Assist.-Prof. Katharina Kitzinger
Assistant Professor at the Division of Microbial Ecology
☎ +43 1 4277 91239
✉ katharina.kitzinger(at)univie.ac.at
Few elemental cycles are as dependent on microbial activity as the global nitrogen cycle. Katharina began exploring nitrogen cycling, biogeochemistry and microbiology during her joint PhD between the University of Vienna and the Max Plank Institute for Marine Microbiology (Germany). She has been a senior scientist at the University of Vienna since 2022, investigating the physiological versatility and life strategies of nitrifying microorganisms. Her methods range from cultivation and investigation of microbial physiology under laboratory conditions, to biogeochemical process measurements via stable isotope incubations in the field, and single cell and molecular techniques to link the identity of specific microorganisms in complex communities to their activities in situ.
Group Members
Publications
Glasl B, Luter HM, Damjanovic K, Kitzinger K, Mueller AJ, Mahler L et al. Co-occurring nitrifying symbiont lineages are vertically inherited and widespread in marine sponges. The ISME Journal. 2024 Apr 27;18(1):wrae069. doi: 10.1093/ismejo/wrae069
Hu H, Kristensen JM, Herbold CW, Pjevac P, Kitzinger K, Hausmann B et al. Global abundance patterns, diversity, and ecology of Patescibacteria in wastewater treatment plants. Microbiome. 2024 Mar 16;12:55. doi: 10.1186/s40168-024-01769-1
Moeller FU, Herbold CW, Schintlmeister A, Mooshammer M, Motti C, Glasl B et al. Taurine as a key intermediate for host-symbiont interaction in the tropical sponge Ianthella basta. The ISME Journal: multidisciplinary journal of microbial ecology. 2023 Aug;17(8):1208-1223. doi: 10.1101/2022.09.23.509140, 10.1038/s41396-023-01420-1
Graf JS, Schorn S, Kitzinger K, Ahmerkamp S, Woehle C, Huettel B et al. Anaerobic endosymbiont generates energy for ciliate host by denitrification. Nature. 2021 Mar 18;591(7850):445-450. Epub 2021 Mar 3. doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03297-6
Mooshammer M, Kitzinger K, Schintlmeister A, Ahmerkamp S, Nielsen JL, Nielsen PH et al. Flow-through stable isotope probing (Flow-SIP) minimizes cross-feeding in complex microbial communities. ISME Journal. 2021 Jan;15(1):348-353. Epub 2020 Sept 2. doi: 10.1038/s41396-020-00761-5
Microbiomes Drive Planetary Health
Katharina Kitzinger is part of the FWF-funded Cluster of Excellence (CoE)
