
In a new review from PriME and NCCR Microbiomes, Anna Weiss 👏and colleagues take an ecological look at functional redundancy. 👇
doi.org/10.1016/j.mi...
In a new review from PriME and NCCR Microbiomes, Anna Weiss 👏and colleagues take an ecological look at functional redundancy. 👇
doi.org/10.1016/j.mi...
Redirecting
doi.org
September 17, 2026 at 9:30 AM
❓Does having several microbes capable of doing the same job necessarily make a community more robust? 🦠
In a new review from PriME and NCCR Microbiomes, Anna Weiss 👏and colleagues take an ecological look at functional redundancy. 👇
doi.org/10.1016/j.mi...
In a new review from PriME and NCCR Microbiomes, Anna Weiss 👏and colleagues take an ecological look at functional redundancy. 👇
doi.org/10.1016/j.mi...
After eight wonderful years with PriME, Johannes Keegstra is moving to the Queen Mary University of London as a Royal Society Newton International Fellow 👏
Thank you for your science, ideas, generosity, support and humour. We’ll miss you!
See what Johannes is up to next:
aquaticmicrobes.org
Thank you for your science, ideas, generosity, support and humour. We’ll miss you!
See what Johannes is up to next:
aquaticmicrobes.org
September 8, 2026 at 8:47 AM
After eight wonderful years with PriME, Johannes Keegstra is moving to the Queen Mary University of London as a Royal Society Newton International Fellow 👏
Thank you for your science, ideas, generosity, support and humour. We’ll miss you!
See what Johannes is up to next:
aquaticmicrobes.org
Thank you for your science, ideas, generosity, support and humour. We’ll miss you!
See what Johannes is up to next:
aquaticmicrobes.org
Congratulations to PriME members 👏 Hagen Buck-Wiese and Naomi Levine on this publication, in which they call for moving beyond “optimal” phenotypes measured under fixed conditions to capture microbial plasticity in a changing ocean. 🌊🦠
Life out of equilibrium: Rethinking how we quantify & model marine microbial phenotypes
Forum examines marine microbial physiology, arguing for quantification of phenotypic plasticity to ID strategies across environments & parameterize biogeochemical models
www.cell.com/cell-host-mi...
Forum examines marine microbial physiology, arguing for quantification of phenotypic plasticity to ID strategies across environments & parameterize biogeochemical models
www.cell.com/cell-host-mi...
Life out of equilibrium: Rethinking how we quantify and model marine microbial phenotypes
The standard paradigm of marine microbial physiology has been to assess the “optimal”
phenotype under defined environmental conditions. Yet marine microbes experience large
environmental fluctuations....
www.cell.com
August 31, 2026 at 9:32 AM
Congratulations to PriME members 👏 Hagen Buck-Wiese and Naomi Levine on this publication, in which they call for moving beyond “optimal” phenotypes measured under fixed conditions to capture microbial plasticity in a changing ocean. 🌊🦠
Exciting new work from Andi Sichert and several other PriME members, now published in Nature! 🌊🦠
The study reveals how specialized #marinebacteria work together to break down complex algal polysaccharides, with important implications for ocean #carboncycling 👇
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
The study reveals how specialized #marinebacteria work together to break down complex algal polysaccharides, with important implications for ocean #carboncycling 👇
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Synergistic degradation of fucoidans in the ocean - Nature
Efficient degradation of fucoidans depends on complementary bacterial guilds that cooperatively break backbone and side-chain sugars, revealing a conserved, globally relevant mechanism that shapes mar...
www.nature.com
August 27, 2026 at 8:28 AM
Exciting new work from Andi Sichert and several other PriME members, now published in Nature! 🌊🦠
The study reveals how specialized #marinebacteria work together to break down complex algal polysaccharides, with important implications for ocean #carboncycling 👇
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
The study reveals how specialized #marinebacteria work together to break down complex algal polysaccharides, with important implications for ocean #carboncycling 👇
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Welcome to PriME, McKenzie! 🎉
McKenzie has joined the Moran Lab, where she studies interactions between marine phytoplankton and heterotrophic bacteria — and how they shape organic matter cycling in the ocean 🌊🦠
Great to have you with us!
McKenzie has joined the Moran Lab, where she studies interactions between marine phytoplankton and heterotrophic bacteria — and how they shape organic matter cycling in the ocean 🌊🦠
Great to have you with us!
June 23, 2026 at 9:29 AM
Welcome to PriME, McKenzie! 🎉
McKenzie has joined the Moran Lab, where she studies interactions between marine phytoplankton and heterotrophic bacteria — and how they shape organic matter cycling in the ocean 🌊🦠
Great to have you with us!
McKenzie has joined the Moran Lab, where she studies interactions between marine phytoplankton and heterotrophic bacteria — and how they shape organic matter cycling in the ocean 🌊🦠
Great to have you with us!
🦠 Can microbes turn chitin from deep-sea sediments into electricity?💡
PriME alumni and current members have uncovered a microbial partnership that links anaerobic chitin degradation to iron-oxide respiration 😀.
Congratulations to this deep-sea microbial teamwork 👏
academic.oup.com/ismej/advanc...
PriME alumni and current members have uncovered a microbial partnership that links anaerobic chitin degradation to iron-oxide respiration 😀.
Congratulations to this deep-sea microbial teamwork 👏
academic.oup.com/ismej/advanc...
Validate User
academic.oup.com
June 22, 2026 at 9:53 AM
🦠 Can microbes turn chitin from deep-sea sediments into electricity?💡
PriME alumni and current members have uncovered a microbial partnership that links anaerobic chitin degradation to iron-oxide respiration 😀.
Congratulations to this deep-sea microbial teamwork 👏
academic.oup.com/ismej/advanc...
PriME alumni and current members have uncovered a microbial partnership that links anaerobic chitin degradation to iron-oxide respiration 😀.
Congratulations to this deep-sea microbial teamwork 👏
academic.oup.com/ismej/advanc...
Congratulations to Harish on successfully defending his PhD thesis, "Spatiotemporal Dynamics of Bacterial Colony Development" in the Hwa Lab! 👏🎉👨🎓
He will be heading in the fall to the University of Chicago as a Postdoctoral Fellow 😀
All the best for this exciting new chapter! 🍀🚀
He will be heading in the fall to the University of Chicago as a Postdoctoral Fellow 😀
All the best for this exciting new chapter! 🍀🚀
June 17, 2026 at 9:31 AM
Congratulations to Harish on successfully defending his PhD thesis, "Spatiotemporal Dynamics of Bacterial Colony Development" in the Hwa Lab! 👏🎉👨🎓
He will be heading in the fall to the University of Chicago as a Postdoctoral Fellow 😀
All the best for this exciting new chapter! 🍀🚀
He will be heading in the fall to the University of Chicago as a Postdoctoral Fellow 😀
All the best for this exciting new chapter! 🍀🚀
❓Can we predict ocean carbon cycling by looking at what microbes do rather than who they are?🌊
During his PhD in PriME, Ryan Reynolds explored this question by combining global metagenomic with metabolic modeling 😀
Check out his last publication 👇
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
During his PhD in PriME, Ryan Reynolds explored this question by combining global metagenomic with metabolic modeling 😀
Check out his last publication 👇
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Defining metabolic niches for marine microbial heterotrophs
Understanding carbon cycling requires simplifying bacterial diversity into functional groups defined by genetic signatures.
www.science.org
May 19, 2026 at 8:16 AM
❓Can we predict ocean carbon cycling by looking at what microbes do rather than who they are?🌊
During his PhD in PriME, Ryan Reynolds explored this question by combining global metagenomic with metabolic modeling 😀
Check out his last publication 👇
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
During his PhD in PriME, Ryan Reynolds explored this question by combining global metagenomic with metabolic modeling 😀
Check out his last publication 👇
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
🌊 Are bacterial attachments to phytoplankton just microscopic travel companions — or a key driver of marine ecosystem functioning? 🦠
PriME alumnus Mathieu Forget explores this question in a new review 👏👇
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
PriME alumnus Mathieu Forget explores this question in a new review 👏👇
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
The ecology of bacterial attachment to phytoplankton - Nature Microbiology
Here the authors review current understanding of the mechanistic marine microbial interactions that underpin large-scale ecosystem processes and biogeochemical cycling.
www.nature.com
May 12, 2026 at 10:27 AM
🌊 Are bacterial attachments to phytoplankton just microscopic travel companions — or a key driver of marine ecosystem functioning? 🦠
PriME alumnus Mathieu Forget explores this question in a new review 👏👇
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
PriME alumnus Mathieu Forget explores this question in a new review 👏👇
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Congratulations to Astrid for receiving the Prix Schläfli 2026 in Biology for her outstanding PhD work made in PriME 😉 👏😃🦠 — so well deserved!
🦠 From a very young age, Astrid Stubbusch wanted to thoroughly explore life in all its forms. In her thesis at @eawag.bsky.social, she showed the astounding strategies that #bacteria develop in order to find food 👉 scnat.ch/en/id/ACKZg?... [4/5]
May 7, 2026 at 12:34 PM
Congratulations to Astrid for receiving the Prix Schläfli 2026 in Biology for her outstanding PhD work made in PriME 😉 👏😃🦠 — so well deserved!
Welcome to PriME, Dieter! 🎉
Dieter joins the Orphan Lab at Caltech as a Postdoc, working at the interface of microbiology, biophysics & fluid dynamics to study microbial interactions and processes like marine snow formation 🦠🌊
Great to have you on board 🤗!
Dieter joins the Orphan Lab at Caltech as a Postdoc, working at the interface of microbiology, biophysics & fluid dynamics to study microbial interactions and processes like marine snow formation 🦠🌊
Great to have you on board 🤗!
April 15, 2026 at 8:32 AM
Welcome to PriME, Dieter! 🎉
Dieter joins the Orphan Lab at Caltech as a Postdoc, working at the interface of microbiology, biophysics & fluid dynamics to study microbial interactions and processes like marine snow formation 🦠🌊
Great to have you on board 🤗!
Dieter joins the Orphan Lab at Caltech as a Postdoc, working at the interface of microbiology, biophysics & fluid dynamics to study microbial interactions and processes like marine snow formation 🦠🌊
Great to have you on board 🤗!
It's time to say goodbye to Jonasz Slomka — a PriME member since the early days 👏
He will start his own laboratory of bioencounters at the University of Warsaw, exploring microbial interactions at the physics–biology interface 🦠.
All the best for this exciting new chapter, Jonasz! 🚀
He will start his own laboratory of bioencounters at the University of Warsaw, exploring microbial interactions at the physics–biology interface 🦠.
All the best for this exciting new chapter, Jonasz! 🚀
March 24, 2026 at 9:17 AM
It's time to say goodbye to Jonasz Slomka — a PriME member since the early days 👏
He will start his own laboratory of bioencounters at the University of Warsaw, exploring microbial interactions at the physics–biology interface 🦠.
All the best for this exciting new chapter, Jonasz! 🚀
He will start his own laboratory of bioencounters at the University of Warsaw, exploring microbial interactions at the physics–biology interface 🦠.
All the best for this exciting new chapter, Jonasz! 🚀
PriME members in Zurich gathered last week for the PriME Mini-Symposium!
Interactive poster sessions, review paper discussions, and plenty of networking made for a lively afternoon of science and collaboration 🤗
Thanks to everyone who joined! 🌊🦠
Interactive poster sessions, review paper discussions, and plenty of networking made for a lively afternoon of science and collaboration 🤗
Thanks to everyone who joined! 🌊🦠
March 17, 2026 at 9:18 AM
PriME members in Zurich gathered last week for the PriME Mini-Symposium!
Interactive poster sessions, review paper discussions, and plenty of networking made for a lively afternoon of science and collaboration 🤗
Thanks to everyone who joined! 🌊🦠
Interactive poster sessions, review paper discussions, and plenty of networking made for a lively afternoon of science and collaboration 🤗
Thanks to everyone who joined! 🌊🦠
Most marine bacteria never find a food particle. Some do—and that’s enough 😉
A PriME team uncovers stochastic resilience: rare, high-reward encounters sustain bacterial populations in nutrient-poor oceans.🌊🦠
Out now in PNAS!
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
A PriME team uncovers stochastic resilience: rare, high-reward encounters sustain bacterial populations in nutrient-poor oceans.🌊🦠
Out now in PNAS!
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
PNAS
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), a peer reviewed journal of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) - an authoritative source of high-impact, original research that broadly spans...
www.pnas.org
March 10, 2026 at 1:35 PM
Most marine bacteria never find a food particle. Some do—and that’s enough 😉
A PriME team uncovers stochastic resilience: rare, high-reward encounters sustain bacterial populations in nutrient-poor oceans.🌊🦠
Out now in PNAS!
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
A PriME team uncovers stochastic resilience: rare, high-reward encounters sustain bacterial populations in nutrient-poor oceans.🌊🦠
Out now in PNAS!
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
🔥Hot off the press!
❓ How do bacteria get iron when nutrients are scarce and constantly washed away❓
A PriME collective effort reveals—using a new continuous culture device—how bacteria acquire iron under rapid nutrient renewal, beyond #siderophores.
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
❓ How do bacteria get iron when nutrients are scarce and constantly washed away❓
A PriME collective effort reveals—using a new continuous culture device—how bacteria acquire iron under rapid nutrient renewal, beyond #siderophores.
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Bacterial iron acquisition by Escherichia coli is facilitated by amino acid complexation in a rapid-renewal environment | PNAS
In natural environments, bacteria often encounter low concentrations of nutrient mixtures
that are continuously replenished by physical processes s...
www.pnas.org
February 12, 2026 at 10:12 AM
🔥Hot off the press!
❓ How do bacteria get iron when nutrients are scarce and constantly washed away❓
A PriME collective effort reveals—using a new continuous culture device—how bacteria acquire iron under rapid nutrient renewal, beyond #siderophores.
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
❓ How do bacteria get iron when nutrients are scarce and constantly washed away❓
A PriME collective effort reveals—using a new continuous culture device—how bacteria acquire iron under rapid nutrient renewal, beyond #siderophores.
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
❓Does low phosphate help keep carbon locked in fucoidan rather than recycled by bacteria❓
A PriME fellow from the Hehemann lab and his colleagues explored this question in a study just published in Nature Microbiology 🤗⬇️
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
A PriME fellow from the Hehemann lab and his colleagues explored this question in a study just published in Nature Microbiology 🤗⬇️
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Phosphate deprivation restricts bacterial degradation of the marine polysaccharide fucoidan - Nature Microbiology
Limiting phosphate concentrations could be a strategy to protect and sequester carbon dioxide as fucoidan, a polysaccharide produced by marine algae.
www.nature.com
January 26, 2026 at 10:15 AM
❓Does low phosphate help keep carbon locked in fucoidan rather than recycled by bacteria❓
A PriME fellow from the Hehemann lab and his colleagues explored this question in a study just published in Nature Microbiology 🤗⬇️
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
A PriME fellow from the Hehemann lab and his colleagues explored this question in a study just published in Nature Microbiology 🤗⬇️
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
We say goodbye to Jeremy, who joined PriME as a PhD student and leaves as a Postdoc - he has been an active and valued part of our community! He now continues his journey at the University of Maryland, studying viral removal rates in marine ecosystems 🦠🌊
Thank you - and all the best, Jeremy 🤗!
Thank you - and all the best, Jeremy 🤗!
January 15, 2026 at 11:25 AM
We say goodbye to Jeremy, who joined PriME as a PhD student and leaves as a Postdoc - he has been an active and valued part of our community! He now continues his journey at the University of Maryland, studying viral removal rates in marine ecosystems 🦠🌊
Thank you - and all the best, Jeremy 🤗!
Thank you - and all the best, Jeremy 🤗!
A warm PriME welcome to Richard!🎉
Richard joined the Hwa Lab at UC SanDiego
as a new Postdoc, exploring how physiological variation within bacterial species shapes their evolution 🧫🔬.
We’re excited to have you with us!
primecollaboration.org/profiles/richa
Richard joined the Hwa Lab at UC SanDiego
as a new Postdoc, exploring how physiological variation within bacterial species shapes their evolution 🧫🔬.
We’re excited to have you with us!
primecollaboration.org/profiles/richa
November 12, 2025 at 11:21 AM
A warm PriME welcome to Richard!🎉
Richard joined the Hwa Lab at UC SanDiego
as a new Postdoc, exploring how physiological variation within bacterial species shapes their evolution 🧫🔬.
We’re excited to have you with us!
primecollaboration.org/profiles/richa
Richard joined the Hwa Lab at UC SanDiego
as a new Postdoc, exploring how physiological variation within bacterial species shapes their evolution 🧫🔬.
We’re excited to have you with us!
primecollaboration.org/profiles/richa
Welcome to the PriME team, Eliane! 🎉
Eliane has just joined the Stocker Lab as a new PhD student, exploring how microbial processes shape the ocean’s carbon cycle 🌊🦠.
We’re thrilled to have you on board!
🔗 primecollaboration.org/profiles/eliane-ballmer
Eliane has just joined the Stocker Lab as a new PhD student, exploring how microbial processes shape the ocean’s carbon cycle 🌊🦠.
We’re thrilled to have you on board!
🔗 primecollaboration.org/profiles/eliane-ballmer
November 5, 2025 at 12:51 PM
Welcome to the PriME team, Eliane! 🎉
Eliane has just joined the Stocker Lab as a new PhD student, exploring how microbial processes shape the ocean’s carbon cycle 🌊🦠.
We’re thrilled to have you on board!
🔗 primecollaboration.org/profiles/eliane-ballmer
Eliane has just joined the Stocker Lab as a new PhD student, exploring how microbial processes shape the ocean’s carbon cycle 🌊🦠.
We’re thrilled to have you on board!
🔗 primecollaboration.org/profiles/eliane-ballmer
We gathered this week for our Annual Meeting in NYC - three days of inspiring exchange!✨
This year, we introduced group work sessions for review papers🗒️to reflect and synthesize our interdisciplinary work😀
Thank you to all participants and @simonsfoundation.org
for the support!
This year, we introduced group work sessions for review papers🗒️to reflect and synthesize our interdisciplinary work😀
Thank you to all participants and @simonsfoundation.org
for the support!
October 31, 2025 at 5:49 PM
We gathered this week for our Annual Meeting in NYC - three days of inspiring exchange!✨
This year, we introduced group work sessions for review papers🗒️to reflect and synthesize our interdisciplinary work😀
Thank you to all participants and @simonsfoundation.org
for the support!
This year, we introduced group work sessions for review papers🗒️to reflect and synthesize our interdisciplinary work😀
Thank you to all participants and @simonsfoundation.org
for the support!
Congratulations to all authors, including our PriME fellows 🤗
Delighted to share our latest work now published in Science Advances - led by PhD student Sophie Zweifel, this study characterises a new life phase in coccolithophores and opens up our understanding of the complex microbial interactions which drive algae blooms!
richardjhenshaw.com/2025/08/27/n...
richardjhenshaw.com/2025/08/27/n...
New paper out in Science Advances today – how bacteria induce metamorphosis in coccolithophores!
Delighted to share our most recent paper out today in Science Advances titled “Bacteria induce an amoeboid phase in coccolithophores that persists after bloom collapse”. This work was l…
richardjhenshaw.com
August 28, 2025 at 12:46 PM
Congratulations to all authors, including our PriME fellows 🤗
❓How do microbes that can’t make their own vitamins survive in the ocean? 🌊🦠
In this new paper, @rachelgregor.bsky.social and fellow PriME members uncover the role of B vitamin auxotrophies in microbial communities.
👇Check it out 😀
academic.oup.com/ismej/advanc...
In this new paper, @rachelgregor.bsky.social and fellow PriME members uncover the role of B vitamin auxotrophies in microbial communities.
👇Check it out 😀
academic.oup.com/ismej/advanc...
Vitamin auxotrophies shape microbial community assembly on model marine particles
Abstract. Microbial community assembly is governed by the flow of carbon sources and other primary metabolites between species. However, central metabolism
academic.oup.com
August 25, 2025 at 8:12 AM
❓How do microbes that can’t make their own vitamins survive in the ocean? 🌊🦠
In this new paper, @rachelgregor.bsky.social and fellow PriME members uncover the role of B vitamin auxotrophies in microbial communities.
👇Check it out 😀
academic.oup.com/ismej/advanc...
In this new paper, @rachelgregor.bsky.social and fellow PriME members uncover the role of B vitamin auxotrophies in microbial communities.
👇Check it out 😀
academic.oup.com/ismej/advanc...
Exciting work from former and current PriME members 🤗 Looking forward to seeing it published!
Check out our latest preprint where we show synergistic interactions between bacteria for the degradation of complex polysaccharides 🌊🦠🔺
@envsysmicro.at @akshitg.bsky.social
#MicroSky
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
@envsysmicro.at @akshitg.bsky.social
#MicroSky
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
A division of labor controls the degradation of fucoidans in the ocean
Fucoidans, complex polysaccharides produced by brown algae and diatoms, contribute to long-term carbon sequestration due to their resistance to microbial degradation1,2. While individual microbes can ...
www.biorxiv.org
August 15, 2025 at 7:52 AM
Exciting work from former and current PriME members 🤗 Looking forward to seeing it published!
❓What if microbes share not just small metabolites, but also complex molecules that shape community assembly 🦠?
@sammy-pontrelli.bsky.social and co-authors explored this question in a new collaborative PriME study 😃
Learn more about it 👇
journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...
@sammy-pontrelli.bsky.social and co-authors explored this question in a new collaborative PriME study 😃
Learn more about it 👇
journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...
Degradation of extracellular polymeric substances shapes microbial community diversity
Cross-feeding of small metabolites is known to drive carbon exchange among microbial species, but the role of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) has been poorly understood. This study shows that...
journals.plos.org
August 14, 2025 at 9:50 AM
❓What if microbes share not just small metabolites, but also complex molecules that shape community assembly 🦠?
@sammy-pontrelli.bsky.social and co-authors explored this question in a new collaborative PriME study 😃
Learn more about it 👇
journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...
@sammy-pontrelli.bsky.social and co-authors explored this question in a new collaborative PriME study 😃
Learn more about it 👇
journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...
PriME Dr. #5 in 2025 is Gabriel from Otto Cordero's lab!
He successfully defended his thesis "Shaping Function Through Space: The Role of Spatial Organization in Microbial Communities" 🧑🎓🥳
Thank you Gabriel for your collaborative spirit and contribution🦠🤗 All the best for your future!
He successfully defended his thesis "Shaping Function Through Space: The Role of Spatial Organization in Microbial Communities" 🧑🎓🥳
Thank you Gabriel for your collaborative spirit and contribution🦠🤗 All the best for your future!
August 11, 2025 at 8:16 AM
PriME Dr. #5 in 2025 is Gabriel from Otto Cordero's lab!
He successfully defended his thesis "Shaping Function Through Space: The Role of Spatial Organization in Microbial Communities" 🧑🎓🥳
Thank you Gabriel for your collaborative spirit and contribution🦠🤗 All the best for your future!
He successfully defended his thesis "Shaping Function Through Space: The Role of Spatial Organization in Microbial Communities" 🧑🎓🥳
Thank you Gabriel for your collaborative spirit and contribution🦠🤗 All the best for your future!