Mag. Nika Pende, MSc, PhD
Room 3.030
1030 Wien, Djerassiplatz 1
T: +43-4277-76527
E: nika.pende@univie.ac.at
Co-founder and Trustee of The Society for Archaeal Biology
List of publications (last update 3.2025)
Research focus
My main research focus is prokaryotic cell biology, the cellular adaptations to various lifestyles and the evolutionary history of prokaryotes. I am studying the mechanisms underlying cell growth, division and. Chromosome biology of methanogenic archaea with a cell wall through a combination of experimental and bioinformatical approaches.
Curriculum Vitae
Curriculum Vitae - Appointments / Career
| 2022 - present | Independent Researcher (PI) at the University of Vienna, in the group Archaea Physiology & Biotechnology. | |
| 2018 - 2022 | Postdoc at the Institut Pasteur Paris, France in the lab of Prof. Simonetta Gribaldo. | |
2019 | MSc in Zoology, University of Vienna, in the group of Ao. Prof. Dr. S. Bulgheresi. (Note: this study was started before the PhD study and the thesis was defended during the Postdoc at the Institut Pasteur Paris) | |
2017 | Ph.D. in Biology, with distinction, University of Vienna, in the group of Ao. Prof. Dr. S. Bulgheresi. | |
Awards and Grants
| 2024 | FFG Small Project (18 months, Co-PI) | |
2021 | Appointed FWF Elise Richter fellow (36 months, PI) | |
2021 | Groot-21: a Microbiology Collaborative Seed Grant from the Institut Pasteur, Paris. (10k €) | |
2019 | Appointed Institut Pasteur Pasteur-Roux fellow (24 months) | |
2016 | PhD completion grant from the University of Vienna, Austria (6 months) | |
2016 | International Symposium on Microbial Ecology (ISME16) Student Poster Award | |
2014 | “Rupert-Riedl-Preis zur Förderung der Meeresforschung in Österreich” (4k €) | |
Ongoing projects
Publications
- Baquero DP, Borrel G, Gazi A, Martin-Gallausiaux C, Cvirkaite-Krupovic V, Commere P-H, Pende N, Tachon S, Sartori-Rupp A, Douche T, Matondo M, Gribaldo S, Krupovic M. Biogenesis of DNA-carrying extracellular vesicles by the dominant human gut methanogenic archaeon. doi: 10.1101/2024.06.22.600173 (paper accepted in Nature Communications)
- Baquero DP, Medvedeva S, Martin-Gallausiaux C, Pende N, Sartori-Rupp A, Tachon S, Pedron T, Debarbieux L, Borrel G, Gribaldo S, Krupovic M. Stable coexistence between an archaeal virus and the dominant methanogen of the human gut. Nat Commun. 2024 Sep 4;15(1):7702. doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-51946-x. PMID: 39231967; PMCID: PMC11375127.
- Ithurbide S, Gribaldo S, Albers SV, Pende N. Spotlight on FtsZ-based cell division in Archaea. Trends Microbiol. 2022 Jul;30(7):665-678. doi: 10.1016/j.tim.2022.01.005. Epub 2022 Mar 1. PMID: 35246355.
- Weber PM, Paredes GF, Viehboeck T, Pende N, Volland JM, Gros O, VanNieuwenhze M, Ott J, Bulgheresi S. FtsZ-mediated fission of a cuboid bacterial symbiont. iScience. 2021 Dec 2;25(1):103552. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2021.103552. PMID: 35059602; PMCID: PMC8760462.
- Witwinowski J, Sartori-Rupp A, Taib N, Pende N, Tham TN, Poppleton D, Ghigo JM, Beloin C, Gribaldo S. An ancient divide in outer membrane tethering systems in bacteria suggests a mechanism for the diderm-to-monoderm transition. Nat Microbiol. 2022 Mar;7(3):411-422. doi: 10.1038/s41564-022-01066-3. Epub 2022 Mar 4. PMID: 35246664.
- Pende N, Sogues A, Megrian D, Sartori-Rupp A, England P, Palabikyan H, Rittmann SKR, Graña M, Wehenkel AM, Alzari PM, Gribaldo S. SepF is the FtsZ anchor in archaea, with features of an ancestral cell division system. Nat Commun. 2021 Jun 4;12(1):3214. doi: 10.1038/s41467-021-23099-8. PMID: 34088904; PMCID: PMC8178401.
- Pende M, Becker K, Wanis M, Saghafi S, Kaur R, Hahn C, Pende N, Foroughipour M, Hummel T, Dodt HU. High-resolution ultramicroscopy of the developing and adult nervous system in optically cleared Drosophila melanogaster. Nat Commun. 2018 Nov 9;9(1):4731. doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-07192-z. PMID: 30413688; PMCID: PMC6226481.
- Pende N, Wang J, Weber PM, Verheul J, Kuru E, Rittmann SKR, Leisch N, VanNieuwenhze MS, Brun YV, den Blaauwen T, Bulgheresi S. Host-Polarized Cell Growth in Animal Symbionts. Curr Biol. 2018 Apr 2;28(7):1039-1051.e5. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2018.02.028. Epub 2018 Mar 22. PMID: 29576473; PMCID: PMC6611161.
- Leisch N, Pende N, Weber PM, Gruber-Vodicka HR, Verheul J, Vischer NO, Abby SS, Geier B, den Blaauwen T, Bulgheresi S. Asynchronous division by non-ring FtsZ in the gammaproteobacterial symbiont of Robbea hypermnestra. Nat Microbiol. 2016 Oct 10;2:16182. doi: 10.1038/nmicrobiol.2016.182. PMID: 27723729.
- Pende N, Leisch N, Gruber-Vodicka HR, Heindl NR, Ott J, den Blaauwen T, Bulgheresi S. Size-independent symmetric division in extraordinarily long cells. Nat Commun. 2014 Sep 15;5:4803. doi: 10.1038/ncomms5803. PMID: 25221974; PMCID: PMC4175584.
- Leisch N, Verheul J, Heindl NR, Gruber-Vodicka HR, Pende N, den Blaauwen T, Bulgheresi S. Growth in width and FtsZ ring longitudinal positioning in a gammaproteobacterial symbiont. Curr Biol. 2012 Oct 9;22(19):R831-2. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2012.08.033. PMID: 23058799.