The organic farm Birnstingl-Gottinger organized a summer evening with scientific lectures and a get-together afterwards and many members of the instiute enjoyed the evening at the organic farm in Seiersberg

Title: Missing symbionts-emerging pathogens? Microbiome management for sustainable agriculture.
^{_{Berg, Schweitzer, Abdelfattah, Cernava, Wassermann; Symbiosis; 20.01.2023;}}
Link to Publication

In cooparation with the University of Pretoria (Department of Plant Pathology) we explore the microbiomes of indigenous fruits and vegetables and their impact on our health. Colloquia for the purpose of exchange of knowledge and ideas took place during the visit of Gabriele Berg and Birgit Wassermann in South Africa.

Title: Biotic and Abiotic Stress Factors Induce Microbioms Shifts and Enrichment of Distinct Beneficial Bacteria in Tomato Roots.
^{_{Flemer, Gulati, Bergna, Rändler, Cernava, Witzel, Berg and Gosch. Phytobiomes Journal, Vol.6 Nr.4, 2022}}
Link to Publication

Title of the Publication: Plant Growth Promotion and Biocontrol of Leaf Blight Caused by Nogrospora sphaerica on Passion Fruit by Endophytic Bacillus subtilis Strain GUCC4.
^{_{Wang et. al., Journal of Fungi, Vol 9, Issue 2}}
doi: 10.3390/jof9020132  

Title: Viral Community Structure and Potential Functions in the Dried-Out Aral Sea Basin Change along a Desiccation Gradient.
^{_{Wicaksono et al, American Society for Microbiology, Jan.10, 2023
https://doi.org/10.1128/msystems.00994-22}}

From seed to seed: the role of microbial inheritance in the assembly of the plant microbiome.
^{_{Ahmed Abdelfattah, Ayco J.M. Tack, Carolina Lobato, Birgit Wassermann, Gabriele Berg, TIM 2022, 2164, 05.12.2022}}
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tim.2022.10.009

The 9^th Theodor Escherich Symposium, organized by the Med Uni Graz, has been held this year as a hybrid meeting (online or in person) this year and took place from the 17^th to 18^th November 2022. 

Function-Based Rhizosphere Assembly along a Gradient of Desiccation in the Former Aral Sea
Wicaksono et. al, American Society for Microbiology, 30 Nov. 2022, https://doi.org/10.1128/msystems.00739-22…
 

To defend or to attack? Antagonistic interactions between Serratia plymuthica and fungal plant pathogens, a species-specific volatile dialogue.
_{Rybakova et al; Front. Sustain. Food Syst., 28.10.2022; https://doi.org/10.3389/fsufs.2022.1020634.}

A space for interaction between early career scientists of the field of Seed Microbiome is created.
The first meeting will take place on Thursday, 13th of October.
Details can be found here.

Microbiome-based biotechnology for reducing food loss post harvest.
Birgit Wassermann et al; Current Opinion in Biotechnology, Vol 78, Dec 2022, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copbio.2022.102808

The chapter "Beneficial Microbes for Agriculture" in the book "Good Microbes in Medicine, Food Production, Biotechnology, Bioremediation, and Agriculture" was contributed by Gabriele Berg, Peter Kusstatscher, Birgit Wassermann, Tomislav Cernava and Ahmed Abdelfattah.

Digital Visions at Science: Talks from Tomislav Cernava (picture) and Matthias Schweitzer for the Field of Expertise "Answering new research questions with (decade-) old data"

Talk from master student Isabella Kögl at the ÖGMBT Meeting held from the 20th to the 22nd of September 2022 in Vienna.

Details can be found at Institute/Open Positions

Contribution of Samual at this year's Excalibur Meeting in London.

Online Meeting (in German) about the soil microbiome and the connection to the human microbiome and the effect on the agricultural practice and the nutrition.

Speakers are Michael Schloter, Gabriele Berg, Martin Grassberger, Michael Weiß and Christoph Felgentreu

Under a TU Graz initiative, a group of leading international specialists have demonstrated how microbes can be harnessed to reverse biodiversity deterioration. Their findings have been presented in a critical guide published in Nature Microbiology.

Here the link to the article

THe 31th International Horticultural Congress takes part from 14th to 20th of August in Angern in France. Prof. Bergs contribution about the impact of  the science of microbiome  to the horticulture.

Modulation of the food microbiome by apple fruit processing
^{_{Wisnu Adi Wicaksono et al, Food Microbiology, Volume 108, Dec 2022, 104103}}
Here the link to the publication

The book written by Dr. Daria Rybakova "Was ist ein Mikrobiom? Der Besuch im Labor" can be purchased from now on at Amazon.

Raquel S.Peixoto et al, Nature Microbiology (2022), 21 July 2022

here the link to the article

Also in this year school pupils can try out lab work on our institute

Metadata harmonization-Standards are the key for a better usage of omics data for integrative microbiome analysis.
Cernava et al., Environmental Microbiome (2022) 17, Article Nr. 33
Link: https://doi.org/10.1186/s40793-22-425-1
 

Just good impressions from our M4F! celebration: a lot of guests, much sun, many positiv feedbacks and above all fun & happiness in the Botanical Garden.
The "Game of µCoins" was played for the first time in a large group. The audience decided whose idea investment was the best.
The three best groups (see below) have the opportunity for the final round at Arc Elctronica in Linz, which will take place on 31th of May.
Congratulation!!! 

1^rst Place: Sauerkraut - the New Destresser Food? (Sauerkraut – der neue Stresskiller?)
2^nd Place:  Magic Bubbles (S(Z)auber-Bubbles)
3^rd Place: Harrys Fertiliser and the Chamber of Growing (Harrys Dünger und die Kammer des Wachsens).

Very engaged participants were the pupils of the school BG/BRG Carneri-find here a video from the recent workshop, produced on there own: https://youtu.be/UZhfU7K3xc0

Insights into the microbiome assembly during different growth stages and  storage of strawberry plants
^{_{Expedito Olimi, Peter Kusstatscher, Wisnu Adi Wicaksono, Ahmed Abdelfattah, Tomislav Cernava, Gabriele Berg; Environmental Microbiome (2022) 17:21}}
https://doi.org/10.1186/s40793-022-00415-3

"Save our soils" workshop organized from the project LANDSUPPORT. The workshop took place on 27^th and 28^th of April at the University of Naples Federico II in Portici, near Naples in Italy.
Link for further information
Link to YouTube Contribution: Save Soil Microbial Diversity for Sustainable Agriculture-Talk of  Prof. Gabriele Berg can be seen from 1'16" on'

Gamification in Medicine: Playing for Health.
A game was designed to enhance the knowledge in the field of awareness for the diversity and functionality of the microbiome.
Link to Article

First time at the annual conference of the Microbiology Society in Belfast in Northern Ireland.
Talk of Prof. Gabriele Berg on 05^th of April 2022: Microbiome management for plant and planetary health

On the 31^st of March in the assembly hall of the Old University of Graz,the Styrian Badge of Honor was awarded to Prof. Gabriele Berg from the Styrian State Governor Hermann Schützenhofer for the work of Berg in the field of microbiom research.

Link to  press release (in German)

Gabriele Berg and Tomislav Cernava. Microbiome 10, Article number: 54 (2022)

Link to Publication

On 23.03.2033 the 2^nd part of the M4F workshop took place at the Secondary School Graz St. Leonhard.

Link to the Blog Microbiome 4 Future

Details you can find at "Open Positions"

Details you can find at "Open Positions"

Hooray! We are proud to post the video about internship this summer of the pupil  Vincent Mastela. This video has won the FFG Internship Competition among pupils. The award will be hand over this spring in Vienna.

Hier der Link zum Video 

Content:
The course Microbiome & Health MOOC Basics treats basics, current topics from the scientific literature and latest scientific results in the field of microbiome. The impact to the health of plants, humans and the planet is discussed, current techniques and methods are presented.

Follow this link to the course: Microbiome & Health

The #M4F! summer internship has come to an end. The three pupils, which have never seen a scientific lab before, had the opportunity to assist real scientific work, help in the lab and realize also own ideas! A lot has been learned, research was done and even more discussion about the future of the microbiome research took place.

Congratulation to Chiara Versic from the  Highschool "Akademisches Gymnasium" and to Vincent Mastela und Valentin Fina from the Highschool "BRG Keplerstraße 1", both located in Graz, to the passed internship!

Many thanks to Katherine Cuadros Patino, Adrian Wolfgang and Franz Stocker for their great personal assistance and to Professor Gabriele Berg for the supporting this project!

Further information and impressions can be found on the site https://microbiome4future.tugraz.at/das-sommerpraktikum-ist-abgeschlossen/ (only German)

The Sponsorship Prize from Styria's Prize for Research of this year is awarded to Birgit Wassermann! 

The FFG "Talente Regional" project "Microbiome 4 Future!" has officially started yesterday (29^th of September 2020) with a Kick-Off meeting at the campus of the TU Graz. Over 50 high school students from the schools in Graz participated and listened to the lectures of our projects partners, did some experiments and even performed with the musical accompaniment of Beatrice Audetat and Timothy Mark while testing their protecting masks for their ability to hold away bacterial strains. Keep informed by liking our site https://www.facebook.com/microbiome4future (only German for now)

Understanding the Impact of Cultivar, Seed Origin, and Substrate on Bacterial Diversity of the Sugar Beet Rhizosphere and Suppression of Soil-Borne Pathogens
<sub>Adrian Wolfgang, Christin Zachow, Henry Müller, Alfred Grand, Nora Temme, Ralf Tilcher, Gabriele Berg

Original Research Article: Front. Plant Sci., 30.September 2020</sub>

The "small beings" are the next big thing

Two scientific works produced on our institute have been awarded.
Congratulation to Melanie Obermeier and Laggner Olivia

Plant Growth-Promoting Methylobacteria Selectively Increase the Biomass of Biotechnologically Relevant Microalgae

Unraveling the Complexity of Soil Microbiomes in a Large-Scale Study Subjected to Different Agricultural Management in Styria, Köberl et. al

Wie funktioniert die Forschung im Labor und im Archiv unter den neuen Bedingungen? Wissenschafterinnen und Wissenschafter geben persönliche Einblicke

The coronavirus has the world holding its breath. Environmental biotechnologist Gabriele Berg, head of the Institute of Environmental Biotechnology at Graz University of Technology, explains the role of the microbiome in these and other pandemics.

Gabriele Berg, Birgit Wassermann and Peter Kusstatscher
Frontiers in Microbiology, 2019

For the first time the impact of hot water treatment (HWT), a widely used technique to increase storability in fruits, on the apple microbiome was investigated. Even though highly reducing the disease frequency, HWT only slightly changed the postharvest apple microbiome. Additionally, lab experiments showed the high potential of a combined approach of biocontrol agents with HWT, due to occurring heat induced fruit damage.

Link: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2019.02502/abstract

Gabriele Berg (right), Birgit Wassermann (centre) and Peter Kusstatscher (left) from the Institute for Environmental Biotechnology at TU Graz and the Austrian Center of Industrial Biotechnology (acib) developed methods to significantly improve the shelf life of fruit and vegetables and minimize post-harvest food losses 
Link to Articel

The master thesis of Miriam Bayer has been awarded.
Congratulation Miriam!

Dear colleagues,

it is a great pleasure to announce the presentation of our guestspeaker Prof. Kurisu from the "Research Center for Water Environment Technology (RECWET)" of the University of Tokyo.

http://www.recwet.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/en/member/kurisu.html

The presentation will be held on Friday, the 16th of February 2018 at 11am, in our seminar room (BC01190) at Petersgasse 12 1.OG. Prof. Kurisu will give us an overview about his research and will be available in the afternoon for further questions and research interchange.

You are welcome to spread the information and invite interested collegues from other institutes.
We are looking forward to your numerous attendance.

We made it into the news again! Check out the article about the project "germfree hatching-eggs". You can find the article following this link.

Christin Zachow struggles against pests and stress on cultivated plants caused by climate change. With Gabriele Berg of Graz University of Technology she uses bacteria as protectors.