Current research on the microbiome is making it increasingly clear that all life processes on earth and the processes in living organisms are embedded in the life sphere of the microbiome. This gives the One Health concept a comprehensible biological basis, for which many exciting research questions are still open.

Prof. Meinhard Simon will present the basics of the importance and effectiveness of the microbiome and report on his research (see www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-07396-y).

Until 2023, he headed the Biology of Geological Processes/Aquatic Microbial Ecology working group at the Institute for Chemistry and Biology of the Marine Environment at the Carl von Ossietzky University in Oldenburg. His research trips have taken him to many of the world's oceans.

Prof. Dr. Meinhard Simon, born in 1953, studied biology and aquatic ecology in Constance and Freiburg. He wrote his diploma and doctoral thesis on an aquatic biology topic on Lake Constance. From 1997 to 2023, he worked at the University of Oldenburg as Professor of Marine Microbiology and Biological Oceanography. He has long been interested in water and the water cycle and the importance of microorganisms in the environment, especially in water bodies. He has participated in research cruises in the Southern, Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and would like to contribute to a broader and deeper understanding of the relationship between microorganisms and their aquatic habitat.