birth_place awards fields workplaces birth_date residence article_title name alma_mater
frankfurt am main , germany gottfried wilhelm leibniz prize gustav-steinmann-medaille -lrb- 2014 -rrb- marine biology university of bremen 5 march 1967 germany antje boetius
 antje boetius university of hamburg
antje boetius

antje boetius -lrb- born 5 march 1967 -rrb- is a german marine biologist presently serving as professor of geomicrobiology at the max planck institute for marine microbiology , university of bremen .
she received the gottfried wilhelm leibniz prize , with 2.5 million euros in funding , in march 2009 for her study of sea bed microorganisms that affect the global climate .
she was the first person to describe anaerobic oxidation of methane , and believes the earth 's earliest life forms may have subsisted on methane in the absence of molecular oxygen -lrb- instead reducing oxygen-containing compounds such as nitrate or sulfate -rrb- .
she has also suggested such life forms may be able to reduce the rate of climate change in future .
boetius received her biology degree from the university of hamburg in 1992 , her doctorate in biology from the university of bremen in 1996 , became an assistant professor in 2001 and an associate professor in 2003 .
her research interests are in the marine methane cycle , the ecology of chemosynthetic habitats , microbial processes of early diagenesis in deep-sea sediments , pressure and temperature effects on microbial processes , microbial symbiosis , geomicrobiology and the global carbon cycle .
in addition to her current role as professor of geomicrobiology , which she has held since march 2009 , she is also leader of the hgf-mpg bridge group on deep sea ecology and technology and leader of the `` microbial habitat group '' that researches biogeochemistry , transport processes and microbial processes in benthic environments .
mission medico describe her interests as `` la bonne cuisine , le bon vin , la bonne compagnie , la bonne musique , la mode et la vie citadine '' -lrb- `` good food , good wine , good company , good music , fashion and city life '' -rrb- .
