Biosketch

Prof. Moissl-Eichinger studies the role of archaea in different human microbiomes, such as the digestive, genital-urinary and respiratory tract, as well as on skin. Although it has been known that archaea are part of the human microbiome since the 1970s, archaea are understudied due to their non-pathogenic nature.

Moissl-Eichinger is trying to understand the keystone role of archaea in the regulation of fiber digestion, and the interplay with human vitamin metabolism. Thereby she and colleagues have recently described 1,000 different archaeal genomes from human gut, coding for 1.8 million of genes, of which half has unknown function to date. She is trying to understand how cells, compounds and metabolites of human-associated archaeal species interact with tissues and human physiology. For this she and her team study archaea via (metagenomic) data mining, comparative genomics but also cultivation-based assays.

International visibility, activities, prizes, scholarships etc. 

Prof. Moissl-Eichinger’s and her team’s work was awarded with several awards, including the Austrian Hygiene award (2022, 2019) and the ESF Award for the discovery of a Top 10 species (2014). She is an elected member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts (EASA). She holds numerous functions, for instance she is member of the senior advisory Life Science Working Group of ESA, deputy head of the VAAM specialist groups “Archaea” and “Microbiome”, and board member of the Austrian Microbiome Initiative AMICI. Prof. Moissl-Eichinger has received the leadership award of the Medical University of Graz (2022), and is co-director of the recently funded Clusters of Excellence “Microbiome drive Planetary Health” (35 Mio Euro; granted by FWF).