Xiu and Sybille were collecting water samples in Warnemünde

From April 19th to 21st, Sybille Huck and Xiu Jia went to Warnemünde to gather samples for Xiu's research project "Discovering eco-evolutionary dynamics in bacteria and phage systems". The Environmental Microbiology groupExternal link, headed by Prof. Matthias Labrenz at the Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research Warnemünde (IOW), provided them with valuable assistance and demonstrated a sampling effort of the OTC-Genomics projectExternal link. Upon arriving, Conor offered them an excellent tour of the lab, giving them a closer look at the team's well-organized sample processing work. Later, they enjoyed a delightful dinner with their collaborators at an Italian restaurant.

On April 20th, Sybille and Xiu joined Clara and Conor on a trip to the coastal area to observe how samples were collected in the field by their team and to appreciate the breathtaking views of the Baltic Sea from less touristy locations. They collected brackish water samples from the Warnemünde-Strand site near the IOW in the morning and then reached their freshwater sampling site at Mühlendamm after lunch. In total, they collected seven water samples along the Warnow estuary. Xiu will use these samples to investigate the coalescence of microbial communities in the freshwater-brackish water transition zone. After a day of intensive sampling, Sybille and Xiu took a moment to relax along the beach and enjoy a spectacular Baltic Sea sunset. The collected samples were transported back to Jena on the third day, marking a lovely and memorable road tour from the north of Germany to its heart.