Recently, the PolyU-BGI Joint Research Centre for Genomics and Synthetic Biology in Global Ocean Resources (RCOcean) team visited several research institutes in Germany, including the Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel (GEOMAR) and the Helmholtz Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland (HIPS). The visits focused on discussions surrounding the analysis, exploration, and sustainable utilization of marine biological genetic resources, leading to the development of preliminary collaboration plans.
From July 29 to 30, 2025, the RCOcean team visited GEOMAR, where both sides held in-depth discussions on research directions such as marine ecosystem restoration and the conservation of fishery resources. Dr. Hanin Alzubaidy, Junior Group Leader at GEOMAR, along with her team members, introduced recent advances in marine evolutionary ecology, including the protection of seagrass meadow ecosystems, interactions between marine microorganisms and plant hosts, and adaptive evolution of economically important marine fish species. The two teams explored potential collaboration in future marine biodiversity research, mechanisms of host and microbial interactions, and conducted detailed exchanges on the development and application of sample processing technologies for marine symbiotic organisms.
On August 2, 2025, the RCOcean team visited HIPS and engaged in extensive discussions with Professor Rolf Müller, Director of HIPS, and his research team. Dr. Jianwei Chen from RCOcean presented the team’s recent research results in the discovery of novel marine microbial enzyme resources and the development of novel bioactive peptides. Professor Müller introduced HIPS’s progress in the development of novel anti-infective drugs derived from myxobacteria, with several myxobacterial small molecule compounds already advancing to animal studies or clinical trial stages.
Professor Andreas Keller, Chair for Clinical Bioinformatics at Saarland University, presented the Human Microbiome Reanalysis Project and discussed the roles of the human microbiome in aging and neurodegenerative diseases. Professor Olga Kalinina, postdoctoral researcher Dr. Jake Haeckl, and other team members introduced a series of studies on myxobacterial genomics, secondary metabolites, and small-molecule discovery.
Both sides held in-depth discussions on the exploration of novel marine myxobacterial resources and the development of Artificial Intelligent prediction tools for the bioactivity of myxobacterial secondary metabolites. A consensus on collaboration was reached, with plans to actively advance joint research projects.
