Centre for Microbiology and Environmental Systems Science

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  • Department of Environmental Geosciences
    • Univ.-Prof. Dr. Thilo Hofmann

      Research Focus:
      Contamination of our environment is one of the most pressing global problems and a planetary boundary that has been crossed. Our overall goal is to understand the fate of contaminants in environmental systems and inform solutions to these pressing problems. We are always seeking individuals with an excellent track record and international reputation in the fields of environmental geosciences or geochemistry, contaminant hydrogeology, environmental chemistry, environmental engineering, environmental systems toxicology, or closely related fields.

      More information can be found at
      http://edge.univie.ac.at/people/thilo-hofmann
    • Dr. Frank von der Kammer   

      Research Focus:

      While urban aerosols have been investigated to a large extent and are regularly monitored, there is only little knowledge about anthropogenic/incidental micro- and nanoparticles in the other urban compartments. The research focus lies on the emission, environmental behavior and fate of incidental particulate pollutants (micro- and nanoparticles) in the terrestrial and aquatic urban environment (soils, run-off, surface waters, sediments, wastewater and wastewater treatment sludges). Those particulate pollutants include e.g. break wear from cars, particles from automotive catalytic converters as well as corrosion products, paint and pigments from surfaces. We use and develop sophisticated methods for particle extraction, field-flow fractionation for sizing and separation and multi-element single particle analysis for identification and tracking. We develop techniques for source appointment, quantification of mobility and transformation of those particulate pollutants to understand their dynamics. 

      More information can be found at:
      https://edge.univie.ac.at/
  • Department of Microbiology and Ecosystem Science
    • Ass.-Prof. Mark Anthony, PhD

      Research Focus
      Fungal ecology, microbial ecology, environmental microbiology, ecosystem ecology, forestry, biogeochemistry, plant ecology

      More information can be found at:
      https://sites.google.com/view/docmarkanthony

    • Univ.-Prof. David Berry, PhD

      Research Focus

      Function of the intestinal microbiota in health and disease
      Novel modeling approaches to study microbial communities
      Development of molecular and isotope-labeling methods for studying uncultivated microorganisms in their natural environment
    • Univ.-Prof. Dr. Thomas Böttcher

      Research Focus
      Our research in the Böttcher Lab focuses on the chemistry of microbial interactions and chemical strategies for modulating microbial growth, virulence, and coordinated behaviours such as swarming motility or biofilm formation. We are elucidating chemical structure of metabolites that mediate and control interactions between microbes and of microbes with prophages and with their human hosts. We also aim to exploit the activities of these metabolites by synthetic chemistry in order to develop ultra-narrow spectrum antibiotics and anti-infectives with novel mode of action. In a current ERC project we are interested in metabolites triggering prophage induction. Furthermore, we develop chemical probes for activity-based protein profiling to understand virulence-related functions of human pathogens and develop customized inhibitors of pathogenesis traits. Our overall goal is to improve the understanding of chemical interactions of microbes and to create chemical tools for precision interventions in complex microbiomes with the ultimate vision of chemical microbiome engineering.

      More information can be found at:
      https://boettcher-lab.univie.ac.at/ 
    • Univ.-Prof. Dr. Holger Daims

      Research Focus
      • Biogeochemical nitrogen cycle, especially the microbiology of nitrification and complete ammonia oxidation (comammox)
      • Microbial interactions in engineered systems
      • Imaging and image analysis in microbiology
      • Development of methods for studying uncultured microorganisms

      More information can be found at:
      https://dome.csb.univie.ac.at/people/holger-daims
    • Univ.-Prof. Dr. Matthias Horn

      Research Focus:
      - Microbial symbioses, with emphasis on bacterial symbionts of protists and insects
      - Evolution and molecular biology of intracellular bacteria
      - Microbe‐host interactions
      - Microbial genome evolution
      - Giant viruses of protists

      More information can be found at:
      www.microbial-ecology.net/horn
    • Univ.-Prof. Dipl.-Biol. Dr. Alexander Loy  
      Division of Microbial Ecology   

      Research Focus:
      Evolution and ecology of sulfur microorganisms
      Function of the intestinal microbiota in health and disease
      Development of molecular and isotope-labeling methods for studying uncultivated microorganisms in their natural environment

      More information can be found at:
      https://dome.csb.univie.ac.at/people/alexander-loy
    • Univ.-Prof. Dr. Martin F. Polz

      Research Focus:
      We are focused on bacterial population genomics with the main emphasis currently being how bacterial viruses interact with their hosts. Further interests include how the environment structures populations and how populations grow in the wild.

      More information can be found at:
      https://dome.csb.univie.ac.at/people/martin-polz