Christa Schleper receives the “Austrian Nobel Prize” 2022

Date:

The state’s most valuable scientific award – the Wittgenstein Prize, also known as the “Austrian Nobel Prize” – goes to microbiologist Christa Schleper of the University of Vienna. The 59-year-old researcher, born in Oberhausen, Germany, received 1.5 million euros on Wednesday evening for research into the development of complex life based on archaea – microorganisms similar to bacteria. Six young researchers each received START prizes worth up to 1.2 million euros.

Christa Schleper heads the Department of Functional and Evolutionary Ecology and the Archaea Biology and Ecogenomics Research Group at the University of Vienna. The researcher, who was last mentioned several times in the list of “Highly Cited Researchers” (the world’s most influential researchers, ed.), moved to Vienna in 2007. In recent years, discoveries by Schleper and colleagues have caused a sensation, furthering the understanding of the evolution of life changed.

Research in the inhospitable places on earth
The winner of the Neo-Wittgenstein Prize also went to inhospitable places on earth and was one of the first to devote himself intensively to archaea. These protozoa are adapted to particularly extreme biotopes. They can sometimes live at very high temperatures, extreme pH levels, high salt concentrations or high pressures.

In 2015, Schleper and colleagues caused a sensation in the journal “Nature” with the discovery of the closest living relatives of the “higher”, that is, living things with a cell nucleus (eukaryotes).

nitrogen depletion in the soil
The original protozoa called Loki archaea were found in samples 3000 meters below sea level near a hydrothermal field called “Loki’s Castle” north of Iceland. As early as 2011, she identified an archaeon in nearby soil samples around the then institute in Vienna-Alsergrund.

In the journal “PNAS,” Schleper and colleagues showed that “Nitrososphaera vinnensis” is involved in nitrogen breakdown in soil.

“That really pissed me off”
In 2016, the mother of two received an “Advanced Grant” from the European Research Council (ERC) of around €2.5 million to research these creatures, which have often been somewhat neglected in the past. For her, the current award of the Wittgenstein Prize is “something very, very special that I did not expect,” Schleper said. The scientist has been working on micro-organisms from volcanic sources since her graduation thesis. “That really appealed to me, especially because I wanted to travel there.”

Since then, the archaea research field has undergone an incredible and exciting development: “That’s why I stuck with it.” The strength of the Viennese laboratory, in which she played a key role, is that you work a lot in the field. , followed by molecular biology studies, but also with great success “cultivation of organisms very difficult to culture”.

A window into early evolution
The surprisingly complex Loki archaea opens a window into early evolution and the development of the first cells, just like those found in our bodies. This “missing link” or link in the history of evolution was likely the starting point for more complex life forms. For Schleper, how this ultimately came about is “one of the biggest questions in biology.” The Wittgenstein funds are now being used to clarify the matter.

In general, there are still “a lot of white spots” in microbiology. Thanks to new genetic analysis methods, new horizons are now opening up in ecology. In the case of archaea, a door has just opened behind which “much remains to be discovered”.

Source: Krone

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Share post:

Subscribe

Popular

More like this
Related

Near Sevastopol – Russian military plane crashes into the sea burning

According to the local governor, a Russian military plane...

Stricter controls – police warn of busy Easter travel weekend

There will be many day trippers and holidaymakers in...

Billionaire fraud – 25 years in prison for ex-crypto king Bankman-Fried

The founder of the collapsed crypto exchange FTX has...