Dagmar Woebken

Dagmar Woebken is Associate Professor and Head of the Department for Microbiology and Ecosystem Science at the University of Vienna, where she leads the Division of Microbial Ecology. Her research investigates microbial survival strategies in challenging soil habitats, particularly focusing on adaptation mechanisms to environmental stressors.

Research encompasses three primary themes:

• Dormancy and reactivation dynamics in desert soil microbial communities
• Assembly and function of plant-associated microbiomes
• Ecological success factors of Acidobacteria in terrestrial environments

Her group employs molecular techniques including metagenomics, stable isotope probing, and single-cell approaches (NanoSIMS, Raman microspectroscopy) combined with cultivation-based methods.

Publications demonstrate expertise in:

• Microbial adaptation to extreme environments
• Plant-microbe-nutrient interactions
• Genomic basis of bacterial ecological strategies

Recent work increasingly utilizes advanced imaging and isotopic tracing to investigate microbial processes at cellular scales.

Dr. Woebken pioneered the NifMAP bioinformatic pipeline for analyzing nitrogen-fixing communities and developed methods combining Gold-FISH with NanoSIMS for targeted analysis of plant-associated bacteria. She leads research projects on microbial symbioses funded by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF).

She directs a research group investigating microbial ecology across ecosystems from deserts to forests. Current projects include studies of ant-plant-microbe associations and microbe-mediated nitrogen cycling in grasslands. The group maintains collaborations with international institutions and participates in public outreach through science communication platforms.