About Us

The Division of Microbial Ecology (DOME) at the Centre for Microbiology and Environmental Systems Science (CeMESS) is a team of microbiologists and molecular biologists. Our mission is to unravel the complexities of microbial life and its profound impact on our health and environment.

Our research explores the evolution, ecophysiology, interactions and functions of microbes across a broad range of systems. We apply cutting-edge methods, from 'omics analysis, to single-cell isotope probing, to microbial imaging, to computational community modelling.

Get to know our research by exploring our active projects and the researcher profiles of our principle investigators. 

At DOME, we are committed to nurturing the next generation of scientists at every level of education, including undergraduate and doctoral programs, as well as intensive methods-based courses.

 News

08.07.2025
 

Many intracellular bacteria rely on an extracellular stage to move between hosts – but what happens when that’s no longer needed? A new study, now...

07.07.2025
 

Manuela Felsberger successfully defended her MSc thesis entitled "The role of phytoplankton in oxic methane production in two Austrian freshwater...

01.07.2025
 

We’re thrilled to announce that Megan Sørensen has been awarded a prestigious FWF-ASTRA grant to investigate at CeMESS how microbial partnerships have...

 Events

30.06.2025 12:00
 

Melanie Schirmer

Technical University of Munich, Germany

hybrid, UBB SR 1.5

26.05.2025 15:00
 

Carolin Wendling

LMU Munich, Germany

hybrid, UBB HS 3

30.04.2025 10:00
 

Fengping Wang

Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China

hybrid, UBB SR 2.1

 Latest Publications

Global Water Microbiome Consortium, Zhu, C, Wu, L, Ning, D, Tian, R, Gao, S, Zhang, B, Zhao, J, Zhang, Y, Xiao, N, Wang, Y, Brown, MR, Tu, Q, Ju, F, Wells, GF, Guo, J, He, Z, Nielsen, PH, Wang, A, Zhang, Y, Chen, T, He, Q, Criddle, CS, Wagner, M, Tiedje, JM, Curtis, TP, Wen, X, Yang, Y, Alvarez-Cohen, L, Stahl, DA, Alvarez, PJJ, Rittmann, BE & Zhou, J 2025, 'Global diversity and distribution of antibiotic resistance genes in human wastewater treatment systems', Nature Communications, vol. 16, no. 1, 4006. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-59019-3

Rasoulimehrabani, H, Riva, A, Inan, D, Hodžić, A, Hausmann, B, Nikolov, G, Khadem, S, Hieger, N, Wiesenbauer, J, Kaiser, C, Filz, V, Böttcher, T & Berry, D 2025, 'Lactulose selectively stimulates members of the gut microbiota, as determined by multi-modal activity-based sorting', Gut microbes, vol. 17, no. 1, pp. 2525482. https://doi.org/10.1080/19490976.2025.2525482

Selak, L, Meier, DV, Marinović, M, Čačković, A, Kajan, K, Pjevac, P & Orlić, S 2025, 'Salinization alters microbial methane cycling in freshwater sediments', Environmental Microbiome, vol. 20, no. 1, 73. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40793-025-00739-w

Gawish, R, Varada, R, Deckert, F, Hladik, A, Steinbichl, L, Cimatti, L, Milanovic, K, Jain, M, Torgasheva, N, Tanzer, A, De Paepe, K, Van de Wiele, T, Hausmann, B, Lang, M, Pechhacker, M, Ibrahim, N, De Vries, I, Brostjan, C, Sixt, M, Gasche, C, Boon, L, Berry, D, Jantsch, MF, Pereira, FC & Vesely, C 2025, 'Filamin A editing in myeloid cells reduces intestinal inflammation and protects from colitis', The Journal of Experimental Medicine, vol. 222, no. 9. https://doi.org/10.1084/jem.20240109