An interview with Christine Moissl-Eichinger
Christine Moissl-Eichinger is Professor of Interactive Microbiome Research at the Medical University of Graz, Austria. In this interview, she tells us more why archaea are so important and how they affect the microbiome and human health.
Tell us more about your current research.
I am Professor of interactive microbiome research at the Medical University of Graz, Austria. Alongside my team, I try to understand how micro-organisms interact with the human body and how they influence our wellbeing. We are particularly interested in understanding not only the bacterial components of the microbiomes, but we are looking at fungi and particularly at archaea as well.
Archaea represent the so-called “third-domain of life”, and even if they are prokaryotes like bacteria, they differ in numerous aspects, such as cell wall composition and molecular processes.
Why is this research important?
Archaea are important – maybe even key-stone species – in the human microbiome. For example, so-called methanogenic archaea (methane-producing archaea) contribute towards the function of the digestive system and support the bacterial activity by consuming remnants such as hydrogen, which would inhibit the fermentation.
Interestingly, amongst the archaea, not a single pathogen has been identified. Our research now focuses on the interaction between archaea and the human body, and our goal is to find out whether they have the capacity to impact human health.
Why does microbiology matter?
Microbiology matters, because micro-organisms are the beginning and the end. They have been on Earth for more than 3.5 billion years and will still exist when human mankind has vanished. They are the motors of all ecosystems on Earth, control all nutrient cycles, and their activity is highly interwoven with human health and disease. Due to the complexity of the microbial world, we are far from understanding the diversity and the function of it in full detail.
Moreover, microbiology is important in all our daily lives, we use microbes’ metabolisms to produce and preserve food, and enjoy their capability to turn grape juice into wine, or wheat extract into beer. We use micro-organisms to clean wastewater, to support plant growth or to defeat pathogens. Without microbes, the ecosystem Earth as we know it would not exist.
