Stefanie Wetzels

FFoQSI

I initially fell in love with the herbivore rumen microbiome during my diploma thesis at the Institute for Milk Hygiene of the University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna. This huge tiny world of bacteria, fungi, yeasts and other organisms in the rumen instantly fascinated me and that was the start of my love story with the rumen microbiome. Now I am working in the field of food and animal microbiomes – still happily ever after.

My picture shows you one of the techniques that I used in my work so that I can distinguish between different cells in the rumen. The blue part of my picture is part of the rumen, the red part actually shows where bacteria are. The green part of the picture are dead skin cells. It’s a little bit like art, but tells me about how herbivores benefit from their bacteria in the gut. You can find out more about me and my research here.