Christine Moissl-Eichinger

a man walking in a field with an umbrella ALT: a man walking in a field with an umbrella

Come join us! Soon I will be advertising a postdoc vacancy in my group as part of my @erc.europa.eu AdG project 'DARK ROOTS'. Focus of the project will be on phylo- and metagenomic mining of novel prokaryotic lineages. I will soon post a link here - stay tuned, and please repost! #asgardarchaea

Proud PI: Austrian microbiome research award for my PhD student Charlotte Neumann! Thanks @microbesplanet.bsky.social

Cryo-EM resolves the structure of the archaeal dsDNA virus HFTV1 from head to tail This structure of an archaeal tailed virus (arTV) provides detailed insights into arTV assembly and infection mechanisms.

Out in Science Advances: Our #cryoEM structure of HFTV1, a virus infecting the halophile #archaea. *First full atomic structure (containing all structural proteins) of any tailed virus!* Congrats and thanks to all co-authors and our fantastic collaborators! www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Happy to share that our story on the bacterial archaellum was published today in @natmicrobiol.nature.com
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Congrats to the authors: @sshamphavi.bsky.social @loumollat.bsky.social @mariejoest.bsky.social Najwa Taib and @sgribaldo.bsky.social

This study was led by my amazing PhD student @theeonflux.bsky.social and @chriku.bsky.social with great collaborators + support from @fwf-at.bsky.social and RESPImmun @medunigraz.at

Pan-microbiome analysis along the human respiratory axis reveals an ecological continuum in health and collapse in disease The human respiratory tract (RT) harbors complex microbial communities whose functions are critical to health and disease. Yet, current insights remain fragmented across anatomical sites, populations,...

🚨 New preprint!
We built the largest respiratory pan-microbiome atlas yet >4,000 metagenomes from nose to lung.
👉 In health: a connected microbial continuum
👉 In disease: this structure collapses

#microbiome #microsky

Read: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

🚨 Imagine a bacterium that refuses to follow the textbook:
It grows as tangled filaments, divides unevenly, reshapes its own membranes… and even builds grappling hooks.
Meet Litorilinea aerophila — and here’s why it blew our minds.

Ein Screenshot eines Mobiltelefons

Neues aus der Mikrobiom-Forschung!
Archaeen – kaum bekannte Mitbewohner in unserem Darm – senden winzige Bläschen, um mit ihrer Umwelt zu kommunizieren.
Ein Team der Med Uni Graz hat das jetzt erstmals detailliert beschrieben. Veröffentlicht in Nature Communications ➡️ https://bit.ly/47gnl9R.

PhD Application and Admission

Here you will find all details on the project and how to apply. Please apply only through this webpage (emails cannot be considered): www.medunigraz.at/en/doctoral-... (our project is listed on page 22 in "Projects")

🚨 2 funded #PhD positions (ERC Adv Grant) in the Moissl-Eichinger Lab, Graz! Study Methanobrevibacter as a keystone in the gut microbiome.
💡 Omics, modeling, synthetic consortia
📅 Deadline: Sept 10, 2025
🌍 Int’l applicants welcome!
Application link below.
#microbiomesky #archaeasky #microsky

Wow, congrats Simo!!! Well deserved!!!

Congratulations to all winners - and "happy World Microbiome Day"!!

So grateful. Let’s dive deeper into the archaeome!!

This is not a solo achievement. It’s the result of years of support, teamwork (cudos to the amazing MEL TEAM), and inspiring collaborations. Huge thanks to my incredible team, the @medunigraz.at environment, and all our partners.

Some big news: I’ve been awarded an ERC Advanced Grant to further explore the roles of #archaea in gut #microbiomes and beyond.
@erc.europa.eu
#ERCAdG #ARCHMETH #Microbiome #Archaea #sciencepassion

Klimaschutz trifft Darmgesundheit: Unsere Mikrobiomexpertin Christine Moissl-Eichinger erhält den prestigeträchtigen Advanced Grant (2,5 Mio. €) des für ihre Forschung zu Methanobrevibacter – einem winzigen Mikroorganismus mit großem Potenzial ➡ https://bit.ly/3FDDJpO.

#ERCAdG

New @fwf-at.bsky.social CoE Microplanet Publication in NatureComms! @theviktoriaeffect.bsky.social from the lab of @chmoei.bsky.social @medunigraz.at profiled the proteome & metabolome of extracellular vesicles from key gut archaea, revealed immune-stimulating capacities and unique molecular cargo.

Proud to share this collaborative effort—thank you to the entire team @, to @medunigraz.at, all our collaborators and their teams + @microbesplanet.bsky.social, and of course @fwf-at.bsky.social for financial support!

This work sheds light on the trophic control Archaea may exert over the cancer microbiome, urging us to rethink their role in health and disease.

🔍 Using metabolic modeling, co-culture assays, and metabolomics, we show that:
• M. smithii forms mutualistic interactions with CRC-associated bacteria like Fusobacterium nucleatum
• It enhances bacterial growth and metabolite production
• It produces tumor-modulating archaeal metabolites

In this study, amazing @roxymzh.bsky.social screened over 1,800 metagenomes from 19 clinical cohorts and found that Methanobrevibacter smithii—the dominant gut archaeon—is consistently enriched in colorectal cancer (CRC) patients.

Methanobrevibacter smithii associates with colorectal cancer through trophic control of the cancer bacteriome The human gut is colonized by trillions of microbes that influence the health of their human host. Whereas many bacterial species have now been linked to a variety of different diseases, the involveme...

🚨 New preprint alert!
We report what might be the first mechanistic link between gut Archaea and human disease.
Methanobrevibacter smithii is enriched in CRC patients—and boosts growth of cancer-associated bacteria like F. nucleatum.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
@archaeasky @microbiomesky

Maybe next time! 😉 More archaea work coming up! 😃

What a missed opportunity... 🤔 We should have declared an official "Archaeal Week" at Nature Communications! 😆

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

#Archaea #ArchaeaSky 🦠

Special thanks goes to the amazing SFB immunometabolism, which made this work possible, and of course the extraordinary, phantastic MEL team.

Supported by @microbesplanet.bsky.social
@medunigraz.at @fwf-at.bsky.social - Thank you!

Biogenesis of DNA-carrying extracellular vesicles by the dominant human gut methanogenic archaeon - Nature Communications Baquero et al. show that extracellular vesicles produced by the dominant human-gut archaeon are likely formed by budding from the cell membrane and released through disruptions in the cell wall, and c...

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Proteomic and metabolomic profiling of extracellular vesicles produced by human gut archaea - Nature Communications The composition and potential roles of extracellular vesicles released by gut archaea are poorly understood. Here, Weinberger et al. show that extracellular vesicles produced by human gut-derived meth...

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Together, these papers open new doors into previously unseen archaeal communication towards host and host microbiome
#archaeasky #microbiomesky
#Archaea #Microbiome #ExtracellularVesicles #GutHealth #Science #NatureCommunications #MicrobialEcology #Methanogens #MultiOmics

🔍 Their study (Baquero et al., Nat Comms) shows EVs from Methanobrevibacter smithii carry eccDNA and methanogenesis-related enzymes - hinting at EV roles in horizontal gene transfer and methane production.