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Irene Wagner-Döbler holds a permanent position as senior scientist within the Department of Microbiology at the GBF, the National Research Centre for Biotechnology in Braunschweig, Germany. Her field of research is Microbial Ecology, with bioremediation as the general background theme. Thus, she and her students study the structure and dynamics of microbial communities of polluted habitats with molecular methods. Their emphasis is on field work and scale-up of complexity from small controlled laboratory systems (microcosms and bioreactors) to natural ecosystems. The application of processes developed in bench scale to real world pollution problems is another of their main goals.
Döbler was brought up in Fürstenfeldbruck, a place close to München (Munich) in Bavaria, Germany. She received a diploma in biology at the University in München and her Ph.D. in ecology, where she studied vertical migration of Chaoborus, a planktonic insect larvae, in lakes. Then, Irene left science for two years and took a job as management assistant to the director of GBF, Prof. Klein. In 1988 she joined the group of Prof. Timmis on Microbial Ecology which was at that time started at GBF.
Life gave her a husband and two strong little boys. They live in a beautiful village close to Braunschweig and there is little time for her to pursue interests besides work and family. In her previous life she was an enthusiastic diver, keeper of fish in aquaria, and dancer, loved to travel, cross country ski and climb mountains.
Wagner-Döbler, I., R. Pipke, K.N. Timmis and D.F. Dwyer. 1992. Evaluation of Aquatic Sediment Microcosms and their use in Assessing Possible Effects of Introduced Microorganisms on Ecosystem Parameter. Appl. Environ. Microb. 58:1249-1258
Lünsdorf, H., I. Brümmer, K.N. Timmis and I. Wagner-Döbler. 1997. Metal Selectivity of In Situ Microcolonies in Biofilms of the Elbe River. J. Bact. 179:31-40.
Erb, R., Ch. Eichner, I. Wagner-Döbler and K.N. Timmis. 1997. Bioprotection of Microbial Communities from Toxic Phenol Mixtures by a Genetically Designed Pseudomonad. 1997. Nature Biotechnology 15:378-382.