October 23, 2025

Evelyne Selberherr gave an invited presentation at the Annual Meeting of the Austrian Society for Hygiene, Microbiology and Preventive Medicine (ÖGHMP) in Vienna, entitled “Microbiome Research in Food Systems in the Context of One Health.” The presentation highlighted current research approaches of her research group on the role of the microbiome in food systems and its significance for health, safety, and sustainability along the food chain. Many thanks to the organizers for an excellent conference and stimulating discussions!

October 15, 2025

We are excited to announce the launch of our newly funded research project in the FFoQSI strategic area, the rate-yield balance index project: This project aims to develop an advanced qPCR panel to assess rumen microbiome stability and will be led by Cameron Strachan and Viktoria Neubauer. By measuring key metabolic marker genes, the tool will provide a single, actionable score—the Rate-Yield Balance Index (RYBI)—to help identify imbalances in the rumen before they lead to health and production issues. This innovative approach offers a quick and non-invasive way to monitor rumen health, empowering veterinarians, nutritionists, and producers with early insights.

October 1, 2025

Evelyne Selberherr had the pleasure of giving a talk at the 16th Quality Austria Food Forum in Vienna. The presentation, titled “Microbiome Research: A Paradigm Shift,” highlighted how advances in microbiome science are transforming our understanding of food systems. She presented examples of microbial community dynamics in food production environments and in foods themselves, illustrating their role in quality, safety, and innovation across the food sector.
Sincere thanks go to the organizers for the invitation and the engaging exchange with the professional audience.

Website qualityaustria Lebensmittelforum

September 23, 2025

Big congratulations to Cameron Strachan for successfully defending his PhD today! An incredible achievement and an exciting new chapter in our group ahead!

August 19,2025

Evelyne Selberherr had a talk at the inspirational “innovation walk” (European Forum Alpbach) where we thought together about possible OneHealth approaches in the context of innovation ecosystems. We challenged and expanded our understanding of the OneHealth concept as well as developed novel perspectives by a guided innovation process of “learning from the future as it emerges”.

Link to Forum Alpbach

August 13, 2025

New publication! Investigating how microbial communities evolve during the ripening of Austrian alpine cheese, comparing farm-specific differences in raw milk, curd, and cheese core microbiota over time and how production practices shape cheese characteristics.

Link to the paper

August 4, 2025

Visiting HBLA Elmberg today to give a hands-on session on working with the MinION Nanopore sequencer — excited to share the power of real-time DNA sequencing!

Juli 10, 2025

Huge congratulations to Ferdinand Roch on successfully defending his PhD today! An amazing milestone - well done, Dr. Roch!

June 18, 2025

New publication! Examining how bacterial and fungal communities successively develop and interact over 85 days in vacuum-packed beef, revealing a “triangular” cross-kingdom network (yeasts, lactic acid bacteria, Enterobacterales) that shapes spoilage dynamics and meat quality.

Link to the paper

January 30, 2025

New publication! Showing that two key lactate-utilizing rumen microbes, Megasphaera hexanoica and M. elsdenii, employ distinct metabolic strategies—chain elongation versus the acrylate pathway—that enable their co-existence, shape rumen development, and influence pH stability and methane production, with implications for dietary interventions to support calf health.

Link to the paper