Rita Barbara Linke

Rita Barbara Linke is a Senior Scientist at TU Wien's Research Group for Environmental Microbiology and Molecular Diagnostics (E166-05-3). Her work focuses on microbial source tracking, water quality assessment, and antibiotic resistance analysis in environmental systems. She is actively involved in interdisciplinary projects addressing climate change impacts on waterborne infection risks and the development of quantitative microbial risk assessment (QMRA) frameworks.

Her research integrates molecular diagnostics, environmental microbiology, and data-driven modeling to improve water safety and public health surveillance. Key projects include studying fecal pollution in rivers like the Danube, antibiotic resistance gene distribution in Austrian ecosystems, and the application of qPCR methods for microbial source tracking.

Recent contributions include probabilistic modeling of sewage emissions' health impacts and collaborative European studies on PCR-based water quality diagnostics. She has also contributed to wastewater-based epidemiology in regions with limited wastewater infrastructure, demonstrating the utility of SARS-CoV-2 RNA monitoring in surface waters.