Dr. Craig Herbold

Dr. Craig Herbold
Senior Scientist
University of Vienna
Department of Microbiology and Ecosystem Science
Division of Microbial Ecology
Djerassiplatz 1
A-1090 Vienna
Austria
Phone: +43 1 4277 91218

As a computational biologist, my research areas are diverse and highly collaborative. Three research areas of particular interest are:

1) The development of techniques and analytical pipelines for using high throughput sequencing in microbiome research.

I was part of an early evaluation of computational techniques to process microbiome data and more recently have changed focus toward the development of economical and efficient barcoding techniques as well as the development of primers for environmental surveys.

2) The discovery and description of novel autotrophic microorganisms.

I have had the pleasure of working on comparative analysis of newly discovered lineages of ammonia oxidizing archaea and bacteria, comammox organisms which are capable of cometabolism of ammonia and nitrite and methane-oxidizing “air-eaters”. The study of these organisms has expanded our understanding of physiological limits of chemo-autotrophic metabolism.

3) Antarctic microbiology.

I am fortunate to be part of an international consortium of Antarctic researchers based in New Zealand (ICTAR) that aims to understand the major ecological drivers behind the distribution of bacteria and archaea in Antarctica. My most exciting contribution to this effort was the discovery of an isolated and unique community of bacteria and archaea inhabiting hot geothermal soils at high altitudes on Mt. Erebus.