DOME

Division of Microbial Ecology (DOME)

Centre for Microbiology and Environmental Systems Science

About DOME

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 researchers explore 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.

More about CeMESS

News

ERC Synergy Grant awarded to Katharina Kitzinger

05.11.2024 DOME

A new research project led by a team of four scientists, including CeMESS Senior Scientist Katharina Kitzinger, alongside researchers from Denmark,…

Now out in Science: Catching prey with grappling hooks and cannons

18.10.2024 DOME

Researchers at ETH Zurich, in collaboration with Martin Polz and Nina Bartlau at CeMESS, have studied the unusual arsenal of weapons of a predatory…

Video portrait of Barbara Bayer in FWF scilog Magazine

26.09.2024 DOME

Barbara Bayer, Assistant Professor at DOME and recipient of the prestigious FWF START Award, was recently featured in a scilog interview to discuss…

Bettina Glasl is a new senior scientist at DOME

09.09.2024 DOME

We are thrilled to announce that Bettina Glasl has joined our team as a senior scientist.

ERC Starting Grant for Isabella Anderson-Wagner

05.09.2024 DOME

Congratulations to Isabella Anderson-Wagner (DOME) who has been honored with a Starting Grant from the European Research Council (ERC) for her…

New Nature article shows growth of comammox nitrifiers on guanidine

16.08.2024 DOME

This unexpected finding revealed a fourth growth substrate for ammonia oxidizers and offers new insights into niche partitioning of nitrifiers,…

Events

Towards an in-depth understanding and accurate prediction of environmental biotransformation of chemicals

16.01.2020 DOME Lecture Series

Kathrin Fenner

Parammox: a new microbial ammonia oxidation pathway

12.12.2019 DOME Lecture Series

Shuang-Jiang Liu

Non-genetic inheritance, trait evolution, and primary production in changing aquatic environments

21.11.2019 DOME Lecture Series

Sinead Collins

Latest Publications at DOME

Kralova S, Spacek P, Gafriller J, Bezdicek M, Medvedcova V, Séneca J et al. Kineochelins-A New Group of Siderophores From an Antarctic Bacterium. Microbial Biotechnology. 2026 Jun;19(6):1-24. e70386. doi: 10.1111/1751-7915.70386

Abergel C, Abrahão JS, Coulibaly F, Fischer M, Jeudy S, Knorr RL et al. Infection cycles of viruses of the phylum Nucleocytoviricota. Nature Reviews. Microbiology. 2026 May 29. Epub 2026 May 29. doi: 10.1038/s41579-026-01319-6

Hodžić A, Kunert M, Juračić M, Veinović G, Sukara R, Tomanović S et al. Immune-mediated microbial interference governs Borrelia colonization of the tick gut. iScience. 2026 May 15;29(5):115628. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2026.115628

Treichel NS, Pauvert C, Séneca J , Pjevac P , Berry D, Penders J et al. Benchmarking of shotgun sequencing depth reveals the potential and limitations of shallow metagenomics and strain-level analysis. Nature Microbiology. 2026 May;11(5):1233-1244. Epub 2026 Apr 21. doi: 10.1038/s41564-026-02334-2

Rigou S, Aldaroub J, Horn M, Aylward FO. Rise of the viral giants: common themes underlying genome gigantism in eukaryotic viruses and bacteriophages. Current Opinion in Microbiology. 2026 Mar 28;91:1-9. 102741. Epub 2026 Mar 28. doi: 10.1016/j.mib.2026.102741