Prof. Dr. Anna Gorbushina (BAM/FUB)

is head of the department Material and Environment at the Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -prüfung (BAM) and Professor at the Institute for Geological Sciences at the Freie Universität Berlin. She researches and teaches in the field of geomicrobiology at the Institute of Geological Sciences and the Institute of Biology at the FUB.  Her work focuses on black microcolonial fungi, which are increasingly colonizing man-made habitats such as polluted soils, building facades and solar installations, thereby altering surfaces. These stress-tolerant fungi, originally discovered in extreme environments such as Antarctic dry valleys and hot deserts, contribute to rock weathering and material cycling. Their integration into intelligent building materials is being investigated.