PEAK-Expert
Christian Rinke
Focus
Environmental Microbiology
Contact
email:
christian.rinke@uibk.ac.at
phone:
+43 512 507 63602
web:
Department of Microbiology
Environmental OMICS (E-OMICS)
Rinke Lab
microbeID (sequence based microbial identification)
Speaks: English, German
Chris Rinke has been a professor of environmental microbiology since 2024 and heads the “Environmental OMICS” research group. He and his team study the tiny microorganisms that live everywhere in our environment—in the soil, in the ocean, and even in the deep sea. To do this, they use both traditional methods, such as examining microbes under a microscope, and state-of-the-art DNA techniques that allow them to identify which microbes are present in the environment and what they are capable of. For example, the group is researching previously unknown methane-producing microbes from the deep sea, searching for bacteria that can break down plastic (such as those found in the guts of “superworms”), and developing methods to transfer beneficial soil microbes into poor-quality soil so that plants can grow better there again. In addition, the team is studying bacteria that can extract rare earth elements from rock or waste, which is becoming increasingly important for sustainable technologies. In addition, the team is studying bacteria that can extract rare earth elements from rock or waste, which is becoming increasingly important for sustainable technologies. Overall, the group is working to harness microbes for environmentally friendly solutions—from recycling to soil improvement.
Focus cloud: Microbiology, bioinformatics, DNA analysis, bacterial degradation of plastics, bioleaching of rare earth elements, microbiome applications for soils
About
Chris Rinke was born in Graz but moved to Vienna to study marine biology, where he also earned his doctorate. His research then took him to the United States as a postdoc: first to Pullman, Washington, where he worked on a deep-sea project and completed two dives to hydrothermal vents at depths of over 2,000 meters. Another postdoc at Berkeley National Lab took him to California before he and his wife left the U.S. on a sailboat. In their refurbished 11-meter boat, the “Green Panther,” they crossed the Pacific from San Francisco, via Mexico and Polynesia, all the way to Australia. In Brisbane, Chris continued his research at the University of Queensland before the two returned to Austria in 2024 after nine years in Australia and settled in Innsbruck.
In the media
- ORF Tirol: Bakterien mit „Heißhunger auf Plastik“
- The Washington Post: “This plastic-foam-eating ‘superworm’ could help solve the garbage crisis”
- ORF Science: “Ein Wurm, der Styropor frisst”
- NPR: „How 'superworms' could help solve the trash crisis“
- UQ news: “Study reveals the microbes vital to a healthy Brisbane River”