Welcome to Archaea Biology and Ecogenomics

Department of Functional and Evolutionary Ecology

We belong to the Faculty of Life Sciences of the University of Vienna. On 1 January 2022 Archaea Biology, Molecular Systems Biology, Limnology and Bio-Oceanography and Marine Biology merged to the Department of Functional and Evolutionary Ecology.

Archaea arose together with Bacteria as the first organisms on this planet about 3.5 billion years ago. They form a separate domain of life beside bacteria and eukaryotes and inhabit virtually all environments on earth, including the most extreme environments that can sustain life.
Our unit studies the biology of archaea as well as bacterial symbioses with a focus on ecological, physiological and evolutionary aspects to shed light on the diversity and fundamental distinctions between these two prokaryotic groups.

In particular we are interested in:

- the ecological distribution of archaea from terrestrial, aquatic and hot environments

- the phylogeny of archaea

- the metabolism and genomes of ammonia oxidizing thaumarchaeota

- virus-defense (CRISPR-) systems of hyperthermophilic archaea

- archaea Biotechnology

- bacterium-nematode symbioses

We thus attempt to improve the understanding of the role of microorganisms, in particular of archaea, in global biogeochemical cycles and in early evolution.

07.07.2021
 

“EMBL and Austria: A Forward Look”

24.06.2021
 

Congratulations Ülkü!

04.06.2021
 

"SepF is the FtsZ anchor in archaea, with features of an ancestral cell division system"

01.06.2021
 

Congratulations Filipa!

26.05.2021
 

"Anaerobic Sulfur Oxidation Underlies Adaptation of a Chemosynthetic Symbiont to Oxic-Anoxic Interfaces"

19.05.2021
 

With "Vivarium St. Marx" US-American artist Marc Dion has created a life sized, living sculpture for the new University Biology Building in St. Marx,...

Guest Lectures

24.11.2022
 

"Degrowth"

17.11.2022
 

"Climate Change and Biodiversity Loss - Two Siamese twins"

10.11.2022
 

"Imperial and solidary mode of living. Why it is so difficult to act against the climate crisis - and which alternatives are possible?"