Martin Polz

Martin Polz is Professor of Microbial Ecology at the University of Vienna's Centre for Microbiology and Environmental Systems Science, where he leads research on microbial population structure, phage-host interactions, and single-cell growth dynamics. His group combines genomic approaches with physiological experiments to investigate how gene flow, viral predation, and environmental selection shape microbial communities in marine ecosystems and animal microbiomes.

Key discoveries include identifying novel non-tailed dsDNA viruses as major marine bacterial predators, developing reverse ecology approaches to define microbial populations through gene flow networks, and creating microfluidic methods for single-cell growth rate measurements. Recent work examines viral defense mechanisms in environmental populations and carbon utilization strategies in rumen microbiomes. The laboratory maintains active collaborations with oceanography and biophysics groups to study algal sinking dynamics and atmospheric methane oxidation.

Polz serves on editorial boards and directs doctoral training within the Austrian Science Fund Cluster on Microbiomes and Planetary Health. Research has been supported by ERC grants and international partnerships.