The class is organized as a block course, with lectures in the morning followed by practical work in the laboratory as well as bioinformatics analyses. During lectures, students will get an overview of biochemical, molecular biological and genetic methods as well as basic bioinformatics skills necessary to approach microbial physiology and to develop biotechnological applications. Students will be introduced to theoretical physiological and metabolic concepts as well as biotechnological application of enzymes and microbes. The lecture will convey basic bioinformatics skills for cloning of genes, prediction of gene function, phylogenetic comparisons. In the practical course, students will perform own projects on topics of scientific interest to the MEB group and will work on novel scientific questions as a small team. Starting with a general overview of physiology, methods and bioinformatics, students will learn state of the art biochemical, molecular biological and genetic methods, advanced phys-iological, biotechnological concepts as well as basic bioinformatics approaches.