Filipa Sousa

Dr. Filipa Sousa serves as Assistant Professor in the Department of Functional and Evolutionary Ecology at the University of Vienna's Faculty of Life Sciences, leading the Filipa Sousa Lab within the Archaea Biology and Ecogenomics Unit. Her research program integrates genomic, phylogenetic, and experimental approaches to investigate microbial evolution with emphasis on archaeal physiology, metabolic innovation, and bioenergetic transitions across Earth's history. The lab operates from room 3.042 at Djerassiplatz 1 in Vienna.

Her primary research interests focus on the evolution of microbial metabolic strategies, particularly energy conservation mechanisms in Archaea. She investigates how carbon and energy metabolic systems evolved through protein complex modularity, gene fusions, and large-scale comparative genomics. Current work emphasizes automatic metabolic classification from genomic data, pan-metabolic profiling of Archaea, and reconstructing evolutionary pathways for sulfur and electron transport systems. Her group combines phylogenomics with experimental validation to bridge geological records and microbial physiology.

Analysis of her recent publications reveals dominant trends in archaeal metabolism evolution, particularly dissimilatory sulfur reduction pathways and respiratory complex assembly. Her work increasingly integrates metagenomic data with phylogenetic modeling to reconstruct ancestral metabolic states, while developing computational tools for metabolic classification. Key themes include electron bifurcation mechanisms, horizontal gene transfer in metabolic innovation, and geochemical constraints on early bioenergetic systems.

Major scientific recognition includes:

• ERC Starting Grant (2019-2025) for "Evolution of Physiology: The link between Earth and Life"
• WWTF Vienna Research Group Grant (2016-2025) for "Pan-metabolic profiling of Archaea: The Ecology of Genomics"

Dr. Sousa actively supervises five graduate students across PhD and Master's programs while leading a 12-member research team. Her Vienna Doctoral School project "Microbial biotransformations in biogeochemical cycles" examines metal-based energy conservation in environmental microbes. She maintains significant collaborations with William F. Martin (Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf) and Christa Schleper (University of Vienna), with funding supporting experimental work, computational analyses, and field studies in extreme environments.

The Filipa Sousa Lab comprises Anwar Hiralal (PhD), Jordi Zamarreno Beas (PhD), Val Karavaeva (M.Sc.), Anastasiia Padalko (M.Sc.), Constantin Leitgeb (B.Sc.), and Marta Medic (B.Sc.). The team operates within the Archaea Biology and Ecogenomics Unit under Christa Schleper's departmental leadership, utilizing advanced genomic and bioinformatic infrastructure. Current projects integrate metagenomic data from diverse environments with phylogenetic modeling to reconstruct metabolic evolution, with particular focus on uncultivated archaeal lineages and their ecological roles.