Prof. DRAKE is the Chair of the Department of Ecological Microbiology at the University of Bayreuth in Germany, and he is the Editor-in-Chief of the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology (AEM). He has over 200 publications, and his work is focused on the physiology and ecology of anaerobes, invertebrate microbiology, and the intermediary ecosystem metabolism of environments (e.g., peatlands) that emit the greenhouse gases methane and nitrous oxide. 

A science lecture titled "Darwin’s Invertebrates: A Transient ‘Black Box’ Microbial Oasis" was delivered by Prof. DRAKE. In the lecture, he described his understanding on the interactions between organisms and environment. He mainly explained how the earthworm gut became the transient oasis of microorganisms, and how the microbial diversity and structure were selectively changed in the gut. The denitrification mechanism and green gas production during the process were also interpreted. Afterwards, as the Editor-in-Chief of AEM, Prof. DRAKE also gave a tutorial talk titled “Manuscripts: How To Avoid Headaches”. He summarized the main problems during writing, submitting and modifying a manuscript, and gave practical advice on how to increase the acceptation rates of manuscripts. 

During the visit, Prof. DRAKE showed the enthusiasm that scientists should have. He explained profound theories in simple language to help the listeners, especially the students, to understand. He taught us that there is no ending on the way of science, and “never put a period where God put a comma”. He said everybody should not only follow but find problems based on previous studies and solve the problems. 

The lectures were hosted by LIU Ya-Jun, an associate professor from the Metabolomics Group. After the lectures, Prof. DRAKE also visited the Metabolism Group and had intensive academic discussions with the staffs and students. This visit is expected to facilitate potential international collaborations between the University of Bayreuth and QIBEBT. 

Contact:

Dr. XIN Hongchuan

Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Bioprocess Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Email: xinhc@qibebt.ac.cn