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
Koch H, Lücker S, Albertsen M, Kitzinger K, Herbold C, Spieck E et al. Expanded metabolic versatility of ubiquitous nitrite-oxidizing bacteria from the genus Nitrospira. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS). 2015 Sept 8;112(36):11371-11376. Epub 2015 Aug 24. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1506533112
Gruber-Dorninger C, Pester M, Kitzinger K, Savio DF, Loy A, Rattei T et al. Functionally relevant diversity of closely related Nitrospira in activated sludge. The ISME Journal: multidisciplinary journal of microbial ecology. 2015 Mar 1;9:643-655. doi: 10.1038/ismej.2014.156
Microbiomes Drive Planetary Health
Katharina Kitzinger is part of the FWF-funded Cluster of Excellence (CoE)
